I was starting to doubt I would ever see the day we had a working refrigerator…but that day is here (or so I thought). Rich worked on the electrical connections yesterday, and first thing this morning he coiled up the evaporator plate and stuck it in the freezer. That part went smoothly; getting it uncoiled while inside the freezer was the hard part. Once that was in place, he installed the thermostat, connected the compressor, and then…nothing. He troubleshot (troubleshooted?) for the rest of the day, then this morning bypassed the Merlin Speed Controller and Ta Da! Refrigeration. I guess the Merlin thingy is broken so it’s going back to Swedish Marine for a replacement.
Meanwhile, I thought it might be a fun challenge for Rich to try to do all this work without any floorboards in place. I’m amazed he didn’t fall in and break his neck. I took all the floorboards and stringers to the workshop, sanded the back sides and painted them with Durapoxy. I even painted the little dust bin box that sits in the floor in galley. On Saturday I sanded the entire bilge and rubbed it down with Brushing Liquid 333 (it should be called Brushing Liquid Gold for as expensive as it is). First thing Sunday I applied the first coat of Bilge Kote. This stuff is great. It goes on smoothly and finishes nice and glossy. While the first coat of Bilge Kote was drying I painted the exposed wood joists with Durapoxy. I knew one coat was not going to cover the old stains or the blue paint, so on Monday, I sanded the Bilge Kote with a Scotch Bright pad, vacuumed all the sanding dust and detritus that had fallen in the bilge, and applied the second coat of Bilge Kote. It’s amazing what a nice coat of paint will do for a room. The results are amazing. Personally, I think the deep part of the bilge could use a third coat, but I’m not sure Rich will allow me to tear the boat apart again.
Rich cleaned up the bilge pump with Simple Green and mounted it to a new base – an old piece of Corian we had from our old house. Now the pump sits snuggly in the low point of the bilge and it sits about an inch lower than before.
Rich also cut off the clogged holding tank vent. We’re still not sure why we weren’t able to pump out the tank though. We thought the dip tube was clogged or corroded, but with the inspection camera, Rich could see it was clear and in decent shape. The vent tube being clogged could have been the problem, but the clog was soft and wasn’t that bad after all. Rich was able to stick a wire through the gunk so it seems that pressure from the suction would have been able to clear it enough to pump it out.
