Dirty boat jobs 4 Aug 19

17º 35.117s 149º 36.935w

Sun Aug 04 2019

Yesterday I got to deal with the ugliest task on the boat. Replace the flexible 1.5” pipe between the master head toilet and the holding tank, about 7 feet of horror. At 11 years old the material had become porous enough to allow noxious gasses to seep through. On JollyDogs this phenomenon manifested itself in an unpleasant odor especially in the port engine compartment where the holding tank lives. Isabel and I divide our responsibilities and maintenance tasks according to our ability and all machinery and electrical maintenance are mine to deal with, so the simple task of inspecting the port engine for fluid levels and leaks had become somewhat “unpleasant”. Time do make that problem go away.

Turns out that marine sewage plumbing, and I suppose any black water sewage plumbing, collects deposits of “stuff” over the years of use, ultimately clogging the pipes up. I’ll have to ask our pal Jack Gray whether he’s had that issue with his RV. Jack takes his RV to some cool places such as Death Valley, Alaska (everywhere there) and Silverton Colorado. There’s a great boutique rum distillery there. Isabel and I were camping up there a few years ago by the creek near the trail head for Ice Lake and we drove into town for a fancy rum drink – mint and some other things muddled together with the local rum. Damn good! In the course of the evening we met a fellow from Austin Texas who summered there – he had a house just a few blocks away. Anyway, he was telling us he got so loaded at the boutique rum distillery a couple weeks prior that he was too drunk to walk home, so he had to drive. I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone say something like that before or since.

So Jack drives his RV to these various destinations while towing his jeep, then once he sets up base camp off he crunches into the back of beyond with his other jeep friends, either making it through the pass, getting stuck or breaking a steering tie rod. No worries, he carries a portable welder to fix that. The 4wd club folks are smart to poke around the outback together because it sounds like somebody needs to be rescued pretty often. Not so different from what we’re experiencing out here; it’s not uncommon to make water for someone in need or help troubleshoot a malfunctioning piece of machinery or electrical gear.

Now where was I? Oh yeah – sewage plumbing. Step 1 is to stop using that particular head for anything “serious” for a couple weeks before the big event. Step 2 is to be in a marina with access to lots of pressurized fresh water so that you can thoroughly flush out the entire plumbing system, holding tank and all; that’s actually routine maintenance on a sailboat and I suppose an RV as well. Step 3 is to get everything as “empty” as possible then put a bucket under the lowest point in the hose and poke a hole so that the “water” can leak out into the bucket and not contaminate the bilge.

It’s a rather unpleasant operation, but eventually everything is drained and the fun of removing the old hose section begins. There’s just nothing like those colorful utility knives they sell at Harbor Freight – the ones that use disposable razor blades. Self-sharpening! Anyway, a utility knife with a new blade makes short work of the hose removal job, just be careful not to score the plastic couplings that hose attaches to at the toilet end and the tank end. Examine the stainless steel hose clamps that were removed for damage or corrosion and replace as necessary. It’s not uncommon to find broken hose clamps while examining plumbing components – just part of what the marine environment does to stuff. The secret magic trick is to use a heat gun to carefully warm up the ends of the pipe then apply lots of dish soap to fitting and pipe end alike before mating them together, otherwise the fit is so tight that it’s impossible to slide the new hose all the way on to the couplers.

Once everything is mated together carefully tighten the hose clamps – 2 at each coupling in case 1 fails later, then conduct a fresh water test for quite a few flushes to check for leaks. All good? Congratulate yourself, clean up all the tools and escaped “debris” and then clean yourself up. It’s a nasty job, but part of the “pride of boat ownership”.

Finally, celebrate with a rum cocktail at sunset! My friend Greg Parker was in medical school while I was at engineering grad school, and while visiting him one Friday evening at UNC Chapel Hill he took me to see the cadaver he had been hacking on in anatomy class. He and his classmates had named her “Isabel”, a bit spooky to think about since I married a lady of the same name. Anyway, the smell of formaldehyde was incredibly strong in the lab, and in an effort to rid our lungs of that we went for Mexican food. Probably not a great idea after looking at dead people parts (one of those things you just can’t “unsee”), didn’t seem terribly appetizing, but the margaritas did seem to help clear out the respiratory tract.

Sure am glad we had some rum!