Kaimusailing

The heat wave didn't stop after its 4 day forecast. The following week was 5 days at 100 and 2 days well over 90 degrees. Someone posted a question on the Cruiser's Forum about summer sailing on the Chesapeake and I answered that it was only a couple days sail up to the cruising grounds of Block Island, Nantucket, and Rhode Island. Someone else replied that it wasn't so bad to cruise Chesapeake Bay in the summer. Ha! Some do like it hot, however, and we've seen a heat index of 117 already and haven't even gotten into July.

The commissioning of the water systems continued. The head was finished and the winter antifreeze in the fresh water tanks was pumped over. One problem was the galley electric pump ran intermittently, then slowed to a stop. The water pump in the port hull that feeds the vanity sink and head/shower was running fine, but there was a leak coming from beneath the vanity faucet. There was also a leak behind the faucet in the head. To flush the antifreeze out of the port water system, about 20 gallons extra is needed to flush through the water heater and out through the hot water tap in the head. I had to add water to the water tank and pump it through the water heater. I forgot that the hose from the dock was still filling the tank while I was running the hot water tap. The end result was the water tank was full, the water heater was full, and I had about 60 gallons of water to pump over to finish flushing the system. I ended up abandoning flushing and took a look at the leaks and also at the failed pump in the galley.

The plumbing for the head faucet is behind the medicine cabinet, which is removable, but I damaged it when I tried to pry it out. I found a bad seal between hoses that were sleeved together. Permatex #2 was used to reseal them. Then over in the vanity sink, the faucet needed tightening of a hose clamp. The galley pump was removed and the typical failure of the Harbor Freight marine pumps, failed brush springs, was the cause. The brush assemblies are available from Harbor Freight and the repair is not too difficult. The brush springs are not stainless steel and corrode apart. The pumps also cannot run dry for very long, the impeller gets hot and disintegrates. The impellers are also available and cost about 2 dollars each. The failure rate of the 4 pumps I have is 50%. 3 will be in service and the 4th is a spare.

The damaged medicine cabinet was disassembled and the mirror door and trim in front were saved, as well as the back of the cabinet. The rest of the frame had fallen apart, so it was replaced with oak and quickly fastened together with hot melt glue. The water leak behind the medicine cabinet was repaired, but it would take a few days for it to cure. It was time to take a couple of days off. The heat index was way over 100.

The sailing dinghy I helped Captain Kris rehab was donated. We weren't using it, it was difficult to sail singlehand, and he had someone who was eager to have it. Another sailing dinghy became available, so it arrived on the hottest day and we struggled to carry it down to the dock. It was a little smaller and lighter than the earlier dinghy (an Albacore) and needed a little work to catch up on maintenance. It was an Int'l 420, which is almost the same as the popular Club 420. 13' 9" long with 140 sq ft of sail. Although rigging instructions are available on the internet, this model was made in England, one of the earliest of the design, and it took a while to figure out how it would go together. The more modern models have trapeze wires for the crew to hike out, but this model has hiking straps and the mast can be restepped without the jib if it's too windy for the full rig.