Odd Jobs

The water hasn’t been draining as well as we would like in the hand basin and that became the first of today’s odd jobs.  I managed to dismantle the complete trap and drain.  I was surprised to see it wasn’t choked with hair but rather a build-up of soap and grease.  It was possible to see down the flexible hose to the brass exit flange on the hull.  But the diameter of the pipe had reduced.  I managed to poke a length of dowel down the hose and then reassembled everything before boiling a full kettle of water and pouring it into the hand basin.  That appeared to solve the problem.  It’s 23 months since we moved on board which now gives me an indication of the maintenance cycle.

The second task was to make up the water pump pre-filter connections using the fittings I was able to buy in Braunston.

I would have preferred a plastic elbow as the combined weight of the elbow and hose tail will place quite a strain on the connection to the pump which is at the rear of the filter.  As you can see I sealed the threads with tape.  The last thing I want is 800 litres of water in the bilge because the plastic connector on the back of the filter failed!  The proprietor of the chandlery told me this had happened to him with the same filter.  Now I’m wondering whether I should fit it.  If I do then I’ll need to make up some type of support mechanism to prevent the weight of the brass fittings straining the filter connector.

We have two dehumidifiers that are in constant use during winter.  The smaller is now two years old and Jan informs me it’s not working properly.  I’ll have to dismantle and repair it.  I’ve also noticed they both have a “power brick” which converts 240v AC to 12V DC. 

This hasn’t been an issue during the last two winters as we have been on shore power.  Next winter will probably be different and I’ve therefore decided to cut the power brick off and fit a 12V cigarette power socket.  It doesn’t make sense to generate 12V power and then convert it to 240V through the inverter just to run the dehumidifiers.  They can run directly off the 12V supply.

The remainder of the day was spent doing some serious modifications to the swivel arm that hold the TV.  Oh how I wish I’d spent the extra few quid and purchased a proper hacksaw instead of the toy 6” saw.  It took ages to make all the cuts in the bracket.

The pantry shelves are getting low so tomorrow we’ll have to do some serious food shopping.