Water,water everywhere but not always in the right place!

What a lovely day so such a shame to be in the boat all day. I tried the shower again after leaving everything to dry for 24 hours and lo and behold the waste pump still only worked intermittently. There was also still a leak on to the deck. I wondered whether there was a hole min the inlet or outlet pipes. Nothing in the outlet and as there wasn't any water in the bilge to indicate a hole in the inlet from the shower. I again took the pump to bits and checked everything. Still didn't work when I re assembled. Took it apart again and noticed that the nitrile rubber flap valves did not seem to be closing flush. That would mean that water would leak through on each stroke and loose suction. I bit the bullet and tried to sand off a small bit from the edge to try to get it to seat. Once assembled I couldn't get it to get suction at all and thought I had broken it. I wondered if I could take the overboard pipe off and prime the pump through there to start it off. I undid it and sucked and blow down it and it seemed to work.  I refitted the overboard and then tested the system from the shower and it seemed to work okay. I haven't tested it fully as I am trying to conserve water to save shifting over to the water point and losing my mooring.

Shower waste pump in the base of the wardrobe. You have to be a bit of a contortionist to work in there and my ribs seem to have been rubbed raw.

I can't see where any water is leaking from the shower tray. I have added silicone up everywhere I can find and don't think that there is a gap now. I will have to see what happens again in the morning.

The water has been pulsing a little when the tap has been turned on, or taking along time to be activated. When a tap is opened the pressure in the line should drop and activate the pump. I therefore obviously had to look at the pressure switch. I hate dealing with things like this as I dread making matters worse. I bit the bullet though and did a bit of research first. I had to dig out another wardrobe to access the pump in it's base. I managed not to flood the boat out by turning off all the water and the pump came out quite easily. Once I got to the pressure switch I found a bit of gunge in the space. I cleaned it up and put it all together and lo and behold it seemed to work better. The big test will be my morning shower.

Foward wardrobe with the water pump in the base. The thick black pipe is the water filling pipe and the small black one is the tank breather.

At about 1830 I heard somebody asking for Tony Porter and there was Steven Barr who had been reading the blog and knew roughly where I was. I had re-met Steven at a reunion of our Ranger Guide Venture Scout unit earlier in the year and here he was again. I was embarrassed as the boat was a met as when Helen is away I don't put everything away as soon as I use them as I know I will need them again. Tools etc that is. Still after a cup of tea and a prolonged natter I made us some tea and continued our chat. Everything was covered except for football I think. It was great to chat about old times and some of the others we had met again at the reunion. Steven finally left to catch a bus home at about 2130. Meanwhile I had been out to help a couple of hire boats moor up either side of me.

Big cheesey grin from Steven Barr. I hope that means he enjoyed his tea!