From Nowhere To Nowhere And Back Again!

SHIP'S LOG:

It may not sound like all that much but today highlighted by getting a hose out of the bilge. The trail of the hose began in the aft cabin, in the bilge which formerly held the refrigeration & auto-pilot units. It was a rather small(1/4" diameter) hose but it went everywhere and the thing was I couldn't tell if it was important or not. Actually it turned out that there were two hoses, both he same size, both wandering hither and yon through the bilge. And I couldn't just yank them out either as I had no idea around what they might be wrapped and to what they might be connected. Though I couldn't think of anytime that they had played any part in anything since I have owned ABISHAG, there was always the possibility that they did. Thus it was that care had to be taken to slowly, carefully, gently pull them one at a time through the successive floor hatches that cover the bilge. Just to make things more interesting, they were run through limber holes wire race ways increasing the likelihood of pulling on the wrong piece of equipment. Then too, for some probably-at-one-time very serious reason, both had three way valve right in the middle of the hose. This meant that once I un-snaked the hose from one end as far as the valve, I had to stop and locate the other end before I could go any farther. Once I found it and determined that it was not "doing anything". I could then un-snaked that portion of the hose back to the three-way valve and then remove the entire mess from the bilge. I ended up having to do this twice and in both cases the hoses were not attached to anything at either end. I have no idea what purpose they served in the past but now they were "just hanging in the breeze" and so out they came.

I was able to snake the wire for the auto-pilot unit from the stern and across the engine. At that point, it split with the ground attached to the engine and the "hot" attached to a buss bar somewhere in the "IN-Law" Apartment. I want to check with someone first before I disconnect them though it does seem a simple procedure with no real complexities..

It was too nice to spend all the day inside the boat so I took the opportunity to "polish the brass." Actually, it as "polishing" the bronze - the prop and the thru-hulls. A wire brush on the drill made rather quick work of getting the paint and the scale off, along with the remains of the sea-creatures from last year.

The counterpoise for the SSB is shot. To get the 50' worth laid out, it has to be folded around corners and unfortunately, since it is in the bilge and there is often water in the bilge, it tends to corrode and in places it has done so with a vengeance. It is broken is several places and will have to be replaced. And as Will Shakespeare was wont to say, "Aye, There's the rub." There has got to be a better way to lay it out if I am going to go with the copper ribbon again. there has got to be some way to lay it out so that it is out of the way, out of the water, and still able to do it's job. What that way is I haven't a clue but I'll find it. And by the way, following that ribbon around and through the bilge may the hose thing seem like child's play. Another part of the grounding/counterpoise system is called a "Dyna Plate" and is affixed on the outside of the hull, with connection through the hull into the interior to which the counterpoise is attached. I can put an eyeball on the plate on the outside, but I can't seem to find where it makes its entrance on the inside. I have a funny feeling that it is somewhere under the water heater.

The backs of my hands look like I took a blast from a fowling piece. All these little holes that scab over at night and get re-opened whenever I have to fish around in the bilge. It is the same every year, right down to the places where the cuts show up. All part of the fun of boating!