Jabsco cooling pump

Note the damaged vanes on the impeller. This caused water to pass by and reduce pump out put.

A few weeks ago i noticed that the water flow for the wet exhaust cooling was low, at idle. This is normally the first sign of pump wear. The cause can be a variety of things from a worn impeller to a more serious problem like Pump housing wear or a bearing seal failure. Over time these pumps wear and it is a good practice to have a look at them from time to time. We monitor them when the engine is running every few hours. Check for dripping indicating a leaky seal and check the output by feeling the temp of the hose coming of the pump.

Varnishing teak trim etc.

A little wood trim looks great but don't let it get away on you. Uv and weather quickly can reduce you nicest teak into a eyes sore.

The best is to varnish a few time a year and/or to cover your bright work with a sun cover. This is a tall order and most modern boats have very little wood on deck because of this.

We just have enough to be able to knock on wood. (on deck that is)

Stripping down is a lot of work but if you have to, put on a minimum of 7 layers of varnish.

Here Joanne is applying one of many layers of spar varnish using a cheap foam brush.

We use a hard varnish on deck and where there is a lot of wear like cabin soles and stairs etc. For inside we use a Ureathane as it easy to repair.

Refinishing non skid on steel decks.

After a couple years hard use the non skid on steel decks get to smooth for proper traction. Safe footing is a must.

We use interlux perfection a two part polyurethane hard wearing paint.
First clean the area with soap and water to get all dirt off. Then sand with 120 -180 sand paper. Make sure surface is clean of all contaminants in the existing paint. Then clean with interlux cleaning solvent. Tape off the edges and make sure the tape is pushed down hard.

Then prepare the two part paint with the nonskid filler. We went heavy on it as we desire a fairly rough surface. 2 1/4 cups for a 1/4 of a liter or 2 cups per liter. Reduced it with 10% reducer. After induction time (20 minutes) apply with a small roller. Depending on surface area. For larger area use a larger roller. Use a closed foam roller or the epoxy rollers available for these applications. You can use a non expoxy roller but it will fall apart within 10-15 minutes, no problem as long you replace it when it starts to fail. Apply a thin layer and if necessary apply a second coat the next day.

It turned out great.

note: the roller in the picture is not a close cell foam roller and not suitable.