December 27-28, 2004 -- Head Wrestling

We heard back from our friends in Thailand on December 27. They are safe, and their friends are also safe thanks to quick thinking and fast reactions. After breakfast, we went into town to get the necessary stuff to complete the repair to our aft toilet. We returned to the boat, and cut and glued the PVC pipe. While we waited for the glue to dry, we removed the wind screen from the fly bridge so we can sand, caulk and seal the teak trim ring. Once that was done, we split up to work. I headed down to work on the head (Somehow, I have become the shit-house mouse!) While Mike started cleaning and sanding the wood as well as doing laundry. After I pulled the head pump out, I brought it up and began to take it apart. This went fairly easily, and to my relief, the seized bearing was not stuck to the shaft! Then I reassembled the pump with a new bearing, lip seal and stator. About the time I finished, Mike quit sanding for the day. He needs coarser sand paper than we have. So we cleaned up from the repair I made and headed aft to install the new pipe and repaired head pump. We cut the old hose loose, and put the new pipe in place. That was when we discovered that the old pipe must have been slightly out of plain, where the new one we made was in plain. It fit, but just barely! Next, we brought the pump down, and touched up its paint, to help stop rusting. While the paint dried, we took down the last of the laundry. We put the head pump in, hooked it up, primed the system, and then pushed the flush button. The system flushed 3 times, and then it quit working again! Mike thinks the brushes need to be replaced, so tomorrow I will pull the pump out, again, and check the brushes. On December 28, after breakfast, we ran into town to get sandpaper, hose clamps and muratic acid. It was a successful shopping trip. After we returned to the boat, we set to work. Mike continued sanding, and I took a look at why Ling-Ling unexpectedly shut down. Both her raw water belt and the alternator belt were in good shape. I checked the bleed screw on the thermostat housing, and got more oil out. That concerned me, so I crawled out of the engine room and talked with Mike. His only suggestions were to check the water level in the overflow tank, and to check the radiator cap as well. The water was just a tiny bit lower in the overflow tank, and the radiator cap held nothing but clear water! When I saw that, a wave of relief rolled over me. I went back out to confer with Mike. Neither of us could come up with a completely satisfactory reason for why the generator shut down. We finally concluded that it was one of two things. It could be that the temp sender is going bad, or it could be the remaining oil in the cooling system somehow got on the sensor and tripped it. We decided to run her for the evening charge and see how she performs. Then, I was on to my next project. The aft head pump needed more work. So, I pulled the pump out and began disassembling it, again. Sure enough, we needed new brushes for it. Fortunately, we had picked up replacement brushes while we were at Cron Electric. Unfortunately, they were too long and had no mounting holes. So, I cut them down and drilled the necessary holes, and fit them back into the pump. I put it back together, tested it and then reinstalled it. I primed the pump, and holding my breath, I pushed the flush button. It worked! I flushed the toilet several times and then poured muratic acid in to treat the system for calcium build up. While the muratic acid did its work, I showered. I finished about the same time we needed to flush the toilet again. I flushed the toilet 4 or 5 times to completely evacuate the muratic acid. Then the unthinkable happened! I pushed the flush button one last time, and nothing happened! The pump has to come out again! It was bad enough when It was two in two days, now it will be three in three days! Hopefully it will be something easy and the head will work again, and stay fixed. The day ended on a positive note at least. We ran Ling-Ling with no problem!