The Saga of the Toilet of Circadian

In my last post I talked about tackling the leak from the pump handle shaft seal in my Skipper head.  While I got that leak fixed, it turned out that there were more.  It became a frustrating cycle.  Either the fixes didn't work or a new leak appeared once the previous ones were fixed.  I've had to pull the head out, flip it over, open it up and try new methods at least five times.  I THINK I've got it sealed now, and I've learned a couple of useful things along the way.  First, I found an easier way to prime the intake pump after opening up the head:  simply fill the bowl to within a couple of inches of the rim using the shower faucet.  (much easier than the hose connected from city water to the intake.)  Second, you can't reuse the factory paper gasket even if it looks fine because it has already been compressed.  Finally, everything needs to be tightened to the max!
Whenever I run into a frustrating problem like this, I always remember one of the pearls of wisdom I got from a friend years ago who was a former engineer in the Navy: "Sometimes you just have to be more stubborn than the problem is."
Although it appears to be leak-free now, I have been fooled before, so I'm a bit cautious about feeling flushed with success until more time has passed.  Check back in a week or two to see how the drama unfolds.  In the meantime, here are the details:

To find out why the joint at the base of the

head continued to leak even after I had
tightened the mounting screws, I had to
dismount it, flip it over and remove the
base plate.

While the gasket appeared undamaged...

...careful inspection revealed traces of the

leak where I had seen it before.

Evidence of the leak on the base plate as well as the head side.

So...I re-cleaned both mating surfaces again and tried

a different method.

This time I tried silicone form-a-gasket.

After putting it back together, remounting it and painting

it, it still leaked!  But in a different place!

Tore it down again and found the silicone a bit thin in the

area of the leak.

Cleaned it off again.

This time I was more generous with the silicone and put

a coat on both sides of the joint.

I put it back together without tightening
down the mounting screws fully for
 about an hour. While I waited for the silicone
to fully cure after tightening down the
screws, I moved the porta-pottie
from the aft head into the main head
so at least I had something to use in
the meantime.

When I tested it again, I found if it was 

STILL leaking at the base.  In addition,

there was now also a pin hole leak at the 

output hose connection.

Emergency rubber repair tape took care of the hose

connection leak, but I had to find another solution

for sealing the base joint.

By this time I was pretty quick at disassembling the thing

and cleaning the surfaces.

I decided to use rubber gasket material that was nearly

1/8 inch thick.  That allowed for plenty of compression

and there would be no thin areas or missed areas.

To mark the pattern for cutting, I covered the sheet

with masking tape, laid it on top of the base plate,

and pounded around the joint surface with a 5 lb hammer.

The resulting embossed pattern was good enough

to serve as a cutting guide.

While not factory perfect, the result was definitely good

enough: no gaps and the holes aligned.  I was optimistic.

Imagine my disappointment when I found it was leaking 

AGAIN right where it did the first time.  Okay,

time to try tightening the base mounting screws more,

even though I had made sure they were tight before.

This time I disconnected the hoses, flipped
 the head over and tightened the screw in question a bit
 beyond what I thought was prudent.  I went to the max
 even though I was concerned about stripping the slot or

breaking the screw.  It seemed to have stopped the leak

at the base.  HOWEVER...

Now there was a new leak at the intake elbow.  It was difficult

to get a wrench on the nut without disassembling the

head, but I managed to turn it just enough to stop the leak.

But wait...there's MORE!  Also a new leak at the output

elbow.  The engineering geniuses that designed this

put the connection bolt so close to the body that you

can't get a wrench or socket around it.  Fortunately I had a
 set of claw wrenches that could be mounted on the end

of a socket wrench extension, so I was able to barely

get to it and torque it down just enough to work.

I found I had just enough extra output hose length to cut 

off the first inch, hoping it would cure the leak I had 

previously patched with emergency tape.  Good idea;

it just didn't work.  So it was back to the emergency

tape trick, which did work once again.

After pumping through quite a bit of

water and allowing it to sit over night
with no signs of a leak, I remounted
the head and touched up the paint.

So far, so good.  Not counting chickens yet,

though.

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!

October 5, 2018

This week was an uphill boat maintenance week, punctuated by one disaster of my own making.  Fortunately, it was relatively painlessly rectified in a few days for only $600.  The payoff for all my blood, sweat and tears this week is that I can now start to ready the boat for sea again as cruising season approaches.  I get to go from one task list to another, yippee!! On the other hand, as summer draws to an end, some of my cruising friends are beginning to return, always a happy time! 
A notable influence this week was hurricane Sergio which is now about 500 miles off the coast. It brought thunderstorms, rain, breaking waves at the harbor entrance and more than the usual surge at the dock.  It also brought dramatic clouds and some nice sunrises.

I went with a small group of cruising friends and locals

to try a restaurant in the Romantic Zone that specialized

in moles.  It was good, but not outstanding.

We ate on the sidewalk with dinner accompanied by a

pretty good singer.  Also had a little light rain for a bit.

The highlight of the evening came when these little kids

decided to join the singer.  Very cute!!!

Hurricane Sergio was far enough away not to be a concern,

but it did bring big surf, thunderstorms, a bit of rain and 

some nice clouds!

Hurricane Sergio brought big surf and dangerous

breaking waves at the harbor entrance.  Not every

boat that tried leaving the harbor made it safely.

(RIB photo:  Eric Walker)

One of the nicer consequences of a nearby hurricane:

spectacular clouds.

Sunrise from the Vallarta Yacht Club

Even though I see it every day, I never tire of watching

the fishermen cast their nets.  The "boat" is just a

salvaged and re-purposed jet ski hull.

One of the biggest iguanas I've seen visiting someone

else's boat.

The younger ones are smaller and bright green.

I changed the engine oil and filters last week.  This week

was the engine zinc, transmission fluid and topping up

the coolant.

A not-so-good idea leads to disaster:  I tried taping a stick

to the transmission dipstick so I could read the level.

When I pulled it out, it caught on the lip, got pulled off

and dropped into the transmission.

I didn't want to risk damage to the 

transmission, so I paid a local mechanic

to pull it, bring it to his shop, open it up 

and remove the tape and stick.

A Canadian ex-pat, Jack Tinsley turned out to be 

competent, honest and fair-priced mechanic.

Even showed up right on time, practically 

unheard of in Mexico,  and he didn't give

me any grief over my stupidity.

Two days later, the tranny was back, less stick and tape.

Jack said it looked like a new transmission inside, and

all the bearings were good.

Re-installed and good to go.

While Jack worked on the tranny, I tackled my leaking

Skipper head.  There was a small seep coming out the

pump handle shaft.  First step was removing the 

handle and the old packing.

Putting in the new packing was easy, but stopping the

leak was not.  The paper towel underneath was merciless

in showing the smallest leak.  It took many repeated 

cycles of adjusting the packing and tightening the 

nut to finally get it. The nut had to be tightened all the 

way to the end of the threads, so I'll be keeping my 

fingers crossed.

No drips and the paint touched up, ready to re-install

the handle.

Even with the key and key way marked, getting

them lined up was difficult because there was

no room to see what was happening.

I finally got it after a good deal of trial and error.

Back together and dry.

Looking good with the new paint!

My reward:  progressing from the maintenance list

to the prep-for-cruising list.  At least it's a little shorter.