Minor Equipment Issues

[jaysweet]

Number 1: minor leak from the strainer on the low-pressure side of our potable water pump:

What I don't know is: should the clear cover on the strainer have an o-ring or gasket? Because it doesn't now. I could try some teflon tape, but I can't find any kind of gasket on the Jabsco website. It's a slow drip from the screw on cover.

 

[dLj]

Pretty sure it's supposed to have an O-ring...

dj

 

[JoeWhite]

25-181 Pump Protector Strainer 40 Mesh Pump Filter SS 3/4" QA Male x 3/4" QA Female for 550 Series Pumps

The 25-181 PUMProtector™ is a clean, clear economical strainers eliminate unnecessary repairs by keeping debris and other particles out of the pump. This strainer feature the KlickTite™ connector which secures directly to the pumphead. This stainless steel 40 mesh strainer works perfectly with...

www.freshwatersystems.com

According to the above link there is an O ring

 

[jaysweet]

Pretty sure it's supposed to have an O-ring...

dj

I was about 80% sure. Can't imagine where it went...Thanks.

 

[jaysweet]

25-181 Pump Protector Strainer 40 Mesh Pump Filter SS 3/4" QA Male x 3/4" QA Female for 550 Series Pumps

The 25-181 PUMProtector™ is a clean, clear economical strainers eliminate unnecessary repairs by keeping debris and other particles out of the pump. This strainer feature the KlickTite™ connector which secures directly to the pumphead. This stainless steel 40 mesh strainer works perfectly with...

www.freshwatersystems.com

According to the above link there is an O ring

Totally different brand, but... point taken. Thanks.

 

[jaysweet]

It looks like the o-rings are out of stock everywhere. It may be teflon tape or a new strainer (purchased just for the o-ring....)

On to the next minor equipment issue:

 

[jaysweet]

Number 2: this is more of a question than a problem. I have a portable ICOM VHF radio from around 2002.

It works perfectly. It also always shows 100% charge, and when I plug it in, the green "charging" light turns off after 5 or 10 seconds. So it seems like this is a perpetual motion radio. It's 24 years old, and never needs to be charged. It just works perfectly. This confuses my engineering brain. Did I just acquire the perfect radio, or... space lasers are charging it while I sleep?

On a more practical note, it's usually just a backup for my hard-mounted VHF, but at the moment, I don't have a mast. So I'll be taking the boat down to Annapolis on Thursday to find one, and for this trip, the portable will be my primary/only radio. Comments are welcome.

 

[JoeWhite]

Turn it on and turn the squelch down so that the speaker is on when someone calls. This will drain the battery and you will know in the morning if the battery is chargable.

 

[jaysweet]

Turn it on and turn the squelch down so that the speaker is on when someone calls. This will drain the battery and you will know in the morning if the battery is chargable.

I might do that after this week's trip.

 

[dLj]

I was about 80% sure. Can't imagine where it went...Thanks.

IIRC - it's a skinny one - they can hide really easily...

dj

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Pretty sure it's supposed to have an O-ring...

Go to your big box store and look for an "O" ring with the same diameter material but a much bigger overall diameter. Cut the "O" ring and use the material to make a new "O" ring which fits the pump screen housing "O" ring. Glue the ends together with Krazy Glue.

Does Krazy really glue the material all that well ? ? ? I was making a bunch of new 6" OD "O" rings for several SS hand holes on the boat.

Just to test the strength of the glued joint, I started pulling on the "O" ring at the glued joint. Eventually managed to tear my hands to rat- but it did finally fail .............. just not on the glued joint. Cut the material at exactly 90° with a new exacto knife blade like a surgeon cutting an artery . Blah !

If you can't find an oversized "O" ring at the bug box, do a crawl through Amazon for the raw material you require or maybe one of their oversized "O" rings. @dLj gave you the diameter of the material you need .

IIRC - it's a skinny one

Probably in the neighbourhood of about 3/32" or 1/16" dia. but check it out with a cotton cord inside the housing. Should work like a hot damn and waaaaaaaaay cheaper than a new pump strainer .

 

[jaysweet]

So I fixed the potable water leak with an easy swap out of the strainer:

I bought the whole strainer b/c I couldn't find just the o-ring, and I wasn't up for a multi-week ordeal of buying o-rings that don't quite fit, (I've gone through this for deck fittings before.) When I ordered the new strainer, I thought I'd probably just use it for the o-ring, but I made a guess at the configuration of the whole thing and ended up hitting the jackpot: I was able to just swap the whole part. Crouching half under the table with my head in a locker, it wasn't obvious to me whether or not the strainer even came off the pump, and I couldn't find anything in the online documents. But it has a retaining clip built in to the pump (which I couldn't initially see in the dark locker):

So as a public service: if you have a Jabsco fresh water pump with a strainer hanging off the side of it, look for a little clip that you can just slide up, and then the strainer will pop off. My pump (pictured in the initial post above) is a 2004-era Jabsco, but I think the new ones are built basically the same way, except they have a more obvious clip that's a different color from the black plastic pump body. On my pump, the clip was really hard to see, but I suspected there had to be one given the way the strainer is built.

My after-action review: the old strainer still had its original o-ring, but it leaked for reasons unknown to me (or just b/c it was 20+ years old). Paying $15 for a new strainer is just fine by me. In boat-buck world, anything you can replace quickly for $15 is the equivalent of using a nickel you found under the seat cushion.

 

[jssailem]

I couldn't initially see in the dark locker

For a few bucks (not boat bucks), I bought one of these. I use it when exploring dark lockers.
Never know what is hiding in a locker.

 

[CrispyCringle]

Number 2: this is more of a question than a problem. I have a portable ICOM VHF radio from around 2002.
View attachment 237262
It works perfectly. It also always shows 100% charge, and when I plug it in, the green "charging" light turns off after 5 or 10 seconds. So it seems like this is a perpetual motion radio. It's 24 years old, and never needs to be charged. It just works perfectly. This confuses my engineering brain. Did I just acquire the perfect radio, or... space lasers are charging it while I sleep?

On a more practical note, it's usually just a backup for my hard-mounted VHF, but at the moment, I don't have a mast. So I'll be taking the boat down to Annapolis on Thursday to find one, and for this trip, the portable will be my primary/only radio. Comments are welcome.

Funny about that Icom radio. I have one that may be somewhat newer. But yeah, it seems to hold a charge forever! I havent charged it in a couple of years and its still at 100%. I was kind of wondering the same thing as you. Granted, mine is a backup and gets occasional TX use, and I use it as a monitor sometimes when at anchor and I want min power consumption from the house batteries. Great little radio.

 

[Rich Stidger]

It looks like the o-rings are out of stock everywhere. It may be teflon tape or a new strainer (purchased just for the o-ring....)

On to the next minor equipment issue:

It looks like the o-rings are out of stock everywhere. It may be teflon tape or a new strainer (purchased just for the o-ring....)

On to the next minor equipment issue:

I would take the cover to a good service shop and find an o-ring that fits. I have a shop in my town that has a phenomenal selection of o-rings, but not everyone has a resource like that.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Number 2: this is more of a question than a problem. I have a portable ICOM VHF radio from around 2002.
View attachment 237262
It works perfectly. It also always shows 100% charge, and when I plug it in, the green "charging" light turns off after 5 or 10 seconds. So it seems like this is a perpetual motion radio. It's 24 years old, and never needs to be charged. It just works perfectly. This confuses my engineering brain. Did I just acquire the perfect radio, or... space lasers are charging it while I sleep?

On a more practical note, it's usually just a backup for my hard-mounted VHF, but at the moment, I don't have a mast. So I'll be taking the boat down to Annapolis on Thursday to find one, and for this trip, the portable will be my primary/only radio. Comments are welcome.

I have a Standard brand of handheld that is probably 20 years old and still holds a charge just fine. It's hard to believe that batteries are still good, but I'm not complaining.