Portable fuel polishing system

I went to Ontario Boat wreckers, http://www.ontarioboatwreckers.com/, and scavenged a couple of fuel pumps and filter assmbles and made my self a fuel polishing system for about $150.

It is not the most powerful beast, but the plan is to fill our boat from jerry cans, through this set up. I am also going to clean the tank soonest.

The second fuel pump will be plumbed in the existing fuel supply to the mighty perkins and used if the mechanical fuel pump gives up the ghost sometime in the future.

Other than the Racor filter, ($27), the second most expensive part the the $19 cutting board from Target, http://www.target.ca/en/.

You may have noticed I am able to make links. Heh, heh.

Warmer weather?...Perhaps!

Supposed to be in the mid to high teens this weekend, enough to start some fiberglassing:)

Our toe rail comes in four (4) sections. Took off the aft, port quarter last weekend to re-bed them. Found they were held down with bronze screws, some which were eroded, (or corroded), to the shape of 2" tacks, not a lot but enough. These screws hold the deck to the hull.

So, we bought 300, 3 1/2" long 1/4 20 stainless steel flathead bolt with corrosponding locknuts and flatwashers to beging the thankless job of bolting the deck THROUGH the hull.

Love the boat, but using screws to fasten such a critical structure was just cheap and lazy.

And the spring spending begins

We just spent $300 on bottom paint.

A maintenance poem

My life is defined by cold dirty oil
My clothes are all gross, and terribly soiled
I smell like shop solvent, most of the time
But other than that, I'm doing just fine

The motor appears to be in good shape
The big problem was a bad damper plate
It was all worn and had lost half the springs
They rattled around and made a few dings

The trouble you see is in making a start
And in knowing just what to do with the parts
Soon though the sad truth will surely sink in
I must put the thing back together again

I got this from the following blogger: 

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/blackbird/

I also got a book on how to write HTML. I am hoping to jazz up the blog visually but I am no techno nut so it is slow going.

Weather has been nuts in southern Ontario; Thunderstorms with the temperature 15 Celsius, then the next day it was minus 10 degrees with whiteouts. A 25 degree differential in less than 24 hours.

Raw Water Pump Woes

I am having a dickens of a time finding a rebuild kit for my raw water pump. General consensus was that it was a Jabsco pump which, if it was true, would have been a godsend for parts availability. It wasn't. Through the casting marks, I, Sherlock Holmes, have determined is a Sherwood model B06 (obsolete) with a repair kit # 11421 available.I have passed that information to my contact on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and will get a kit.

Meanwhile, back here, I am sourcing out the bearings, seals and impeller from various sources, hoping to save some $$$ in the future.

The sad thing about this whole endeavor is that here in Ontario, supposedly the industrial centre of Canada, I can barely get Perkins people to even respond to me. Go figure.

Not a sailing post, just a blast at gun culture mentality

Americans, and us Canadians too, will have prayers, memorial services and lay flowers in all sorts of places in memory of this horrible and preventable tragedy. All that does is comfort the living. It does not help the murdered. It most certainly won't help the next bunch of victims, and there will be a next bunch, that gun culture will always have a next bunch lined up. Organizations like the NRA don't have an upper limit of deaths where they pull back the reins and say,"Hey, maybe we should do something about this!" . The NRA and people of their ilk, do actually do something when shit like this goes down, they buy more guns and ammo and hoard them "to prevent crap like that from happening again". Go on any gun site/blog/facebook page and that's what you read. It is sickening. They want to arm teachers. Unfucking beleivable. The furor of this will die down, then another event will occur, and the cycle will continue.

Three Stages of the Raw water Pump Repair

To rehash, here is the raw water pump from our Perkins 4-107. Very grungy, right?

Here it is all dissembled and sandblasted. Take note f the damage I caused removing on of the seals. It is to the left of center.

I had some chrome paint at work, so after priming it I painted it all shiny. Whether it is durable, that remains to be seen.

Stupid photo is on its side. Orrrrr, maybe the blogger is stupid. Only true Philosophers  can solve that mystery. At the 6 o'clock position (at the bottom of the inner circle) you'll notice a dark area. That is my repair using a product called Belzona. I have damaged stuff before and have had to effect repairs. Still waiting on locating someone who wants to sell me a repair kit.