Morning Blues
The day began on a sour note, with the aft head clogging up. I won’t go into detail on how I got it unclogged as that is not appropriate for a family blog… Suffice it to say that I’m glad to have a big box of latex-free vinyl disposable gloves. So it was going to be toilet repairs day today. I’ve got a bicarbonate of soda and vinegar mix soaking in it right now and will go ashore later, when the stores open, to get chemicals and tools. And Budget Marine will also be getting some of my custom as well as cash today.
Budget in English Harbour doesn’t carry the items that I need for repairs, so I’m soaking the rubber components in vinegar to dissolve the scale and hopefully use them for a week or so until I’m in St. Martin and can either purchase the parts or order them from the USA.
Partial success at 13:00! I have 3 heads aboard, 2 electric ones and a backup manual head. The aft one got plugged this morning and the forward electric one has a leak on the water intake side that I hadn’t addressed yet so I didn’t want to use that one. And when I tested my manual toilet it wouldn’t suck in water. I took that apart and saw that the flapper valves were encrusted so I soaked them in vinegar for two hours, then brushed off the remaining lime. And now that one, at least, is working! The scale on the aft head is quite thick and it will take the vinegar a while to dissolve that. I’ll check this afternoon again and see if I can re-assemble the plumbing. At least the freshly purchased Clorox has done a good disinfecting job.
I joined Alec and Rosie ashore for dinner at Club Sushi and they didn’t have cucumber rolls (called Kappa maki or Kyuri maki) so I opted for a burger instead – despite having grown up and lived in Japan I don’t eat fish…