No we have not opened a maternity unit on board. These are simply the sounds that were issuing from the depths of the boat as we threaded the new bilge pipe yesterday. Talk about 'herding cats', that ain't nothing on trying to encourage a twenty foot length of one and a half inch plastic pipe through a small gap into a place that you can't see, or reach, and get it to come out of the requisite small hole... Then take two ninety degree turns and encourage to reach the bottom of the bilge that again you can neither see or reach.
I mean who the fuck designs these things!!
Well it's done, in place, attached and working. Yeehah! With any luck this is a process that won't have to be repeated for another fifteen years.I must say that some of this boat maintenance really drives me to the brink. Not only are a lot of the jobs only fit to be done by a three foot midget with six foot arms and the flexibility of a contortionist, you also have to completely destroy the boat before the required feat can be performed. Thank goodness TBH is both patient and able, left to me we would have given up maintenance long ago...
Still we now have a grand total of FOUR working bilge pumps on board, one electric and three manual. One of which is movable for use in dire emergencies. It may seem like overkill but we have seen so many boats this last couple of seasons in trouble because of inadequate or non-functioning bilge pumps that we have taken the risk very seriously.
Of course as you rip parts of the boat apart you go through the whole process of deciding whether to keep the bits that you come across that you had long forgotten you owned! the current decision is about lamp glasses for the anchor light that we carry, the paraffin one. I have a fetish about spares and it seems I may have got a little carried away... did I say that! TBH has just discovered three spare glasses, now bear in mind these are not your usual delicate glass tubes but big thick chunky globes..and they are impossible to replace without completely dismantling the afore mentioned lantern...maybe they should go? Nah, I mean you just never know when these things will come in useful do you?
No wonder we have raised the waterline so much.
One of the greatest items on board as far as maintenance is concerned is... the good old turkey baster! We use it for cleaning oil from out of the engine sump, removing liquid from strange inaccessible places.If you want to see a scary use on board a boat have a look at Dragonheart's blog...I am NEVER eating turkey cooked by Cindy again.
So please excuse the brevity of today's entry. If I don't get this place back in order today I wil need therapy and too much alcohol!!
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