Shaft Project, Day 3

Fort Pierce, FL

No LL

On Thursday my only accomplishment was to finish disassembling our toilet. It was a bear of a job. In the end, I needed a gallon of muratic acid and the help of a neighbor with a pair of channel lock pliers as long as my shin to get it apart.

One point of acute embarrassment. Back in 2007 a critical part broke on that toilet. It caused us to have no functioning toilet on board just when our friend Pete flew down to Florida to spend a week sailing with us. I blogged about it. In the end I had to order a new part for $130 and to stay 4 days in an expensive marina waiting for it to come.

Anyhow, yesterday while pawing through my spare parts for the toilet I found a spare for that critical broken part. It was on board the whole time and I didn't think to look for it. Stupid of me.

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By the way, a few months ago I remarked on an odd report that suggested that the Gulf Stream was slowing and causing unusual tide levels here in Florida. I'm glad to say that I found an article here that says no. A excerpt follows:

Here’s a brief update on the great heat-toting oceanic currents that at one time were thought to be at risk from human-driven warming of the climate. There’s been no slowdown at all through much of the past decade and probably none since the early 1990s, according to new work using methods developed by Joshua Willis at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: