Boat Projects . . .

Well, after our short cruise, we figured out we have a bit of maintenance and projects to complete to make the boat much more livable.  As we spent 9 nights in a row on the anchor, we are now pretty versed in using our anchor bridle, but needed to make something more permanent.  So - off to the store and 25' of 1/2" three-strand nylon rope and an appropriately-sized thimble for the chain hook end.

Well, let me (Joe) say I've never attempted to splice rope before, so this was an entirely new challenge, but after about an hour and a half of tinkering I got it!  We now have a nicely spliced anchor bridle!  Don't laugh at the duration, I had to make 4 separate splices - not too bad for a newbie.

For those of you that want to try your own, I used youtube videos and the following guide to get it figured out.

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/rope.asp

Then came the engine maintenance. I wanted to change the oil and the raw water impeller just to have a fresh start - I'm not sure how long the old ones have been in there.  Well, as most boat projects have a tendency to, this one grew.  I took off the raw water pump (it simply unbolts on a Yanmar 3GM30) and found out the pump was leaking - substantially - to the tune of about a drip a second.  Well, thinking a new seal was in order, I went down to the dealer, only to find they don't have one, and to ship one in would be $10 for the part, and $100 shipping, unless I was willing to wait 3 weeks for the part.  I said no way and set about finding one in town, and tore down the pump for a rebuild.

During the tear down, I discovered that the bearings were SHOT in the pump, which was why the seal was leaking in the first place.  So, out again I go to find the bearings.  After about an hour at NAPA, they have the bearings on order, but they can't get the right seal.. Ugh..

So, online again.  Thankfully I found a new seal that could be here tomorrow!  Finally--I now just have to wait a day and the bearings and seal will be here for my installation pleasure.

Fast forward another day, the parts arrive, and I reassemble the pump, only to get it installed and find out the darn thing will not self prime - thankfully the new impeller I bought came with the impeller lube, and I used it all - so I didn't burn the new one up.  It took about another hour, but I finally figured out how to bleed the system so it will properly draw water and keep the engine from overheating.

So, 5 trips for parts and a total of 3 days, and I now have the oil changed and a new impeller in the engine - no one ever said boat projects were easy!