Travelocity Gnome????????

No, its the Forespar TruPlug Emergency plug jammed in one of my Thru Hulls to permit me to change a defective Groco ball-valve. (IMHO a great product, the plug that is - get a few).

Groco had issued a recall on some of its valves (See the service bulletin here). I thought I was in the clear as the shafts of the ones I had installed were brass not stainless steel. Imagine my surprise when one of my 2" valves (cockpit drain) would not shut off. The good news was that I had installed the IBV version with the separate flange. By jamming the "gnome" in the thru-hull the change out was a simple matter. I'm pretty sure that anyone with the flanges version would be less than impressed as changing them would require a haul and a lot of work.




I have e-mailed Groco and look forward to their response.

Shaft coupling mock up....

This is the mockup to allow the engine to be aligned before installing the Powertrain Marine Joint. No fun working in the Miami heat, even with temporary air-con installed.

Engine lift....

One thing I discovered while cruising the Caribbean and Central America is that you can always get stuff fixed in the most unlikely places. However, you need the ability to work on the items in question and sometimes remove them from the vessel using your own resources. I will carry onboard an aluminum "I" beam, a 1 ton chain hoist and a beam trolley to permit to access the transmission and other parts of the engine as necessary. I won't be one bit upset if I never get to use them.

Doctors differ and patients die..........

Well not as dramatic, but lots of conflicting advice on the dry riser. The previous post on the subject quoted the ABYC standard which stated; "No galvanized steel, no brass, no bronze". I have sourced Carbon Steel and this is on standby. Two mechanics, that I have huge respect for, individually suggest galvanized steel and silicon bronze respectively. But I have a cunning plan. I have purchased a second exhaust elbow (hip hip for ebay) and will carry a spare setup.



I am having both elbows cut as indicated above and a 2" threaded galvanized piece welded in place. I can then thread on an 90deg elbow, 18" of pipe, a second 90deg elbow and then the water injecting part of the above. Initially I will use galvanized pipe (cheap and available) but carry the silicon bronze AND the carbon steel as a spare. After a few hundred hours running I will take the riser apart and work from there.

Ikea sink dry fit......

NORRVIKEN model sink - $140
GRUNDTAL faucet - $89.99

The Bebi Electronics LED light fits is well.

Big ship ideas.....

Before;


When trying to come up with an access hatch to the bilge area between the fuel tanks I decided to revert to the standard aluminum diamond grid plate found in most large engine rooms. Worked well.

Costco Marine.....

Like RJ over at the Westsail 42 blog I like to check into Home Depot, Lowes, Costco etc. when doing boating projects. Don't get me wrong, it frequently pays to buy proper "marine" products. I tend not to skimp on safety, stainless items, electrical cable and wire and rope. Ditto with bronze and deck fittings.

Below decks, however, sometimes house stuff is more than adequate. The boss had pointed out that she wasn't overly fond of all the white Formica in the after heads. I had to agree that over the years it had lost some of its shine, but the question was what to replace it with. I have always liked bamboo plywood, some of which is now being used for flooring. At $240+ per sheet this was a little on the steep side. Enter Costco bamboo flooring, $69 for enough to do the front of the sink area and the new locker over the hot water heater.



The new locker will have slide out wire linen baskets and the sink will be courtesy of Ikea Marine;





The macerator pump in the top picture will be connected to a Lavac head in such a way that I can replace it with a manual pump after it has died for the third time.