A Typical Day of Repairs

(Editor's Note

This is the diary of a typical day of repair on an annoying problem with on-board water pipes. It is penned by Brooke, Chief Mechanic of the Outer-side of the Engine Room. She has this position mainly because she is smaller and can cram herself into the space between the engines and the inside of the hull to work on certain issues. Normally we would get a monkey to do this but as there are none that seem to be able to grasp even the most basic elements of plumbing work (despite months of working with a pretty smart Rhesus named Bosun Boon who we, sadly, had to let go) the job falls to Brooke. Because the Mary Mary was built in Singapore, all the plumbing fixtures native to the boat are of dimensions that can't be dealt with with North American size replacements. Hence, a lot of diddling with make-shifts. We finally got this down to an art a couple of years ago.)

Bosun Boon upon learning he'd been fired

CMOSER Johnson's Diary

Aug 25

I was merrily on my way to Rona on my trusty Rebel, when I remembered, with dismay, that I can’t simply buy an elbow and a coupling for the plumbing repair below the galley sink, because of the odd diameter of the original pipe down in the engine room to which I will have to connect the PEX pipe.  It’s been a couple of years since the fresh water piping was refitted, and I can’t fully recall how I made those odd joints water-tight, aside from the fact that, in one or two cases, a rubber dishwasher drain fixture was fitted with multiple hose clamps and later, on Cappie`s suggestion, we found that barbs and adhesive and crimp clamps did the trick. I’m hoping the barb idea is the one for this job, but even so, it’s going to be another physically cramped job because I will have to fit my body in between the holding tank, the macerator pump, the freshwater pump and the port engine; disengaging the throttle cable and straddling the starter battery en route and then, with the hacksaw and miter box, make a clean square cut on the old black plastic piping, and sand the edges clean of burrs. 

I want to make sure I have all the necessary hardware before disassembling the old pipes and now that the rain has begun I know that I do not.  I’ll need one more elbow and preferably a copper barb…And should the barb be ½ inch on both ends?

I’m going to have a slice of toasted homemade banana bread, and then head down into the engine room for another ponder of it all.

Banana Bread (Not shown to scale)

LATER

Frustrating. It is 3:30 almost, and I can’t really start the work until I get that other elbow and a barb, yet it’s raining like crazy, with thunder and all and I can’t get out to the store. I’ve cut three lengths of PEX and fitted two joints with the hardware that I have but the assemblage is now just sitting on the counter. I don’t dare disassemble the existing plumbing in case it never ever does stop raining. I don’t want to be left not being able to run water at all. And it looks like the rain is going to continue for a couple of days. I suppose I could call a cab but I so don’t want to spend money on that.  Maybe if it eases in the next hour, I’ll walk to the Home Hardware.

LATER STILL

There was a break in the downpour at 4:22, so I donned my foul-weather jacket, hopped on the motorcycle and headed to Home Hardware, which was closed; then went on to Rona, which was closed. The Canadian Tire was open, and I decided to go in, despite the fact that the customer service experts would probably say, “ ‘Elbow’?... An ‘elbow’? You want an elbow for plumbing? Well, I don’t know, I’ve never heard of that….”   Like the time at the store at Lakeshore and Leslie in Toronto, where the kid in the automotive section answered a similar question by saying “Engine paint!? You can’t paint an engine--why would you want to paint an engine?!” And then Cappie went to the next aisle and called back, “Never mind, I found it, way over here in the next aisle.”

Riding back with the parts in my pocket (but paid for) the clouds opened again so I was quite damp when I returned to the marina. The back brake squealed in the wet when I touched it. Still entirely effective, but noisy.

Anyway, the work was completed, by hook and by crook (of the neck, especially), but I didn’t sand or file down the edges of the freshly cut old pipe because I forgot to bring the wherewithal with me and couldn’t bear to make the tight passage again. I don’t want to turn the pump on yet, as I’d like the adhesive that I put on the barb for the old black pipe to cure a bit. I put some Teflon tape on that one side of the barb as well, as it seemed too narrow for the interior dimension of the old pipe. And both sides have a crimp ring. I found the crimper tool in the red toolbox under the step. So there are now three push-fit elbows, a copper barb and crimp rings and some cable ties to keep the fittings secured to the structure.

 

Brooke, practicing getting into the tiny outer-engine area by sticking her head in between two narrow walls, is reacued by passing Japanese boat workers

NEXT MORNING, Aug 26^th

It rained hard and thundered and flashed all night. I had put two large pieces of Cordura fabric across the roof of the stateroom, weighted down to the deck with scuba weight bags and clamped at the top. It seems to have worked to keep the windows from leaking. The aft head window, not covered, has leaked quite a bit, but I have washcloths and rags at the base of the interior window sill so that water doesn’t spilled down the wall, but I have to keep wringing out the cloths.

I switched on the freshwater pump, and so far so good. I can’t detect any leak, but time and pressure will tell.

Ultimately all of the piping will have to be replaced, but maybe we can do that when we get a new water heater, because until we replace the heater we will need the old pipe and its fittings with which to connect it.

It feels good to accomplish these tasks. Little fixes.

It looks from the satellite images online that there is now a good long break from the rain. So I might get out and about a bit. First I should drain the dinghy of water so that there is room in it for the next downpour.