The Joys of Buying an Old Boat

Wiring rats nest under cockpit - one of several

My previous boat was the same age as Ayala. I sorta knew what I was getting into when I took on another 35 year old boat. There would be layers of wiring done by different owners and boatyard workers who just wanted to get something working and weren't particularly concerned with doing it neatly. Sure enough, there are several rats nests of wiring, battery posts and switch terminals with lots of wires attached instead of run to buss bars or terminal strips.

To add to that there are mysterious hoses that run from one place to another. A few dead end without being connected to a thru-hull fitting or a sink drain or anything else that makes sense. Fine! Yank it out. But there is also a puzzling amount of plumbing having to do with the head (toilet to you landlubbers). I am hesitant to do anything to it until I am sure I am not going to have raw sewage discharging into the bilge. It is not fun to clean up and the odor lingers – and lingers. There are valves to direct sewage to the holding tank or, when I am well away from land, directing it overboard. There are more valves for the backup bilge pump located under the cabin sole (floor boards). The pump can pump water from the bilge in the unfortunate case where there is water in the bilge and the electric pump cannot handle it. This pump can be switched to pump the holding tank overboard when I am offshore and there is no pump out facility available. In the case of pumping sewage overboard, we are talking about being at least 25 miles offshore.

The fresh water system has a mysterious ailment. First – some explanation about how a fresh water system works on a boat. Since it is often not hooked up to the city water system, fresh water is stored in one or more tanks on the boat. To get the water from the tank to a tap, something has to supply some pressure. That “something” is a small electric pump containing a switch that senses water pressure. When I first put water in the tanks, I turn on the pump and it pumps water into the tubing on the boat that takes water to the taps and the shower. Since they are closed, the system soon builds up pressure and the pump turns off. When I open a tap to get some water, some water flows out and causes pressure in the plumbing to drop and the pump comes on. When I close the tap, the pressure builds up and the pump turns itself off.

When I first moved aboard, the pump supplied pressure as it should but it would not shut off when I closed the tap. Last week, I replaced the pump. That seemed to fix the problem – for a while. Now, sometimes it shuts off properly, sometimes it keeps on running. If I open the tap for a few seconds more, water comes out but at very low pressure – or not at all. The pump sounds like no water is coming in to it – as if the water tank were empty. But I know the tanks isn't empty – I just filled it. After 10 to 30 seconds, the pump starts sounding like it is getting water again, the pressure builds up and when I turn off the tap, the pump stops running. My current theory is that grindylows live in the water tank and are hoping to drive me mad or trick me into opening up the tank so they can pull me in and drown me. (Don't know what a grindylow is? Read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.)

Looking down at the water tank in the bilge

Today, the water system problem got to the top of the to-do list. Not only does it have the problem with not shutting off properly, it leaks badly around the shower valves. The water tank lives in the bilge (basement) so I started by pulling up most of the removable sections of the cabin sole. That leaves the cabin looking a lot like the picture at right (taken looking down into the bilge) except that I also had tools scattered around the edges and stuff sitting on the benches that I haven't found homes for yet. In short, the cabin was a humongous mess!

The tank should have one hose running into it to fill it, one running out so I can get the water out and one to allow air to leave as the tank fills and re-enter as water is taken out. As you can see from the picture, the way it oughtta be is not quite the way it is.

Manual bilge pump and mysterious filter (top center/right)

I started following hoses. What is this? In the second picture, toward the top you can see a black hose curling around. It runs into a thing-a-majig that looks like it might be a strainer to keep dirt in the tank from getting out where I might drink it. I pulled out the filter element. Disgusting! It was covered in slimy green stuff. I cleaned it and started to put it back together and realized that there was only one hose attached to the filter. Hmmm.

After some head scratching and tracing the hose run more carefully, I realized that it had nothing to do with the fresh water system. It was part of the system that supplies cooling water to the air conditioning.

Air conditioning compressor

“Air conditioning!” you say in amazement. Yes, Ayala

used to have air conditioning. A couple of owners back in her history, Ayala (under a different name) was based in South Texas on the Gulf of Mexico for some years – an area well known for its hot, humid summers. The former owners apparently disliked sweating, usually tied up at marinas at night and apparently had money to burn. The air conditioning unit (shown at right) doesn't work now and I have neither the money nor the desire to have it fixed. It also takes up most of a highly desirable storage area.

I removed the newly discovered filter and the attached sea water pump and the rest of the plumbing that lead up to the air conditioning unit.

Seeing that I was not going to get to the bottom of the problem of the run-on pump before dark, I thought I would take a quick look at the leaky shower faucets and come back to the original problem tomorrow. I needed to have the boat a bit more straightened up before I would be able to cook dinner. Additionally, I don't like to leave the cabin in a condition that might cause me to fall into the bilge when I get up during the night to drain my bladder.

The leaky shower faucets

I tightened a few things here and there – but the quick fix did not work. It still leaks. I started tracing the plumbing to see if there was a shut-off valve. I want to pull the faucets apart to see if they need new pieces or if I have to replace them. In the process of (futilely) searching for the shutoff, I discovered that the valves that decide whether the head pumps overboard or into the holding tank are frozen. They are old and will most likely have to be replaced. The valves that select whether the manual bilge pump (the big round thing at right) pump out bilge water or holding tank contents are also frozen – and the pump itself doesn't work. Try as I might, I cannot budge the pump handle.

OK! Enough already. Time to put everything away. Make a big pot of spaghetti with Puttanesca sauce and wash it down with at least one glass of wine. All of this will be waiting for me tomorrow. I am hoping that answers will come to me in a dream tonight – and that I will remember the answers.

Buying an old boat can be a way to have a high quality boat at an affordable price. It can also be the gateway to a myriad of headaches. But the process of fixing the problems both gives me better knowledge of the boat and gives me a sense of truly owning the boat.

Ayala is a beautiful boat. It gives me great satisfaction to also be part of making her a smooth running, save boat. Fortunately, I take a perverse sort of enjoyment out of tracking down these problems and fixing them. I sense a lot of “enjoyment” in my future.