We are still moored at Dakiti, Culebra, enjoying peace and tranquility :) Although some kind of a flu bug caught up with us we are in good spirits and on the mend! Guess we are not used to mingling with the crowds anymore, because we both are sure that our last shopping trip to Fajardo is the reason for catching said bug! Ah well...
The good news is that at last we got around to replacing the yuckie old galley (kitchen) faucet on ORION! What's the big deal? Well...we have a 40 year old boat and most of the time you try to do a simple repair it turns into something not quite so simple! So we have learned the hard way "if it ain't broken - don't touch it"...seriously! Of course this is the reason why we did not want to touch the yuckie old galley faucet for the past few years...after all it was still working fine!
Lately, however, the yuckie old galley faucet started to display increased signs of distress...a crack developed and there was a lot of corrosion...and there was this ever so slight leak somewhere that would make the water pressure pump come on for a few seconds when no water was running! In other words: it was time for a new faucet and a search for the water leak! So sweetie one despite feeling not too well from the flu thing sprang into action...under great duress (because the two screw attachments underneath the sink were seized together from corrosion) he eventually hammered the old parts from the top down and was able to free the water supply lines...phew!
The new faucet is non metallic...we chose it for exactly that...hoping that there will be no more corrosion of parts in the future! It looks great and time will tell if it will survive the boat environment. We are buying another one to store as a spare just in case, because we have also learned over the years that if something fits you buy a second one...otherwise you will never get it again when you need to replace it...seriously!
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| my captain is a Houdini |
During the installment of the water lines to the new faucet it became clear that water had been leaking for quite some time, because the floor of the cupboard was soaking wet! Ugh! Since no water had pooled on top of the floor but was actually in the wood itself similar to a sponge soaking up water...and since the whole schmier is not visible from the outside, as it is all enclosed cupboard space...we never knew it was wet in there! But all's well that ends well :) No permanent damage occured...my captain connected the water lines to the new faucet with Houdini like movements (nothing is ever easily reachable on a boat) and once he was sure that all the connections were tight (we ran both the hot and cold water) he placed a fan in the cupboard to dry out the floor...we let the fan run for over 24 hours and the wood floor in there is now bone dry :) Lucky us! It may sound like a small thing, but to us the replacement of the galley faucet is a big thing...one more item crossed of the to do list and the problem of finding the tiny water leak solved at the same time! Life is good! And thank God for my captain who never gives up :)
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| the fan running in the cupboard to dry out the floor |
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| the new non metallic faucet |
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| all nice and new faucet |
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| ORION's galley |
