Rudder Stuffing Box, Seacock Maintenance, Battery Charger Outlet, Potable Water Pump, 3/8/2008On Saturday, I started tackling some pre-launch maintenance. Most of those tasks have to wait for warmer temperatures, though, so in the meantime I'm working on a few upgrades as well.
Maintenance items:
Tightened the rudder stuffing box. I repacked it last year, but never adjusted it after some use. We continually had a small amount of water collecting in that area, so I got out the packing nut wrenches and tightened the stuffing box. It was pretty loose, so I hope this will take care of the water ingress.
Greased engine intake seacock. My understanding is that Spartan seacocks don't really need yearly disassembly despite Spartan's recommendation. But, our engine seacock was really getting difficult to move, so I took it apart again this year and regreased it. The head intake seacock seems to be fine.
Upgrades:
AC outlet. On Saturday, I finished installing a new outlet under the port bench. I put in a new GFCI outlet using the existing wiring for the outlet on the outside of the bench, and then wired it to feed the old outlet downstream. This will allow us to plug in the battery charger inside the bench, and at the same time, protect the existing outlet with a GFCI.
Potable water pump. Our old water pump cycles incessantly when we run the water, provides weak pressure, and is very loud. Modern pumps, like our new Jabsco Sensor-Max 14, allegedly are quieter and have continuous pressure switches that prevent on-off cycling. This was by no means an urgent upgrade, but I hope it will eliminate a minor but frequent annoyance. Unfortunately, it's also a difficult upgrade due mainly to the difficult to reach location of the pump (down low on the forward bulkhead in the engine compartment). I nearly completed the installation, but I broke one of the Qest plumbing fittings while reassembling. I'll have to complete the job next time.
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