Mon 19 Apr, HHN day 6: Fixed the gas issue, painted stern tube, skateboard assisted life raft movement and other entertainments.
After an hour or two of domestics, (post office, food shopping, ice for fridge, rubbish drop off, morning ablutions etc) I set to playing Cloudy’s game. Fixing her gas problem, which she tricked me with yesterday. Odd, because it’s normally ME that has that problem. Maybe this is revenge?
After some trouble shooting I discover the issue is what I had suspected: a faulty 12v solenoid valve in the gas locker. I will have to order a new one from HR-Parts. But I need a temporary fix now, or I will starve. I can only eat cold food for so many days. Trouble is that the fitting on the pipe which goes into the boat from the gas locker has a unique thread that only the solenoid valve fits. I have every thread possible, except that one ☹, typical. Good job we are not mid-Pacific! So, I either need to fix this valve or manually bypass its function. I can hear the solenoid activate when I press the switch, but the valve does not physically open.
First action is to knock some sense into it with a few hammer blows – but what usually worked on my children does not work on this valve. So next is to take it apart and try to manually hold the valve open somehow. Of course, the valve is a sealed unit, not meant to be dismantled. But that only ups the ante, out comes the hacksaw! I soon have the plastic housing cut off, but by the time I get to the plunger I have pretty much ruined the valve’s integrity, and that is dangerous with gas. I need plan-B.
To cut a long frustrating morning short, I end up heating up a hose in hot water and forcing it directly on the pipe that enters the boat. A bit micky-mouse, but I now have gas to the cooker. Anyhow, there is still a valve by the cooker for safety and I’ll also turn off the valve on the gas cylinder when I’m not using it. So no need to worry about any impending explosion in Herrington Harbour Yard…. I think.
To celebrate my victory over Cloudy’s games, I cook eggs and bacon making sure grease is splattered over her galley. Boats should never screw with the Captain!
It’s now 2pm and so far the day has done nothing for my to-do list. Time to get out in the fresh air and achieve something. First, I use the skateboard which Ray deprived some child of, to get the life raft down the side deck to the aft deck, so I can get it off the boat and to the service center. That all goes OK. Just need Ray’s pick up now to drop it into.
Next, is digging the antifoul paint which we have bought and stowed in the bilge last year, thinking we would have a handy supply when we got to New Zealand. Right now I just need to paint the inside of the stern tube, where the prop-shaft enters the boat. I will do a coat-a-day for the next 3-4 days and hope it will keep the beasties away for a year or 3, not that any mollusk is going to stop a spinning 45mm prop shaft. Amazingly, I manage to handle the paint without getting a drop on me. Oana would be proud. Normally, I at least drop my spectacles into the antifoul paint while stirring it!
Final job, as the sun drops west, I set to removing all the bad threaded inserts from the goose-neck backing plates, so I can replace them. When I removed the gooseneck last November, several of these insert-screws came out. I will have to see where I can get replacements. No doubt Selden will have some special thread size that only they can supply.
Then all too soon the workable day is over again. I don’t feel like I achieved much on my list today. Will have to up my game going forward, or the Admiral won’t be happy.