Catching Up

Regular life has gotten in the way of boat work and and as result I'm a bit behind with updates on progress.  Last week I finally came to terms with the fact that our garden shed was a mess and I was faced with the prospect of spending $10-15k on having a new one built on site or fixing the rot and rebuilding the existing shed for a fraction of the cost.  I chose the cheaper route and fixed the rot.  

With that complete I moved back a few of the last boat projects before things get too cold to work.  I had been putting off installing the hoses to both the manual and high capacity bilge pumps until the engine install was completed.  With the engine installed and ready to go, I wanted to get the bilge pump hoses installed so I could screw down the floors and complete the salon interior.  

I ordered 35 feet of 1-1/2" Shields Series 140 VAC Standard Hose for both pumps and when it arrived I put on my boat yoga pants and started crawling around looking for the best route for the hoses.  I finally decided to send the hoses aft from the pumps along the starboard side of the engine and then over to the port side behind the engine to the manual pump and discharge fittings on the stern.  

I had on hand about 10 feet of heavy duty sanitation hose and decided to make the initial connections in the bilge using this and connect the Shields hose for the run out of the boat.  The sanitation hose should last longer in nasty bilge conditions.  I double clamped the sanitation hoses just below the floorboards to the Shields hoses and ran them side by side aft.  A few hours and dozens of zip ties later I had the hoses secured all the way to the manual pump.  From the manual pump the automatic pump hose diverged and continued aft to a loop above the final discharge fitting where I double clamped the hose at the stern.  I installed the new manual pump (Whale Gusher 10) in the same location as the old one and fitted the hose to that and then from the discharge side, the hose met back up with the automatic pump hose to the stern fitting (the fitting is separate, but adjacent to the automatic pump discharge).  

With that complete, I was able to lay the flooring back down and screw it into place.  I hope I won't have to take it all back up again, but testing in the spring will determine how good a job I did. I'll be bringing all the cushions back over from the basement this week and should have a fully complete salon by weeks end.