Loose ends

The first job on Monday morning was to replace the engine space bilge pump and reconnect the discharge hose. Once this was complete I spent some time investigating a route for the bilge suction hose because the engine has a 1:1 gearbox the sump is very close to the bottom of the boat which does not leave much space to get the 38mm suction hose through to the forward end of the bilge but with a bit of fiddling around I figured out a way using a horizontal Whale suction strainer.

Last week I found a wet area in the forward cabin and after taking down the head lining I found that the forward hatch was leaking round the base flange and so I finished up the day by drawing up a shopping list so that I could complete the bilge pump pipework, sort out the forward hatch and complete the wiring to the starboard aft cabin reading light.

After a quick trip to the chandlers on Thursday morning, it was still raining so the hatch would have to wait, I finished the connection to the aft cabin reading light by running the negative cable back to the connector block. After lunch I made a start on the engine space bilge pump suction hose the space was too tight to be able to run the hose in one piece so I had to resort to using short lengths of hose and elbow connections, the after end of the engine space is beginning to resemble a bit of a snake pit. Oh and yes I did fit the missing jubilee clips to the saloon bilge pump hoses, see last weeks post.

Bilge pump looking aft along the top of the engine

Bilge pump from aft

Bilge suction hose

Hose drops into bilge and runs alongside the engine sump

Bilge suction strainer

The connector block in the top left of the above will be replaced eventually it is part of the engine wiring harness connection to the engine panel a multi pin plug and socket would probably be the ideal solution I can't abide those horrible connector blocks especially in the open like this. There is already one multi pin connector in the harness but unfortunately it is at the panel end of the harness.

Today dawned wet but halfway through the morning the rain stopped and the sun came out so I set too and removed the forward hatch the original bedding was well past its sell by date it was wet all the way through.

Original bedding

Hatch frame

After removing all the old mastic I gave the frame and the mounting a good clean up with acetone and applied some 25mm x 3mm closed cell neoprene foam tape to the underside of the hatch frame before screwing it down again.

Hatch frame with closed cell foam tape applied

Once the frame had been replaced I reassembled the hatch and replaced the head lining it just needs a rainy day to put the job to the test.

To finish up the day I went back to scraping of the flaking paint in the aft cabin and started with the woodwork to secure the locker front panels on the starboard side.