Removing a leaky faucet

We have a couple of water-related goals here. First, install a new hot water heater, then replace all of the water lines from the water tank/city water inlet all the way forward to the galley with PEX hose and fittings. While we're screwing around with the plumbing, we want to replace the faucet in the galley, which leaks and for which there is no known fix.

If you're not asleep now, you will be soon because it gets even more complicated. To replace the faucet in the galley, we have to lift up the sink high enough to get at the hot and cold water connections and the faucet mounting nuts.

Or that's what we thought.

Once we got under there and removed the wing nuts and brackets that we thought held the sink it in place, we discovered that Silverton had also run a bead of adhesive around the edge of the sink. That sink is not going to come out on our watch or anyone else's unless the entire galley counter top comes out.

But, while we were inside that cabinet, we were able to access the heat exchanger on the AC unit. It was thoroughly clogged with crap. That will take some time to clean with our shop vac.

What we need for this is a basin wrench and we don't have one so on Sunday it's off to Home Depot to buy one.

We've added some video that you can skip. It's just Bill telling us that we were going to remove the faucet. He should probably just keep his day job.



After trying to get this faucet out for much too long, we finally had it. We must have dropped to the floor and reached into that cabinet 50 times and yes, we know, it's good exercise. The basin wrench was of no help but using a combination of other tools we finally got the hose adapters and the mounting nuts off.

One other notable thing from this weekend. Among Frances' Christmas gifts to Bill (and the boat) this year was this Kobalt flexible light. During the winter, we usually use those clamp-on reflector lights but rigging and positioning them is a pain in the butt. For this job under the sink, they wouldn't fit. Enter the Kobalt:

This thing is completely flexible so you can bend it in any direction or curl it up so it will stand up by itself. The light is a very bright LED and power comes from a rechargeable battery that screws into the end of the flexible arm. At the end of the day, you unscrew the battery and plug it in. We used it for about seven hours and the light was just as bright when we recharged it as it was when we first started using it. It even has a little light to tell you when its charged.

We love the name "Kobalt." Isn't that the stuff that sucked up all of Superman's powers? Ah, no, we have been corrected. That was "Kryptonite." Still like that name, though. How about, "Honey, why don't you have a cup of Kobalt before we go to bed?" Nope that doesn't work.

We could try, "I've just had my driveway resurfaced with Kobalt?" That sounds pretty manly. We think we're on to something.

Another great reason to share on a blog

Luckily, we didn't buy any PEX hose or fittings to replace the old water lines because our friends and dockmates Rob and Carol Ann left us a message on last week's blog post letting us know that domestic and marine PEX fittings and hose are different inside and outside diameters. That saved us some money! We think that we'd better talk to Rob about this before we buy anything. He has a lot of experience with both household and marine plumbing (and a lot of other things).

Before we left on Saturday, we shot some video of the Connecticut River. A few days ago, it was frozen to four or five inches and the Coast Guard cutter Bollard came through to break a path. On Saturday, when we shot this, it was almost 50 degrees and the melting ice had clogged up right in front of the marina. It was also pouring rain.