We have a few small projects that need to be done before we leave in 8 weeks or so. One was rebuilding the Whale Gusher bilge/greywater holding talk hand pump. The flappers were old and cracked so it wasn't working any longer. Taking apart a 25 year old pump was a chore! All bolts were seized in place so we soaked them in Blaster penetrating solvent overnight and used brute force, vice grips and a giant screwdriver to get them loose (Ken is the one that owns the brute force, not me).

Getting replacement parts turned out to me the most difficult part of the project though. Some of the parts were in stock but others had to be ordered. The difficult part was convincing the sales guy that we only needed the rebuild kits, not a whole new pump. What can I say? Spending $100 in parts beats spending $300 on a new pump any day. I actually overheard him telling a coworker that we 'should just buy a new pump, it's only $300'! I guess I should have told him that I was happy that he was getting a fat weekly paycheck and could afford to throw away perfectly good pumps. Some people just don't get it. Anyway, we reinstalled the pump and it works perfectly.

We started installing the Hydrovane but then the weather pooped on us. All the mounts are in place so the hard part is done. I don't think we're expected to see the sun for another 5 days so unless we want to get soaked in the Seattle rains, we'll be putting that project on hold for a while.