Jaq gets to grips with the boat stove.

As we all know Jaq is trying to absorb as much information from me in relation to the maintenance that she feels confident in tackling on board Nb Valerie when I`m not around any more.
The multi fuel stove seemed a good place to start as fires are being lit aboard boats all over the country at this time of year. I always carry out some maintenance about this time that includes checking that the silent killer, carbon monoxide, that has no taste or smell is prevented from entering the boat and is in fact safely using the chimney as an exit.

Every year I dig out the loose fire cement around the joint where the chimney pipe enters the stove. Don`t go mad you only need the loose pieces that an old screwdriver will pick out with minimal effort.

 Put some masking tape around the pipe for a nice neat finish. Fill the gap where you removed the loose fire cement and with a wet finger, not a hand Jaq, smooth the cement and remove the tape. A very tiny fire will cure the cement and if you wish, for cosmetic reasons, you can give the whole stove a coat of  Rustins high heat stove paint.


Next the inner chimney needed replacing and You can just see a new one i`ve made inside the boat outer chimney. Jaq is holding a spare I have made that will probably be in service after the present one has done two winters.

I have covered the making of this inner chimney HERE so will not go into it again. This will go with all the other spares I have under the dinette so at least if Jaq does have a problem at least she will have the correct parts to hand and will just have to find someone to fit them. A spare stern gland is ready to fit as is a P.R.V. valve with quick fit pipework attached plus many other spares. Who knows perhaps I might be able to watch over her but not physically help, bit of a pain this dying lark. Perhaps somewhere on my new Windows 10 programme there`s a cancel button or at least a delay button to allow Jaq more time to learn, now that would be quite something.

Next we had the problem of the glass having a crack which had also happened a few years back in 2007. The problem is that the threaded studs drilled into the door are quite likely to shear. This is now the 3rd piece of glass I have replaced in the stove door and  

the last time I was lucky but this time two of the studs decided to shear off leaving half the threaded stud in the door. The door is cast as opposed to the steel stove casing and the advice on the internet from other boaters is to not try drilling and tapping a new thread but to drill straight through the door and use new bolts that will be easier to undo in future.

The studs circled in Red are the culprits and in the lower of the two pictures you can see the bolts seen from the outside are not to conspicuous.
Having fixed the glass in first job was to buy a spare even though it might be years before it`s required.
Not really a job I would expect Jaq to do although if all four studs had been drilled through I have no doubt after watching me she would be quite capable of doing the job.

Talking of spares if anyone has one of these pumps I have a service kit sitting gathering dust. This is the pump I recently replaced with a Whale Gulper that requires no filter and so becomes a fit it and forget it pump. The filter was a pain to get to   beneath the hip bath and is now something else Jaq has no worries about cleaning practically every month.
This pump was 11 years old when I took it off, still working with no problems.
So if anyone is interested in a service kit for this pump contact me as the Whale Gulper is here to stay and the kit is not going to get used.