So what was I doing to injure myself !

You'll have seen from the last blog post I was fitting something that necessitated the removal of the back cabin steps.

Its been a job on the list since we brought Percy, in fact something notified on the survey. Now in my defence it was never fitted when built and when we brought Percy she was just 20 years old. What was it ....

.... a bilge pump !! How silly not to have one, well I did have one as did tony but not automatic and not fixed.  Tony had a manual syphon pump to remove and water that collected in the quite small stainless catch tray under the stern gland. I upgraded to an electrical pump I just dangled in every now and again.

Percy it a little unusual in that rather than a stern greaser you wind down at the end of the day there is a 'greasomatic' cartridge that has a constant pressure so while cruising there is always a minuscule (based on the amount of grease used) amount of grease dispensed to the shaft essentially constantly keeping the drips away and all nice and lubricated. it seems so logical so me - a little more expensive but very efficient.

However it was on the survey and it is a pain in the bum to remove the steps and plug in the little pump and pump the water out every now and again, I checked many times and there was nothing to remove. Also the biggest concern was the insurance, if anything had ever gong wrong it might have been a loop hole used by the insurers.

So I  eventually got around to fitting one ..... in two sittings. The first was the drilling holes in the hull stage and the second getting power to it direct from the batteries. I fitted a tidy control panel to make it complete.

Pictures .....

I picked up a nice set of core drills from Homebase when they were destocking  - been used extensively on my lads Flat in London and now the boat.

 I had the pipe and pump many years ! Just needed the time ..

Stage two after my back had got a bit better was to return and run some cable direct from the batteries to the pump and controller. I used my electrical ' fishing kit'  - you can just see the blue flexible stick running under the back counter through the engine room bulk head . I used sheathed cable but also put it in flexible conduit all the way - overkill but it'll never rub or perish in the harsh environment of the engine room - well not so harsh !

A quick test of the manual side and automatic and it works perfectly, the pump does not have a float but uses electronics to detect water level so should be more reliable. All worked so now at the end of each days cruise and randomly I just hit the manual switch and when off the boat just leave it in auto mode.

Cost me a holiday on the bike to Holland though !!!!