Pump Day
When you’re staying at a marina renowned for its awesome showers, it hardly makes sense to bathe on the boat. Unless, of course, you’re doing so to test out the systems. Since the time we first picked up One Love, Rebecca, Michael and I have all been either using the transom shower or those in marinas. Because of that, we figured that before we get guests on board, it would be a good idea to make sure that the boat’s showers actually function as they should! As it turns out, the one shower I happened to choose (there are four on the boat) did not! Well, the shower worked OK but when it came time to pump the water out of the shower sump, nothing would happen. Typical.
There are numerous electric pumps on this boat and they all seem to be protected by strainers. That is a good thing as the strainers catch hair and other matter that the pumps wouldn’t like to have running through them. The strainers do have to be cleaned periodically though and based on the crap that I have been finding in them, I’m not so sure when that job was last completed.
I started my troubleshooting there, thinking that perhaps there was just a block in the line. When cleaning the strainer and checking the line to the pump didn’t work, I took advantage of the cat’s redundant systems to figure out the problem. As each of the port showers have their own sump pump, I swapped the hoses around and tested the water evacuation using the other unit. It worked as it should proving that the pump was faulty. Now all we needed to do was fix or replace it.
I snapped a quick photo of the pump before making our planned trip to the chandlery and was happy to find that they had one on their shelf. It wasn’t cheap* but then again, what boat part is? With the new pump in hand, Rebecca and I returned to One Love to tackle this and a few other repair jobs. It was a rainy day so inside work was the best stuff to be spending time on anyway.
Swapping the new pump for the defective one was a relatively painless job but it made me wonder how it would have transpired had we had guests on board. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.
*The Jabsco Pump that we needed can be acquired much cheaper from Amazon.
I think we’ll ask Michael to bring us one or two of these when he returns, just in case.
After fixing the shower pump we continued with our Pump Day fun by repairing the manual bilge pump using the service kit that we had purchased for it.
hmmm, now I’m feeling guilty for being lazy about fixing the drippy faucet.
Guilt is for mothers. I say put it off some more and have a beer.
Can’t thank you enough for your blog. Took several months of reading thru my lunch hour, but finally got all logs read from the beginning. We are 3 years away from retiring and getting out there (also need to sell 9 rental houses). Your blog helps not just by providing useful information, but also as an emotional boat “fix” to those of us who cannot take off right away.
We are currently working on getting physically into better shape (crossfit training) and learning languages (Spanish&French. We will learn knots, navigation and sailing lessons as we get closer to making this a reality. You info on spares taken with you and how they became needed helps to show the importance of planning ahead. It’s also good to know what kind of food items can be easily obtained and those that we need to bring with us.
Good luck with the new endeavor. Just want you to know that there are many many of us out there that appreciate your work.
Thanks very much, Cheryl. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are progressing.
According to another Lagoon 440 owner, there are just over 30 pumps of one sort or another on our boat. That suggest that with 4 staterooms ensuite, you probably have more.
I will count. I assume that number includes engine and generator pumps too.
Yes, all pumps. Bilge (we have 6), shower, toilet, shower sump, fuel, oil, a/c, domestic, water, deck wash, hydraulic steering, etc.
When I used to run charters the stew would clean the shower strainers daily when she cleaned the heads… Kind of a pain in the ass, but better than the alternative…
Kind regards,
Wiley Sharp
Well, that would certainly do it. The bareboat guys did not!