A Manly Project

With the rain coming down for three days, life was starting to get a little boring. There are plenty of piddly little cute projects to work on but the days were so dreary that it was sucking the energy out of me. I know, what energy right? I half heartily attempted a few things on the list and was still bored. It was like I was back in Rochester looking out the window of our house at the grey rain and mist that could last for weeks at a time. Makes you want to sit by a fireplace with a good book, not toy with a small task.

Drip drip drip. Just a damp misty 62 degrees.

I was having my morning caffeine intake, waiting for the water heater to warm up my shower when I heard the water pump come on. Uh oh, I have a small leak. This happens once in a while and I have to usually tighten a hose clamp and then it's done. No big deal. I found some tools and went hunting. Is that pump still running? What the hell? Checking the usual places and finding no drips, I looked under the galley sink and found the stream that I wasn't expecting. One of the faucet fittings had a nice steady trickle. Eh, simple solution. Just tighten the fitting a little. But this fitting is behind the sink and in front of a bulkhead. Um, what the hell can I get at it with? I turned off the water, then tried every tool I had to get at this fitting to no avail. I had to remove the water hose and get a socket on the fitting, only I did not have a socket to fit the damn thing. It required a 15/16 deep socket for the barbed fitting, which is screwed into an adapter fitting to the faucet. Swell, a trip to home depot. This is starting to turn into a money drip.

Once I got on the fitting I gave it a good quarter turn, re-assembled, then turned on the pump. More water. More water!? OK. Screw this. I'll give it a good manly turn. That'll fix it. After a grunt, a crack, and a knuckle slam, I realized I did something bad. Re-assembled and fingers crossed, I watched the water spray down the bulkhead with the pump droning in my ear. Son of a bitch! Something in the ugly plastic adapter fitting cracked, and I realized then, that it was going to be a long day on my back, contorted in ways a Yoga master would be proud of. Just one manly turn. When will I learn. Leak got bigger after a quarter turn? Hell man, give it more! Hit it with a hammer! Saw the fking thing in half! Destroy!!

 I won't bore you with the details (too late) and just say that four trips to both Home Depot and Lowe's, $40 dollars in stuff, a new faucet, new fittings and new hose has produced a drip free good looking addition to the galley.

The old faucet just cleared the sink. How stupid was that?

I replaced the old 1989 plumbing mash up with a nice modern hand tightened barbed fitting. This came in handy immediately as I realized I put the faucet in backwards, and the handles hit the wall when I turned them.

The old fittings in grey, and the new shiny one.

The junk fitting on the left is broken inside.
I guess they installed whatever was laying around the shop.

The crappy plastic nuts that come with a new faucet to hold it down are meant to be hand tightened, but the nut at at the Morgan factory decided to crank them down until they bit into the plywood. I had to cut one off with a Dremel. You know how hard it was to get a Dremel tool in that space? Let me count my fingers - Nine and a half, good to go.

Deb wanted people to know I'm not a complete slacker.
I would have been called "patchy" if that hose clamp had made contact
with my eyeball. Came too damn close. Safety glasses people!

Every one in my family knows how much I love plumbing, but for some strange reason this install did not leak at all after completion, so I'm on my way to get a lottery ticket today. If I won the lottery would I sell this boat? Believe it or not, as tempting as it would be to drive up to the Hinckley Yard to shop I would probably spend the money to make this the most gorgeous Morgan 44 on the water. I would leave the ugly looking scratches in the hull too, so people wouldn't mess with me. Never go through a lock with a boat that has scratches and yellow paint on it's hull. Just saying.

It actually felt good to have skinned knuckles, blood, sweat and tears, and curses flowing through the boat. Tools scattered everywhere, a bloody bandage on the floor, and broken plumbing parts made for a nice manly day. I didn't even fix dinner, make the bed or dust!

Hell Yeah!

P