Wildlife and Head Problems

I finally found a place where there are birds and iguanas that is within easy rowing distance, so I was able to get a few more wildlife photos.  On the down side, my head failed rather dramatically. (No, the marine toilet!)  It took three days of sometimes yucky, frustrating or back-breaking work, but it is now fixed and working properly.  Here's the story:

I devoted one entire morning to more exploration of the
canals around Marina Mazatlán.

Much of what was once estuary has become golf courses

and very expensive homes and condos.

Fortunately some wildlife remains.  This is a turkey

vulture warming up on the rocky rip-rap of the canal.

Turkey vulture eating a dead fish.  Not a pretty sight, but

better than a stinking, rotting dead fish!

 

A rare sight:  an iguana in the water

Showing off his mohawk?

A yellow-crowned heron peaks out from its hidey hole.

Gotta be stealthy to catch them exposed.

Tri-colored herons are even more skittish.  I got this image

just before this one took off.

Mexican grackles, on the other hand, can be

obnoxiously unafraid of people.  This one landed

right on my table while I was eating lunch.

I guess it knew a sloppy eater when it saw one.

Just another average sunset in the marina

My faithful Skipper head suddenly failed

in mid flush.  The big pump lever felt

like something gave way and it was no

longer connected to the pump piston.

First steps were dismounting the whole thing and then

pulling the handle to make it a little easier to get the

58-pound monster through the narrow companionway

and on deck.

Of course hose connections had to be broken, a 

rather delicate operation considering what both the

toilet and hoses contained.  Rubber gloves, 

disposable rags and a containment vessel

successfully averted a potential catastrophe.

Still yucky, though.

Head removed.  A Ziploc bag catches drips

from the hoses.

Getting the heavy thing up on deck without damaging

something took some planning and care as well as muscle,
but I did it.

Toilet inverted, the bottom plate removed and the guts

exposed.

The culprit:  the crescent-shaped key that

locks the pump lever to the shaft that 

connects to the pump piston lever had

come out, so the pump lever just spun

on the shaft.

The key was able to come out because the keyway had been

widened by corrosion and possibly by being sheered away

when pumping while the shaft had slipped out of position.

Fortunately the rebuild kit contained a replacement

lever.  Part of the reason the kit is more than $130.

The new lever and a new raw water intake

 flap spring installed and gasket mating surfaces

prepped for reassembly.  Only problem was

the spring retaining screw would not go back

in all the way, which prevented proper movement

of the lever.  I had to re-tap the hole threads

and replace the machine screw to fix it.

Back together and getting repainted.

Reinstalled and working fine...once I

remembered the trick to re-priming

the pump so it would take in sea water.

Just in time, too.  But that's another story!