What Is It about Boats?
31 August 2014 | Bayland Marina, Baytown, TX
Jill
I am developing a love-hate relationship with Earendil. We're back aboard; having skipped the hot summer months we thought we'd better take advantage of Jamie's day off for Labor Day to come back down. We got here Friday afternoon. Saturday morning the galley sink wouldn't drain. We found the galley sink has a check valve like both the sinks in the heads. The check valve is a flapper that can only move to let water out. The pressure of water coming in just pushes it closed. Since both the check valves in the heads had at one time or another frozen we decided that was most likely the culprit. Easy fix, except this is a boat.
First of all, before we examined below the sink we attempted to clear the drain with a plunger. I held the plug in one side of the double sink while Bud plunged the other. The result was we caused the drain on my side to start leaking. So we closed the seacock, put a wastebasket under the drain to catch at least some of the water, and loosened the nut on the drain. We'd fixed leaky drains on this sink before and discovered we had to use something called a split nut. The pipes coming down from the drains have a flange at the top and a tee or elbow at the bottom so you can't get a regular nut on them. The split nut is made of PVC and has ears that interlock once you put it around the pipe. One of those ears on one of the nuts had broken, so the drain was leaking. Now we had two problems.
Our friends Scott and Tamera were going to the hardware store, so we sent the broken split nut with them to try to find a replacement. Meanwhile, Bud tried to clear the check valve. Of course he couldn't get a wrench on the nut at the top of the valve that allows you to see and service inside. After trying everything on the boat, and asking Scott if he had any wrenches or sockets bigger than an inch (he, like Bud, had sold his preparing for departure) we ended up completely removing the valve and one drain pipe. This took a couple of hours. I had to get down and do all of the work where you had to stuff your arms and/or head into the cabinet under the sink. Then I would get out of the way and let Bud do things that required more strength than I had. It was sometime in that period when the hate part of my relationship to this boat surfaced. Especially considering that we had dealt with these drains once already and that the collar around the mast was leaking again (one of the first repairs I did as we got underway). Constantly repairing as things on this 30-year-old boat go bad is one thing. Repairing your repairs adds a layer of despair.
About six hours later the drains were repaired, almost. We couldn't find another split nut. I found one source online and ordered five of them. Scott had suggested using a hose clamp to hold the old one together. I did a variation on that. A large clamp wouldn't put the pressure in the right place, so I used a small one around the broken ear. It worked, but the little washers between the drainpipe and the bottom of the sink are leaking (only if you close the seacock and fill the drainpipes). So the sink is functional, but not right. It will be revisited again. I am very discouraged, but I still take pleasure just sitting in the salon. This boat is so well crafted. An artist friend exclaimed on first coming below, "It's like living in a poem".
Then, last evening, instead of having a potluck with Scott and Tamera we ended up going to a birthday party up at the marina for the son-in-law of one of the boat women here. It was a rag-tag gathering of people. The couple hosting do Karaoke at bars in the area. They set up their equipment and people sang and danced all evening. The songs were predominately country-western so I knew almost none of them; however, as I ate and laughed and visited with folks I realized that there really is something special about boat people. I think it may be that we forgive all of our differences if we share a common love for boating. We attracted a few people attending a wedding reception in the event building next to where we were hanging out. One guy had a good voice and sang several songs. When he sang, "Brandy" the whole group joined in with the chorus and belted out "but my live, my love and my lady is the sea". That's boat people. I've met a group of people in Texarkana who have become friends. I love them and I will miss them. I'm far closer to them than to most of the people here, but they just don't get it. If you're not a boat person you only see the difficulties of the cruising life. Boat people see the difficulties, but we also feel the allure. That is still with me.