ONE LAST THING: Cleaning the Porta Boat

I finally broke down and splurged on renting a spot on the dingy dock for my eight foot Porta Boat. I spend most of my time during the summer living on the boat with an occasional respite on land for work or to accompany my gal on a beach vacation. Since I have been using a folding Porta Boat for fourteen years I was able to fold it up when and take it home as needed. As I'm getting older this is becoming more of a pain and so I opened the wallet to have access to the dingy dock at the boatyard. It certainly makes it more convenient for quick trips home or provisions. Since for over a decade I have avoided the dingy dock fees that could have paid for the Porta Boat three or four times over I thought it was about time to make things a little easier for me. Though leaving the Porta Boat in the water for the entire season bought some new issues.

AN UNEXPECTED BONUS

It's nice when a project lends it's self to another project benefit. Such was the case with the cabin wood molding project I completed to cover up the handrail access openings. I thought that I might mount a fan to the molding at some point. But, then I thought that  the wood molding strip would also provide an excellent mounting place for ...

MORE STUFF THAT'S NOT NEEDED

It seems organizing and removing of things on board that have no reason to be on board is never ending. A few days ago while  looking for some information on one of the on board pumps I came upon some manuals for equipment that is no longer on board:

These include the Paloma Water Heater. The old Professional Mariner battery charger and the Racor fuel filter which has not been on board for over eight years. No reason for these to remain on board taking up space. Plus it feels good to get them of the boat and simplify things.

SOME SPRING STEAM CLEANING

Having a boat with electric propulsion has some added benefits thanks to some of the on board power systems I use. One is the Honda 2000i generator which  I use for battery charging at anchor and also when electro-sailing when the wind dies. The second is the 10 kilowatt AGM battery bank it's self. Thanks to the AMES 48 volt 1500 watt sine wave inverter I can tap into it and use 120 volt tools and devices like the Zojirushi bread maker. Though some of these are not necessary it enhances the cruising experience and helps maintain the boat. Another item I recently added on board is a DBTech Multi-Purpose Pressurized Steam Cleaner. Again not a necessary item but, it helps clean and sterilizes with it's steam. Often a lot easier than with other methods. I've used a steam cleaner on board before a few years ago when I started the process of converting BIANKA's now unused fuel tank into wash down water tank. Back then I used the heavily advertise Scunci Steam cleaner. It work well in cleaning the grime from the decades of use in the old fuel tank. I also used it at home. But, unfortunately it did not last. Rather than buy a new one I decided to see if the cheaper steam cleaner from DB Tech would do the job and save a few bucks in the process. So far it has.  First let's look at what comes with the DB Tech steam cleaner:

CLEANING: Countertop Rust Stains

Finishing up some spring cleaning in the galley. I discovered I had left my cast iron frying pan on the sliding formica countertop over the winter and had some rust embedded into the surface. I first tried my staple cleaner which is some  Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner. It had limited results. I then tried some CLR Calcium, Lime and Rust Remover soaked onto a paper towel that I left over the stain overnight:

It worked better but, there was still a good sized rust stain on the counter:

I then bought out the  FSR Fiberglass Stain Remover  :

and dabbed it over the stain using a disposable paint brush:

After letting it soak in a bit and using a piece of 3M Scouring pad the rust was completely removed from the countertop:

I wiped down the counter with a damp paper towel and finished the job.

Always good to have several cleaners on board to try and I learned a lesson not to let the cast iron skillet sit on the countertop for any length of time.

ANOTHER AHA MOMENT IN THE GALLEY

After removing the Paloma hot water heater and reconnecting the pressure water hoses I began thinking. The hoses I reconnected are in a real good location right in the galley and over the sink.

Then I had the AHA moment that it would be nice to have a spray nozzle at that location to help with washing the dishes. Since the hoses were already in that location it should be a simple matter to connect a spray nozzle. So I went out and bought a kitchen SPRAY REPLACEMENT ASSEMBLY; and also a 1/2 inch T adapter which I inserted

I also bought an adapter so I could connect the spray nozzle hose into the boats 1/2 inch pressure water hose.

 I took a few turns around the threads with teflon tape and inserted into a short piece of 1/2" hose:

I then took a 1/2" T connector and placed it between the former intake and hot water out hoses where the former water heater was and connected up the Spray Nozzle hose to it too:

With the hoses connected back up and the new Spray Nozzle connected:

I did a quick test and it worked perfectly. The spray nozzle will really help when cleaning dishes in the sink. Now all I have to do is add some hose clamps and secure the hoses and the job was complete:

RETHINKING PROPANE: Dismantling the Hillerange Seaward Stove Part Four

After the finishing clearing out the oven box I returned to the top of the stove where I will use the Coleman Burner Stove for my primary cooking.

 Now that the Hillerange burners and gas valves were removed I need to do a good cleaning of the basin that will contain the burner. I used my one gallon wet/dry vac to remove what I could. But, there was still some greasy and rust spots that needed particular attention:

 I used some white vinegar and baking soda, Simple Green a stainless steel brush and a  DBTech Multi-Purpose Pressurized Steam Cleaner.

The steam clearer really helps to get at the grease and grime that found  it's way into the crevices over two decades of cooking. It also helps to remove rust spots. It also helps to sterilize surfaces. It's a handy thing to have around for a job like this. A small  Stainless Steel Brush also came in handy along with the steam in cleaning some of the stoves rusted metal and stainless steel surface:

I also needed to remove a few things left over on top of the stove. One was the leftover piece of the burner gas manifold bracket that I had to cut using a Dremel tool with a cut off blade:

Using a small vise grip this was easily removed with the screw still firmly attached:

I also used the Dremel Tool with a cutoff blade to cut off the stainless steel feed tubes that previously fed the pilot light and oven burner:

Here is the before view afterI removed the gas manifold, burners and gas valves but, had not yet cleaned things up. You can see some of the  the rust where the iron burner brackets were screwed into the stainless steel surface and the gas feed tubes on the right :

Here is the after photo:

That's much better. I can now put the Coleman burner in it's proper place on top of the cleaned stove top. I'm pretty happy with the transformation. I've created more storage for my pots and pans in the oven box. Plus, I still have a well gimbaled burner with which to cook on :

So one project is out of the way. Next I'll move on to the next project which is  remove the hot water heater as I continue to rethink propane on board and how I use it.

RETHINKING PROPANE: Dismantling the Hillerange Seaward Stove Part Three

I was away from the boat for two weeks as work got in the way once again. But, then it will allow me to pay the boatyard for dropping the morning back in the water. So it is a trade off. When I got back on board I continued on the propane project which entails partially dismantling the Hillerange Seward Stove that has been on board since 1986. Due to corrosion in the burner area and the expense of rebuilding it I decided to abandon it's use as a stove and oven and use alternative cooking plans. I was able to remove most of the burner, controls and manifold on my last visit to the boat. On this visit I planned to take a look at the oven and see what I could remove there. Since I've owned BIANKA since 1995 I think I've used the oven twice. Frankly, trying to start it was always difficult and somewhat scary. Which is why I won't miss it much. But, I did store some cooking items inside of it as shown below:

   

Though they were just covers and bowls and oven pans in the limited space available. So since I no longer  plan on using the oven I thought it would be good to remove the burner and whatever else I could take off the boat. First I removed all the "stuff" that was stored in the oven:

The area needs a good cleaning and there is some rust that needs to taken care of. First thing was remove the oven tray. I found this was just held in place by two screws located in the back of the oven:

Once the tray is removed I had easy access to oven burner:

A screw on the left side holds it in place:

Over on the right side is a nut that connects the pilot light to it's stainless steel feed pipe securing the right side:

Once the screw on the left side and the pilot feed nut are removed the whole burner assembly is easily removed:

Removing the oven tray and oven burner created a much bigger storage area in the now unused oven space:

It needs a good cleanup  and some rust removal and I think I'll do some re painting in the future. But, I am happy with that the space that opened up by removing the burner:

I was now able to store all of the pots and pans I use on board in the oven area. Including my cast iron frying pan and four quart pressure cooker.  I still need to remove some of the oven pans which I will no longer use too. With the unused oven burner parts removed and the additional storage space created, I'll turn my attention to cleaning up the top burner area.

DOWNSIZING SUCKS!: Shop Vac MICRO vacuum

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I've carried a Sears Wet/Dry 2-1/2 gallon vacuum on board for a few years. It comes in very handy for various cleaning jobs on board. At the time it was the smallest 120 volt vacuum I could find. Having the Honda 2000 generator on board makes it easy to use even at anchor or on the mooring. Though I primarily bought it to suck water out of the bilge. The bilge on BIANKA is rather deep and I was getting tired of spending so much time on my knees with the hand pump and sponge when it needed to be cleaned or drained. The wet/dry vac did the job a lot faster and better. Recently I saw that Shop Vac had come out with an even smaller wet/dry vac a one gallon unit called the Shop-Vac Micro Wet/Dry Vac. On a 30 foot sail boat downsizing to smaller things is always a good idea. So I bought one and tested to see if it would work for what I needed it for. First lets see what it comes with:



So far so good. You can see how it compares in size the the 2-1/2 gallon vacuum I already had on board even while it was still in the box:

Here it is in a side by side comparison:

Unlike the larger vac which had a dry filter that was wrapped around the foam filter the  Shop-Vac Micro Wet/Dry Vac has a separate filter bag that slides into the intake for the vacuum:

This filter bag wraps around the motor in the lower case:

It only comes with one bag so if you plan to do a lot of heavy duty dry cleaning you will need to order more  Micro Filter Bags so you have them on hand. But, since I primarily use the wet/dry vac for emptying the deep bilge on BIANKA of water I needed to see how well it would do that job. So I did a quick initial test which you can see here:



It works just as well as the larger wet dry vac it is replacing for removing water from the bilge. The cons are since it only has a one gallon capacity I might have to empty it more often depending on how much water is in the bilge. It also seems to sometimes spray a little water out the exhaust as it nears capacity. But, that is easily wiped up. Also unlike larger vacuums the output port does not allow you to use it as a blower but, I never did use the larger vacuum for this either. All in all I am pleased to downsize to this smaller vac which takes up a lot less space than the one it is replacing and will still allow me to do the clean up jobs I need it to do. So it gets the Captain Mike seal of approval.
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