Last weekend Mark and Joe planned a day to work on the boat. The weather cooperated, as it was raining slightly, so we didn’t feel we had lost a day of sailing. How nice of Mother Nature. Anyway, enough diesel fuel had been used in the fuel tank, Mark felt they could successfully pull it up, and wipe the residual fuel up. We would finally get the diesel smell out of the master stateroom.
We met at the boat at 1:00pm and went shopping for parts for the repairs. I’m not sure where the afternoon went but before long Mark and Joe had placed the sender into the fuel tank and gone back to the store to buy the fuel gauge. I didn’t know these were two different parts! Mark told Joe he would put the fuel gauge in himself in the morning. All of us decided it would make more sense to run the fuel tank lower before trying to lift it.
Mark and I spent the night on the sailboat and awoke early in the morning where I took a picture of the sunrise. After breakfast Mark installed the fuel gauge. We drove the boat over to the pump-out station and then took the sailboat out into Port Gardner to test the fuel gauge. I wish we could’ve put the sails up but Mark was on a mission. Back into the marina we went.
Next thing I knew he had pulled up the fuel tank and needed me to prop it up. Turns out he held it propped up, while I did the cleaning. Yeah for fuel absorbing wipes especially made for this, SoftScrub, and a whole roll of papertowels! There was about 4 ounces of diesel under the tank and many years of grit and grime. I was very happy to use SoftScrub! I love the smell of bleach in the morning, I mean afternoon.
We are so thrilled to have that job done. It has been lingering over us since the day we had the fuel tank worked on. The diesel smell has been in the boat since the day we bought it. Now we seem to have a resolution. I forgot to bring home the quilt and pillows to wash so that will be my next project. I want to get the diesel smell out of everything.
We still need to resolve something about the head. Turns out every weekend we think it is fixed and then something else happens. Oh well.
Mark and Joe are going to fix a lot of things on the boat this winter. It’s a good time because on days we can’t sail due to weather, we can hang out on the boat. There is also a great boat store in Seattle called Fisheries Supply we still need to make a field trip to. Another place Mark and I want to go and take Joe to is the Locks. He has never been there and we haven’t gone in years.
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| Spending a quiet evening on the boat enjoying the starry skies, |
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| Sunrise the next morning |
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| Installing the fuel gauge |
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| Harbor Seal |
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| This is the water and dock right next to our boat, I could see the mussels hanging on. |
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