Wow, that smells like…….!

Big couple of days this week. I haven’t been on the road due to a cancelled business trip so it has felt like found time and I’ve taken advantage. I went to talk to the guys at Blue Water and realized I could spend a week on this or have them over for an hour and a half and have it done. Needless to say, they come over the next day and took the old starter off the boat. I am having it rebuilt for $200 and a rusty spare rebuilt for $280 so I should have starters covered. They’ll be back and installed with the new solenoid by the 15th.

I also got motivated and spliced in my new main sheet, ordered the hardware for a new mizzen sheet setup, and tackle for both of my running back stays. The hardware will be here Friday and I’ve already got the line ready to splice in. I also started to tackle a job I’ve been dreading. The fear of a 15 year old macerator pump and what may lie inside is paralyzing. Ok, I know I don’t always slow down to explain all the sailing lingo, but this one is worth it. A macerator pump has two purposes. On fishing boats they use them to drain live bait wells of anything that may still be in them. They are really good at it because the little blades inside chop everything up and make it pump out the hoses nice and easy. Fish and all. The second use is to empty the holding tanks on pleasure boats like Romance. Yep, septic.



















So, I donned a pair of fashionable latex gloves and started wrenching the old pump out of the boat. Guess what came out with it? You got it. Goo. Lots of very old, very smelly, gut wrenching, vomit on the spot, poop. I almost had to toss the whole damn sailing thing out the window. However, fortified by a cerveza, I rushed back into the head and wrapped the offending rags and pump in plastic trash bags and got it off the boat. This maneuver was followed by a quick epoxy job to shore up the mounting plate for the new pump and in it will go, tomorrow.

While that all dries I’ve dropped a couple of oil absorbers down into the bilge to try and mop up what amounts to way too much oil. I’ve been checking out a product called BioSok that is supposed to use bacteria to breakdown the hydrocarbons into non toxic compounds. I am a science geek. This stuff excites me and I can’t wait to try it.