As I shared in an earlier post, having Harmony in the water this year gave us an opportunity to test all the systems and gear that we had been able to install and get working. Since I pushed the re-launching to give me a bit of a break from the dreariness of the boat yard, we didn't have every bit of equipment or systems ready to test. However, we had enough to sort out.
The systems and pieces of gear that I found to either not work so well or at the very least needed improvement included (1) pressure fresh water system; (2) boat leaks; and (3) miscellaneous little things. The worst situation involved a complete replacement, while most issues entailed redesign and installation.
The most frustrating of the systems we were able to test was the pressure fresh water system. Now, let me first state very loudly, the electrical side of this system was flawlessly connected by Greg, The Boat Doctor. The issue was related solely to the hardware side of the equation.
Harmony has 3 sets of faucets plus a on-board shower mixer. For the faucets, I had selected typical domestic versions rather than the relatively over priced marine versions. For the head sinks, I installed 2 cheap vanity faucets priced at $10 each from Lowe's. For the galley sink I chose a Moen kitchen faucet with a pull-out spray head which is relatively ubiquitous in most houses kitchens. The shower mixer was the only marine fitting I installed and it was an Ambassador fitting.
When I pressurized the system, the $10 faucets worked flawlessly and the shower mixer worked fine with the exception of a small drip at the hose connection. I guess I didn't use enough Teflon tape. However, the Moen kitchen faucet leaked like Niagara Falls! Yes, "step by step, slowly I turn...." type of leak. The leak was internal to the mechanism, which indicated that the entire faucet was not fixable and was, therefore, absolute junk!
After much thought and consternation, I finally broke down and bought a marine unit that is actually sold as a pull-out shower faucet. This was the exact type of unit I removed during demolition, although abused by time. The connections were really easy to do, but getting this faucet to attach firmly to the galley count/sink was a huge challenge. I had to fabricate custom under sink fittings out of Starboard to get the assembly to attach tightly. However, once pressurized, walla, no leaks!
Now, a little note on water usage. Since this issue took several weeks to resolve, we had been using manual water pumps to get fresh water out of the tanks. Talk about miserly usage. When the tanks were drained for the winter, we still had over 100 gallons left of our 200 gallon supply. This was after almost 8 weeks or 25 days of use for cooking, washing, and drinking. I am sure the pressure water system would have sucked out a heck of a lot more!
Boat leaks! Even though I had spent copious amounts of time sealing all of the discovered sources of leaks, my efforts were not totally successful. We have leaks at each of 3 deck fill fittings (2 fresh water and 1 diesel fuel), and it became maddeningly obvious that our caprail/bulwark area still leaked, A LOT. These leak areas were the same spots that caused all of the interior rotting that I had to fix during restoration. SOB!
Our teak decks will need resealing, and the water coming in from the deck fills is caused by water traveling under the decking in those areas and finding the hole in the deck. I will remove the deck fills and fabricate a fiberglass dam around each hole to effect a true water tight situation. It will be a little more involved now that I have installed the interior, but not impossible.
Now, the caprail on the bulwarks is a different story. Leaks here are common on Westsails. Generally, the hull/deck connection at the bulwark is a very solid and strong situation. However, to attach the 4" teak caprail and other fittings, that lateral bulwark surface is pierced by screws and other fasteners. Over time, the bedding material around these fastener holes deteriorates and fails.
So, I will have to remove the caprails, fill the old screw holes, fiberglass over the surface, and then reattach the caprails. Technically not difficult, but time consuming. The Westsail Owner's Association has copious notes on this so all I need to do is to do it. More on this during a future posting.
Some miscellaneous items include redoing the companionway step design. It worked quite well, but what I had originally constructed showed itself to be a pain to disassemble to access the engine batteries stored there. Now that I have experienced how the galley/dinette cabinetry works with the steps, I have a better design I mind. I will do this over the winter.
Our aft cabin sleeping situation needs some tweaking now that we have christened it. The cushions are remarkably comfortable thanks to Judy at Nautilus Cushions, but the Admiral needs a bit of a head board on her side, as her pillows keep falling off and during the night her slumbering need for a headboard causes her feet to end up in my face. Not a pleasant thing for her feet, I assure you! Since I need to make some leeclothes, I will design and sew something to solve this.
Additionally, I will construct a better step-up system to get to the bunk. Since I had to raise the berth height about 6 inches to accommodate the autopilot, getting into the berth requires a bit of a climb. While I could hook up the bosun's chair on the mizzen halyard to get the Admiral into the berth, that process may just have a few issues! I will fabricate some nice teak steps to coordinate with the rest of the interior.
There were issues related to storage of items, but that is too minor to discuss here. Anyway, the plumbing issues and deck leaks provided the most concern. The plumbing problems have been addressed, but I will need to focus on the leaking concern this Winter and next Spring.
Fair Winds and Following Seas!
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