Makes you very grumpy! Last month, after replacing the cockpit stereo speakers I went below to find the air conditioner had failed as indicated by the message “HPF” on the air conditioner panel. HPF, means high pressure fault. Usually caused when the air conditioner compressor is not getting the cooling water it needs to cool your cabin and gets hot enough to trigger the fault. Sometimes it is just a dirty sea strainer and is easily fixed by cleaning that strainer. Sometimes though, it can be that the cooling water pump has succumbed to old age. Almost twenty years old in my case.
I went home hot and a little miffed that I had this to deal with now. I had my sister and her husband coming up soon for a planned trip over to Connecticut. As soon as I could I started searching online for a new pump and found what I needed in a store in Florida. In stock and ready to ship. I ordered it and would have it within a week.
While waiting for the pump to arrive I started looking at the job at hand. The pump and strainer were joined by a short pipe nipple and are basically one assembly. To make it easier for any future replacements I had planned to separate them and mount the pump a foot away using a hose to connect them. That would involve cutting the pipe nipple and getting it out of both parts, remounting the pump in an accessible spot and wiring it in. All this while sitting in the aft bilge.
Looking at the problem some more, I formulated plan “B”. I had an idea and when the new pump arrived, I immediately took it apart to see how complicated it was. Turns out it is such a simple pump that plan “B” just might work. If I could get to the four screws on the front of the old pump while it was installed, I would be able to remove the pump while the impeller face plate stayed connected to the sea strainer. Then I could simply unscrew the face plate and reverse the entire process to install the new pump.
And that is exactly what I was able to do. After getting it apart using a ratcheting tight space screw driver I removed the pump and unscrewed the face plate. I installed the new pump face plate, then slid the new pump assembly into position matching it to the face plate. I installed the four base plate mounting screws and then connected the three wires, finished! Now all I had to do was turn it on. So, with a little apprehension I went below and turned on the air conditioner. The fan came on, and a few minutes later the compressor came on. Shortly after that I heard the cooling pump kick on and water started flowing. Success! I waited awhile and let the unit cycle a few times to be sure and I left it running that night to make sure it was fixed. We came back two days later and I went straight to the control panel. It was seventy-six degrees in the cabin and the unit was working as it should!
Now for the fun part. Due to time constraints we had to rethink our time with my sister and her husband. We elected to spend one day kayaking off the boat with our new kayak. We have had a two-person kayak for many years. It was a molded kayak that we had fun many adventures with exploring bays and creeks in the Peconic Bay area. We would take it out on the boat to launch our “expeditions” and would bring it home after every use. Frankly it got to be a hassle taking it back and forth, especially as we got older and our cars got smaller. One day I saw an ad for an inflatable kayak, sold right in Port Jefferson. My wife and I took a ride over there, and after taking a look and speaking to the staff we bought one.
Once we got it home, I unpacked it and inflated it. Once inflated it is a very rigid craft, capable of taking two adults out with no worries. I let it sit that way overnight, and in the morning deflated it and packed it away into a suitcase sized storage bag. It’s much easier to handle and take with us whenever we want.
The day after my sister and husband arrived, we went out to give her a maiden voyage. It is too long to inflate in the cockpit so I did it on the swim platform. It comes with a hand pump for inflating, but I am not going to lie, I used an electric inflator for most of the process and then switched to the hand pump to finish it. The hand pump has a pressure gauge to watch so you do not over inflate it, and possibly pop it!
The first mate and I took the first voyage and I have to admit it went very well. It is very easy to paddle and holds a nice strait course. We paddled into a quiet cove and at one point silently drifted by an Osprey nest. We were about twenty feet away from the two Osprey adults sitting in the nest and they kept an eye on us but did not react other than that. We paddled back to the boat and my sister and mate took the kayak for a spin, following our same path. They had a great time and when they returned, we spent the rest of the day having fun out there.
The next day we spent on land but the following day we went out again. This time we just anchored and swam enjoying a great day on the water. We got home that night and cooked up flounder and shrimp. All in all, a great visit.