So, I go to my boat yesterday in order to get a number of chores done in preparation for launch next week. After stowing a lot of gear and sails that have been living in my basement over the winter, I turned my attention to the engine. I have a check list of tasks to perform to get the engine ready and one is to take off the raw water pump, open it up and inspect and/or replace the impeller, as needed. I always replace the gasket when opening the pump. The 6 screws holding the cover of the pump came off easily and, having had to replace one or two lost over the years, I'm now very careful to place all of them in a plastic cup. The cover of the pump was stuck to the pump housing and so I carefully slid the blade of my knife between the cover and the housing to gently pry it up and off the old gasket. Now the fun part begins. The cover comes off and does a one and a half gainer into what I thought was the absorbent towel I always keep under the engine. I reach around under the engine, but cannot find the pump cover. I get a flashlight and look around all the way up to the packing gland, and then around the sides of the motor mounts. No cover. It's tough to lose something in plain sight. This is not like dropping something overboard. And then I see this tiny little space where the aft end of the cabin sole ends at the forward edge of the engine compartment. Now on my boat,a Hunter 28.5, this space is about 1/1000th of a millimeter wider than the thickness of the pump cover. The cover somehow found its way down below the sole through that damn little crack. I really don't think I could have pushed it down there if I wanted to do so on purpose! What to do? Yep, I begin unscrewing the million or so screws that hold the sole down. Now I doubt that any of these screws have been moved since the boat was born some 22 years ago. One would not budge and so I had to go get my drill (that I luckily brought with me) and drill it out. A few others took all my strength with a ratchet wrench and screw bit to remove. The sole also runs under some cabinetry. Boy, was I enjoying this... It took about 4 hours to get the sole out, relcaim the pump cover, and put the boat back together. This should have been a 15-min job. I put some duct tape over that offending crack. This is NEVER gonna happen again. If you have such a space on your boats, I advise you to do the same. We all keep learning, even when we don't want to. _________________
Just like the time I removed my raw water backing plate and stripped 2 phillips heads because they are brass. Now, they use small "nutted" bolts to hold it in place. Something that will take a small socket and "save" the head from stripping.
