Monday, April 18, 2011

WATER HEATER

Apr. 18, 2011---Maryann took a few photos today so our readers can see the Dream Manor does still exist! A little windy but quite a pleasant day with temperature reaching close to 80 degrees. Keith and I made another drive to Paducah for a few supplies we needed to finish a project or two. Managed to get the correct fuse for the voltage tester. Not bad for the second trip. May yet get the GFI changed out on the flybridge to put the icemaker back in operation. Picked up a little plastic funnel extension so we could dump the gasoline out of the dingy fuel tank into his vehicle. Want to start with fresh fuel when we get around to running the dingy. A little old gasoline mixed in brother's vehicle surely won't be a problem! Back at Green Turtle Bay we picked up the heating element that we had on order for the hot water heater. Have not had hot water since getting on the boat last week. Figure the element was damaged when the power was first on and no water in the heater. Turned out to be a major event as the plastic drain valve was badly cracked and leaked water any time the valve was opened. Finally had to disconnect the upper line from the heater to get air in the vessel so it would drain at all. After making a good mess we had to completely disconnect the heater and move it away from the wall to get enough leverage with very large water pump pliers to remove the broken valve. Once the valve was removed, more mess was created from bottom sludge draining out on the floor of the crawl space. After working in tight quarters and getting up and down numerous times the last trip up the cutty stairs with a full pan of the dirty bottom fluid must have been too much. As I fell backwards from the stairs I left the pan setting on the cabin floor and fell backwards into the edge of the open door to the lower bathroom. Damaged the door and felt quite foolish from the clumsy maneuver. No I am not hurt. Just a red line down my back made by the door edge. We connected hot and cold water lines together as a bypass around the water heater so water service could be restored to the boat. Still no hot water of course! Will require another trip or two into town for supplies! The saga will continue.


























2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which way are you headed when you leave Green Turtle? We'll be at Midway on the Tenn-Tom until mid-May.
Delighted you folks are back to boating!

Carol from "Miss Nauti"

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear from you. Hope the bad weather misses you folks. If the Mississippi ever settles down we may go up the river as far as we can. However with fuel cost so high and flooding such a problem we may spend more time on the Tennessee. Really don;t have a clear plan. Will be at Green Turtle Bay for a couple of months.