On reaching Shadow we found that the water tank was empty. It had been drained as part of winter maintenance and left dry - as was the pipework - as a precaution in case of frosts. At least, that's what I assume.
To refill the tank I unwound the hose from its Hoselok reel, connected it to the tap, switched on and ... nothing. Not even a drible from the far end.
Investigation revealed that the innermost part of the coil of hose had been badly kinked and crushed, enough to prevent any flow. I tried to straighten it, but without success.
My next line of attack was to try to unscrew the two halves of the reel. I managed to remove three screws, but the rest had rusted so much that the heads disintegrated rather than turn with the screwdriver. I suppose I could have drilled them out but I had only a hand drill, and by this stage I was cold and lacking enthusiasm to repair something which had probably been with the boat since its launch.
I cut the hose from the reel and attached a connector. Within moments I had the tank filling.
Now I suppose we need a new hose reel.
By the way, Blogger again refuses to upload more than one photo. Has anyone else experienced this?
2 comments:
To prevent the hose being squashed when rewinding, I leave the tap on with the end removed (Stop conector on the end) so that the hose is still under pressure, this prevents it getting squashed by the over layers.
Alf, so you have a stop connector on the end which goes into the tank? Shadow's hose - and Jubilee's, for that matter - is open ended. Your system sounds like a good idea, except doesn't it make it all rather heavy with water in it?
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