HEADS We're returning north shortly and I suggested that Gerry not mess with the head on Dirty Girl until he comes back because I'm sure it will not go well. We had serious siphoning of sea water back into the holding tank which has been fixed twice and now he wants to negate all that work trying to fix a serious odour problem. His solution is to pull the holding tank out (so he can get to the hoses) and pump right out through the macerator. So after much effort the tank is out and sitting on the dock, the toilet has been tested and it appears to work but you have to go to the breaker panel in the salon to flush the toilet (temporarily). All is well - maybe. He heads out for coffee, showing me how to use the toilet - flick the breaker, extra water in a jug or pump the handle, yada yada yada. Well you can all guess how well that went when I tried it - it didn't work. The macerator pump grinded on and on but nothing left the toilet. Typical. Gerry is late getting back from coffee so I go over to Ramblynn - yep, you guessed it - not working either so we now had no working head - wonderful. Ramblynn was an easy fix (handle was just stuck) but alas Dirty Girl involved more ingenuity. Lots of messing around in the bilge trying to get really really old hoses to bend. ABS piping installed outside (attached to the pump-out connection) and voila - a cheap fix, but not a perfect one. Flushing the toilet now involves switching back and forth between dry and wet flush, crossing of fingers and exasperation when it takes 50 pumps to flush out (sticky valve?) You have to pump until it sucks air and leave hardly any water in the bowl or it will fill up and up and up. And of course there's a mystery leak - sometimes, but not always, so I get to mop up seawater every once in a while. I am not pleased. A proper thru hull has been promised the next time she's hauled out. Oh, almost forgot - the smell is gone!!
 |
| side view |
 |
| top view |
HOLES
The jeep has developed 2 good sized holes in the floor so off we go to the free market (aka bush) for some hardy metal to do the job.
 |
| Cutting apart an old stove |
 |
| I wandered down the road and found 3 signs in perfect condition. |
 |
| Cutting to size |
 |
| tarred-in patch |
Small children, pets, and feet are no longer in danger of falling through the floor.
HUMANE
Freeport humane society had its annual benefit dog show and rummage sale. The photo is the "potcake" event. Potcake comes from the congealed rice and pea mixture that local residents traditionally fed stray dogs.
Here's a link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potcake_dog
 |
| Rummage sale |
 |
| Potcakes are great dogs |
They have a real problem with stray cats and dogs and every year they run free spay and neuter clinics.
