Friday, June 24, 2011

Holding Tank - Pump Out Hose Clogged

Well.... you see I have this story............

It starts out because there was difficulty in pumping out the Holding Tank of our boat when we needed to do so.
It just seamed to take forever, pumped out very slowly, and took about 20 min. to a half an hour depending on how full the tank was.
It was guite annoying, not to mention embarrassing.

So first I cleaned the Vent line, and that was not the problem.
Then, I got a snake to try to clean out the Holding Tank line.
It would only go into the hose about 44"

First Clue!

So I went inside the engine bilge area, and after clipping some wire ties around the hose to be able to see it, I noticed a kink in the hose.
So I measured how far down the kink was...... and wa... la...

44"!

Clue number 2...........

I then decided to cut the line above the kink and this is what I found....
See the kink in the hose?
This must be a piece of an original Holding Tank, Level Sensor Float?

It got caught right where the kink was.

The Float had to be there for years.....

And the kink..... well that just had to be there from the original factory hook up of the hose.

The installer probably had to bend the hose to put in in? And just didn't KNOW or CARE that this just might be a problem someday??......
A view from the back side of the float looking inside.
Another view of the kink.


The hose came down from the gunnel and down to the right.

It was wire tied amoung all those other wires, hoses, etc.


And I couldn't see the kink originally.


After I opened it up, then I could see it.


You can see where I had to cut the hose.

Another view of the cut hose.

So I ended up putting it back together with a rubber "No-Hub" fitting which completely keeps the inside diameter clear and unrestricted.


Another job I had to do to our otherwise "pristine" boat.


But we still like it very much!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Raw Water Pump Impellers

After returning home form our Crescent Yacht Club trip Sunday, 6-12-11 from the Bush River Yacht Club for their Opening Weekend, we headed over to the gas dock to get fuel.
While we were there, I noticed that the bilge pump came on and pumped out a significant amount of water.
So I investigated this by opening the engine room hatch and immediately discovered that water was pouring into the bilge from the STBD engine Raw Water pump housing area.

So........ we hurried back to our dock and shut it down.
Too hot to do anything then except turn off the sea-cock to prevent more water from coming in.

So Monday night after work, you know what I had to work on!

Luckily, I had the parts "in stock" down in my basement!  No really!
I had bought them as spares for our previous 310DA Sea Ray boat with 5.7 L small block engines.
Turns out to be the same pump housing for our newer 3870 Cruisers with 7.4 L big blocks, go figure!

Wah La, Thank you, there is a God!

Monday night I was able to investigate further and remove the pump.  It was a crack on the pump housing.
Go figure.
I put the new replacement pump and housing together and started the engine up and it's all good now.
This ended up being around 9:30 PM, which was too late to start on the other engine for me.
I'm just too old now-a-days...........

Then on Tuesday, I did the other engine, the PORT side engine.
This went a little quicker and smoother as the learning curve was done on the first engine.

By the time I finished up, it was again after 9 PM and I must say, I was beat.
My body isn't used to playing boat mechanic and putting it into places and positions that bodies don't usually get into!
I had to go home and draw a tub full of water and soak in it for an hour......

These bones and my body are just too old to keep doing what I'm used to doing.
I can't be the EverReady Battery all the time!

But, now the job is done and completely fixed in less than 2 days and it didn't cost me a cent.
What a treat!

That makes us on-time and ready to go away again this weekend over to another one of our sister Yacht Clubs, the Bodkin Yacht Club.
Those people are a fun crowd too, and we are looking forward to going.

If I don't get to say it before Sunday, HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all you fathers out there.
Enjoy your day!


--
Lee

Friday, May 27, 2011

Getting Ready for Memorial Weekend.

We are going to go to Baltimore Yacht Club for the Memorial Weekend Holiday Weekend.

Oh..... Goody!!!

But we could be going to Mexico.........  Think NOT!

--
Lee

Thursday, May 26, 2011

We put a name on her, "Dawn Rae"

We got a new to us, 1998, 3870 Cruisers Yacht back in October of 2010.
I took this photo when we first got it.
My niece Brianna is in the photo.
Notice how tini she looks.............?
Our previous and last three (3) boats were all Sea Rays, and were named "Dawn Rae", "Dawn Rae II", and "Dawn Rae III" respectively.
Get it? Dawn Rae, / Sea Ray?

This boat is not a Sea Ray.
However, everybody on the water and all our friends now know us as "Dawn Rae".
So............
What do you think the new name should be?

Well it took over the winter and until May of 2011 to put the new name on her.
Because, I was busy doing a bunch of other things to this boat to get it started to be set up the way we like our boats to be set up!
What do you think of the new name and lay-out?
Nice, isn't it?

My wife says that her mother would be proud as she really liked this name.......

That's why she named my wife that!


She's happy...... I'm happy...... Life is Good!