Peeing again

    Before I get to the titled topic, I'll give a recap of the last, oh, month or so. We left off last post just after having moved the shed, and putting a few pieces of flooring down to sit the simulator rigs onto. Well, shortly after that, I was able to rent a trailer and borrow my dad's Kubota tractor.

    

    The trailer was a little overkill - it's an equipment trailer from a local rental company but meant for heavier machines. Fortunately it didn't put me over the rated weight for my GL, and other than the lights not working (even after the gent that hooked it up at the rental place gave me a thumbs up and said all good), it did the job fine. I'll admit, while I've driven an older model around a little when I was much younger, I've never worked attachments on one, or any other machine. I had a good teacher, though, and it wasn't long before I had managed to make myself a long hole in the ground leading to the shed.

    I managed to get everything done between the afternoon I got the tractor home, and the following morning, and was able to load it and return it back to my dad's in PA. Over the next couple weeks, I managed to get the conduit laid, and some 2-2-2-4 Aluminum MHF cable run from end to end. I fixed the decrepit backing board where my meter is mounted, and filled most of the trench back in. 

    I purchased and mounted a structured media panel which is like a plastic version of an electric panel in which people normally mount tv, phone, and internet connections. In my case, it's strictly internet. This allows me to feed all the Cat6 that is run through the walls through a Linksys router and Netgear 16 port switch. I also mounted a patch panel in the mix. Part of me thought I should just put ends on the cables and plug them into the switch, but in the event I ever need or want to change it out, I'm a step ahead I guess. 

    My intent is to create a full series of small jumpers to bridge the panel and switch, but as you can see there are two full 2' cables tucked in there at the moment. They work, and with the panel closed you can't see them, but eventually I'll get the new ones made, unless anyone knows where to purchase a dozen 3" patch cords. 

    I also added in the rest of the lights, so there's a full set of eight now, and purchased a new 55" 4K TV to act as the flight sim monitor. That took a little wiggling to fit, but it works, and after recently building a new desktop PC to run it all - although using my older video card as it was the only one I had or could get my hands on - and now both rigs are fully functional. It only took two days to download all the games and updates and whatnot. 

    So now that I've caught up to that with the update, let's get back to boat things. A couple weekends ago, I was able to get up to the boat for the first time in a few weeks and go out for a while. Great wind, and other than a moment of panic when I saw the forestay was very, VERY loose, it was a good time. Not to fret, it was when I first hoisted the main, and realized the backstays were a-floppin', so I dropped sail, and ran to the bow with pliers at the ready. I suspect what had happened, was the previous outing on the boat, ended with me taking the time to re-tension my shrouds at the dock. I must've forgotten to re-check the forestay/backstay tension afterwards, leaving it a little looser than it should be. At the dock, I must not have even noticed it, but once there was a load it became apparent. No harm done, thankfully. On the way back in to the channel, I also noticed there was a drastic lack of water shooting out of the tell-tale on the outboard. For those that remember, and for those that do not, my dad and I never did get the lower unit to budge, so my first concern was that the impeller - of which I had no access to - was shot. Strange since it had been pumping very strong all last year and this, but things happen. 

    I felt the motor, and it wasn't running hot, but now I had that in the back of my mind. No issues getting back to the dock, but I also decided to put off investigating until I had more time to myself.

    

    That time, as it turned out, was this weekend. I went up Saturday afternoon, where the weather was breezy but a good temperature. I had stopped along the way and picked up a spool of trimmer string, and a can of compressed air. As luck would half it, I didn't need either. I dunked the motor down into position and started it, and sure enough, hardly any water from the tell tale. A couple drops, maybe. Well then. I pulled the cowl off after shooing some spiders away, and set it on the dock. I pulled the hose from the cover on the side of the engine, and tried blowing through it, and zero airflow. This was actually a relief as it pointed towards a blockage in the hose versus an impeller issue. Ok, so let's pull the hose off what the parts diagram calls a "Water Nipple" that fits through the lower cowl. Well wouldn't you know it, the only thing holding that nipple in place is the hose. So without realizing it, I pop the hose off and promptly watch the little white piece of plastic bloop right into the water, and sink. Great. I figured while I was there, I might as well test my theory, and hooked the hose back up. Started up the motor one more time, and sure enough there was a steady stream of water. The blockage, whatever it was, was in that now-gone piece. Could've been spiders, could've been anything, but either way it's gone now. The only problem was that now I can't route the tell-tale hose back out of the cowl. The hole was just barely big enough for the fitting, and not enough to shove or squeeze the hose back through. Not wanting to leave it, a trip to Lowes was in order. Best I could find, was this.

    Now even this wasn't perfect. The inner diameter of the hose, is 3/16". The closest fitting they had in plastic, was 1/4". And as it turns out, the hole for the fitting in the cowl? Well it's barely over 3/16" itself. What I ended up doing, was heated up one end with a lighter, then used a pair of pliers as a hammer and tapped it in from the outside. This actually, somehow, worked. The barbs squeezed into the hole, and I was able to still push the hose on. I originally wanted to cut this piece off, so it didn't stick out, but I would've had no leverage to do it. I suppose a pair of diagonal cutters would do the job now, but I've also just found that part number 353-01138-0 is all I need, and is about seven dollars. Is it stupidly overpriced for something that is, in effect, half of the piece I put in there? Yep. But, it's also OEM, and doesn't look out of place or anything, and in the event that I ever need to sell the motor, I'd like to have that normalcy. So I'll order one or two of those, and keep them on hand. In the meantime, I'm pleased that upon motor startup, a nice steady stream of water once again flowed from the tell-tale. 

    Due to the breeze, and it did kick up overnight, I didn't do anything beyond that, and some light cleanup. And by cleanup, I mean pest control - note to self: Get stronger spider spray. I settled in and watched a couple movies, and before I knew it, it was 3 AM and I had to tell myself to get to sleep. It might not have been just me though - there's a Hunter two slips down with a furler that was slightly coming unraveled, and flop-flap-flupping around when the winds would gust up a little. Unfortunately, at 3 AM and a boat I'm not familiar with, I wasn't really in a good position to go try to remedy the situation. I didn't think they were up for the weekend, though this morning it did look like it was tightened back up. Could've been a yard hand, I'm not sure. I didn't wake up until 10 AM, and honestly after I fell asleep, I was out for the night and no sounds awoke me. 

    I nearly went out this morning, but alas, responsibilities called - the lawn was only half mowed at home thanks to rain nearly every day. But as it wasn't raining, but instead hot and sunny, I knew that I would have limited chances to finish it off before the rains come again. So instead, I grabbed a couple bottles of water - still cold, so my wiring fix is still effective - and headed home.

    But at least my outboard can relieve itself once again.