Boat Repairs

Everything was in working order when we left Florida but by the time we arrived in Marsh Harbor we had quite a list of necessary repairs.

The "no reverse" problem is fixed. It was just a linkage problem, or I should say, a storage problem. I have this huge spotlight, which really came in handy when we were motoring south on Lake Worth at 3:15 AM, which was stowed in the sail locker. Unfortunately it is so big it was blocking the shift linkage from moving back so I couldn't hit reverse. I have found a new place for it so problem solved.

I put mid-ship cleats on both sides of Summer Snow which will take the place of the sliding cleat that I have been using for the spring line. The sliding cleat is the one that broke when we were docking. I replaced the stock stern line cleats last spring with big 8 inch heavy duty cleats and so I will use the old stern cleats for the new mid-ship cleats. I sure am glad I have my portable drill with!

The toilet became difficult to flush the other day so that became my next project. Brock opted to go to the Internet Cafe while I worked on the toilet. I put on my oldest cutoffs and t-shirt, got out some rubber gloves and my snorkel mask and prepared to do battle with the feared "JOKER VALVE". The joker valve, I don't know who named it that, is the part of a marine toilet that seems to give the most problems because it is the part though which all the "stuff" goes through. Yuck!. My strategy was to dump a few pails of sea water in the toilet and force it through to clean it out as much as possible first. The first bucket was very difficult to get flushed but the second was much easier. I did a third and wa-la, it was back to normal. Yippee!!!

The last project was to replace the broken anchor locker latch. There is a marine supply store in Marsh Harbor so I walked up town to buy a new latch. The store guy was very helpful and pointed out the latch I needed. $65 BUCKS! NO WAY! It's just a little latch, it can't cost that much. I say "thank you very much but I think I'll find a different solution". So back to the boat I go. I have this habit of keeping lots of junk stashed in secret places and that is where I found the old latch that I had bought for the sail locker but never used. It works just fine and actually looks like it belongs there :>)