Making headway on the project list...

In my first week of retirement, I'm very happy to report the following projects are complete:

1) The forward head has finally been fixed. What started as a clog about 6 months turned into replacing all of the pump parts and much of the hose leading from the head. Thanks to Fisher for some of the help (he did lose a bet and had to help me, but still, thanks). It turns out that the secret ingredient to this project was KY Jelly. I never thought I'd be proclaiming my love for KY on the interwebs, but here I am. After much swearing and procrastinating, I added some lube and the sanitation hose slipped onto the hose barbs with only a little more swearing.

2) The diesel heater that died the night from hell the night from hell has been unclogged (it's been a good week for unclogging). We have a Dickinson diesel heater and there is a nut at the very bottom which can be unscrewed which opens up a passage in the fuel line from inside the heater. Unclogging it is as easy as using the unclogger do-hicky to clear the fuel line through that passage. Poof! The heater is better than ever! We now have a boat that doubles as a sauna!

3) And we finally have a boat name! Yes, the re-naming ceremony did happen around the time the forward head got clogged, but who's keeping track? We got some tips on how to apply the lettering which worked really well:

a) Tape the name in the desired location with painters tape (on the top only)


b) Cut the lettering between each letter


c) Remove the backing from the adhesive one letter at a time

d) Use a straight edge to flatten the letters from the top down as the adhesive makes contact with the hull



e) Remove the top layer ensuring that each corner stays adhered to the hull


f) Ta da!!!



What might have worked better would have been if we applied the name within a month or two of getting it printed. Instead, we decided to test its durability and throw it around the boat for 6 months. For all of the abuse, it did pretty well...though we might have ended up with a few less air bubbles had we applied it last summer.

Jason is still working on the nav desk project that he started before his retirement...