The boat was launched for another season. The marina put her in the water and checked the engines. Bilges dry, so far so good.
When I got to the boat, was a bit disappointed to see that the winter work I had asked them to do was not complete. They were installing some dingy davits on the boat and had sold us a new dingy. The davits were on the boat and looked great from the outside, however the install was not complete as they had to cut some access holes and had not closed them yet. The davits were still wrapped, and no bridle was set up. The dingy was sitting deflated on the dock, in a bit of a foot-traffic area. Don’t know why, as they had the boat in the shop for a couple of months over the winter, and had lots of time to finish everything. I assume there was a good reason. Anyways, at least we are floating again, and I could start getting her ready for our big journey.
First job was cleaning. I started at the top and worked down, cleaning before I put on the canvas (much easier this way). Last year we bought some cordless cleaning tools, a power brush and pressure washer. The pressure washer is not super-high-pressure, but it does a great job on the boat.
This shows a before-and-after of the deck.
Spent a couple of hours cleaning the flybridge, then installed the canvas. What a job! It seems like all the zippers are about 1/32” too short, and all the snaps are off by about the same. This is understandable, since the canvas maker wanted the canvas to be tight, but closing a zipper or snapping a fastener takes 3 hands. To make it even more fun, everything is done overhead so you get noodle-arm trying to get the zippers started, as well as carpel-tunnel in you fingers. And, of course, the wind is calm until just the moment when you unfold the biggest piece. Took about 2 hours just to get the canvas up. Oh, did I mention that the marina removed our front venturi-screen for winterizing (I guess it helps with shrink-wrapping) but had not yet put it back? I put up the canvas anyway, since the forecast was for rain all weekend.
With that job done it was time to turn to systems commissioning. The electrical system came back to life without incident, and both air-conditioners started up (could not test the cooling as it was not warm enough in the boat yet). So far so good.
Then I tried the water system. The system was empty (I guess they blow it dry for winter). I went around the boat closing the various faucets so I don’t get sprayed with anti-freeze, then put some water in the tank and started the pump. Everything seemed to go really well until it didn’t. The pump ran well but would not build back-pressure. Sigh.
Did some troubleshooting. For this kind of thing (electrical is similar) I always start at the source and work my way forward.
Tank has water in it, check.
Pump has 12 volt power, check.
Pump strainer is clear, check.
Does the pump work? To test the pump, I disconnected the outflow hose then ran the pump briefly, spraying water everywhere in the bilge. Ok, the pump works.
Between the pump and the manifold, we have an accumulator tank. Louise and I both dislike this, as it produces an undulating effect on water pressure - and water temperature - while showering. To see if there was a blockage here, I reconnected the hose at the pump, and disconnected it after the tank just before the manifold. Run the pump briefly spraying water in the bilge. OK, no blockage at the tank.
At this point I am pretty sure the problem is the pressure switch on the pump. Rule pump motors are amazingly well built, but for some reason the pressure switches fail regularly. Easiest way to test this is to swap out the pump (carry a spare). At the same time, I removed the accumulator tank and replaced the hose between the pump and manifold (less connections). System runs perfectly.
OK, bad pressure switch. Since the old pump is actually still good, I kept it as a spare, but ordered a couple of pressure switches as spares since I suspect one will fail in the future (this was also a failure point on a previous boat)..
Once the system was full and there were no leaks, I could check all the faucets. No hot water from our sink faucet, and the bathroom faucet leaked like crazy. I know it’s a boat and I should say head, but I think bathroom so that’s what I say and write. Have fun in the comments.
Bathroom faucet is 20 years old, so easiest to just replace it. Canadian tire had them on special so picked one up and swapped it out. Sink faucet was brand new last summer, so I suspect the cartridge failed. When you winterize things this happens. Bought the faucet at Home depot, so easiest thing is to get a replacement from Home Depot. Nooooooooo. In their infinite wisdom, HD does not carry the replacement part for the faucets they sell. I guess that way they can sell you a faucet instead of just a part. Off to the plumbing store. I get to the plumbing store and they do not have the cartridge, nor can they get one. The guy at the parts counter told me that the big box stores sell brands but not the parts, and some brands (like the faucet I bought) are impossible to find parts for. Will see if I can find something on Amazon.
Last job was checking the shower sump. Float switch and pump working, but the duckbill had failed. New duckbill in place and now I can shower.
Overall pretty happy. Everything came back to life, and was able to fix the few gremlins I encountered.
Now to get to work on my 5 page list of things to get done before we can leave.
