Another busy couple of weeks have flown by so I'll do a quick catch up. Dave continues to assist with plumbing and whatever else we are up to on the weekends. Currently the big push plumbing-wise is to get all the 1 1/2" ABS pipe run for black water and grey water systems. I've also been working on the install of water pumps, vacuum pumps, filters, etc. Almost all this stuff is situated in the engine room under the work bench and making it all fit in some sort of logical, serviceable arrangement has been a challenge. From past personal experience, when it comes to black water and grey water components, proper relative elevation of pumps and piping and hose is the key to odor free systems and easy to service pumps. With this installation, my goal was to have everything drain away from the transfer and vacuum pumps and have no low spots in the plumbing to hold the nasty stuff. So far its all working out but it takes a lot of thought (time) to do it right. Just another set of details to obsess over... Finished a neat little project on the aft swim step. Took an aluminum Bomar lift out hatch, welded on some hinges and made a box for the interior out of 1/8" x 4" aluminum flatbar (radiused to match the shape of the hatch and welded up watertight). Now we have a bulletproof transom shower and salt water fish washdown station that seals up with a twist of the handle. This idea goes way bak to when we were designing the boat and I couldn't bring myself to put one of those plastic shower boxes on a steel boat. Nice to finally get it done. Installed the two auxillary exhaust pipes, one for the diesel furnace/water heater and the other for a future DC genset. Also started on some more interior framing in the aft cabin. We are really trying to get the boat finished enough to launch and live on (while we finish all the trim and detail work) by the end of the Summer or early fall. For us, art of living on board comfortably includes having a finished sleeping cabin and head so that is where I am putting my attention right now. And finally, some pictures of us watching the solar eclipse... couldn't get any pictures of the eclipse itself so this is all we've got. It didn't get completely dark but the change in the quantity and quality of light was very noticeable and you could see the ring of sunlight around the dark moon clearly with a welders mask. Last pic is of the weird blurry double shadows during the event. Pretty cool.
