a lot.
the end.
Just kidding! It has been a busy, productive April, May, June, July, and August. MACH 5 looks like a cruising boat now! Mark and me (Christiana) are pooped! We had about a week of total days off since returning to the boat from the ranch at the end of March. I mean, all the days, not that old-fashioned construct of work days and weekends. In five months, we have had about a week–scattered about–of projects, progress, and anchoring. We also drove the van south to the ranch and returned to the Bay Area via Amtrak. Came back with cooties. Not COVID, we tested. We have the good old common cold.
Listing all the projects would be kinda boring and I’d forget some so I thought I’d entertain you with how a project becomes a boat project.
The Head
Our forward head (aka bathroom, specifically toilet) had a questionable toilet and macerator. (If you want to know more about macerators, google it. It ain’t for the weak! I can do poop talk all day but I’ll spare you.) In our final years of land life, we became accustomed to bidets. I seriously don’t know how I survived life pre-bidet. We missed having one terribly. Luckily, the marine head manufacturers understood us. They make one!
- We started in Sep 2021 with an order from Dometic. With all the pandemic supply chain issues, in Feb 2022, on the advice of our dealer, we switched to a Raritan brand bidet toilet.
- It arrived, broken, in April 2022. Like the porcelain bowl broke. Dealer reordered, yada, yada.
- New one arrived in late May or early June 2022. The bidet nozzle is broken. Dealer leaves us with the main toilet and places a parts order. Toilet proceeds to live in the van for June and part of July.
- New nozzle arrives! YAY! Let’s install.
Mark figures three days to install. It took about three weeks. Why?
- Remove and discard the old toilet.
- Remove and discard about 60′ of old black water hose that leads to the black water tank. Think, sewer line.
- To replace the black water hose, one must unload the v-berth and find places for all.that.stuff. That was a half-day alone. The v-berth is our garage, storage closet, and proverbial junk drawer all-in-one.
- Mark did an AMAZING job of minimizing spillage of effluent. But, we had a bit.
- Cleaning. Cleaning. Cleaning.
- The new hose needs to be cut to the proper lengths. This takes a good half-day too.
- We removed a vent filter.
- Moved the handle that you turn to direct the black water overboard when out to sea. This meant cutting a small door in the teak base of the v-berth bed.
- Discovered the black water tank’s vent line and vent on the hull were undersized. If you wonder what that could lead to, google black water tank explosion. It really ain’t for the weak. This meant another new hose and making a new hole in the hull (never fun).
- Seal the old, smaller vent line port on the black water tank, and unseal the bigger one, which thank goodness existed!
- Run the new hose from under the v-berth bed and holding tank to various pumps, the vent, through walls, under the shower, and finally, attach it to the toilet. Discharge plumbing is complete!
- We added a bidet so now we need plumbing from the fresh water tank to the bidet nozzle. And, oh, BTW, we need to convert the toilet to fresh water flush–instead of pumping seawater in for flushing. No one wants a bidet of seawater and life. This meant more plumbing, tapping into existing fresh water hoses, and running electrical for the flush and bidet.
- It’s electric and modern so remove the ancient push-button flush and replace it with a fancy touchscreen with four flushing options. This meant a new mounting hole is cut in the side of the sink counter.
- Remember how I said we had to run hoses through walls and under the shower? Yes, the cabinetry of the bathroom–shower and sink sides–had to come out. This means the beautiful teak had to be carefully put back in the end.
- Since the cabinetry of the shower was out, it was time to inspect the only interior part of MACH 5 that had water damage when we bought her. Yep, a teak board in the shower area. It had to be replaced. We had to replace some vinyl that was in the shower–which also meant driving to another city for a Joann’s Fabric because Vallejo didn’t have fabric (like at all).
- This also meant that the lights that needed replacing in the v-berth, shower area, and sink area should be replaced during this project because access.
- Finally, sanding and varnishing woodwork in the zones.
- And, re-chaulking the shower.
So that’s how replacing a toilet for 3 days becomes plumbing, electrical, woodworking, cabinetry, driving around the Bay Area, and moving stuff over the course of 3 weeks.
