Heater project: Only Connect!

There is a project pause on Thursday morning. The engineer has to prepare and record a 2 minute talk as part of a memorial event for a colleague who died recently. Winston Churchill famously apologised for sending someone a long missive because he didn't have time to write a short one. We know what he meant. It takes us most of the morning to reduce Peter's speech to just over 2 minutes, and to record it satisfactorily.

Next task is to complete the tidying up process that we began Wednesday evening, as we are expecting guests for drinks at 6pm. That takes most of the afternoon. Shelving that was removed from the shed cupboards through which the PEX hoses now run is replaced, and then all the things that normally live in those shelves can go home there. Tools are put back into their cases, and the cases put back into the shed. That clears most of the objects from the floor of the guest cabin and the chart table. Safety gear from the chart table cupboard comes out from under the saloon table and goes back into the cupboard. Superfluous boxes are removed from the wine cellar. Quantities of rubbish are taken ashore, Things in the cockpit go back into the lazarette. By 4pm we are ready to go for a quick shopping expedition, as the food cupboards are bare. After six bags of provisions have been brought back to the boat and stowed, we take the last load of rubbish and items to go into Shed 10 ashore just as the guests arrive at the club. We bring them back to our now immaculately tidy vessel, and enjoy drinks and nibbles until the last light leaves the sky. We drop them back at their accommodation in Salamanca, and call it a day as far as the project goes.

Friday, and we are ready to start connecting. Engineer decides to start on the forward-most register outlet in the saloon as this is the one with the most constraints. After a bit of experimentation and discussion, we decide that it will work best if the bypass manifold is located inside the area where the water tank is located. As we need the handle which opens and closes the bypass somewhere accessible, the shaft will be put through a hole in the dividing panel so that it can be reached via the hatch above the wine cellar. Two more holes are needed for the short rubber hoses that join the manifold to the outlet register. It's quite complicated, and it takes the engineer all afternoon to get all of the bits in place, connected and secured.

Getting down to it (or was it up from it?)

Bypass manifold in place, PEX hoses connected above, black hoses below

View from above, manifold on the left,
black hoses coming through to connect to the register outlet,
blue handle for the bypass valve on the right side of the partition.

Screwing the register outlet into position

One outlet connected, mounted, all done.

So tomorrow will begin with connecting up everything at the burner end, followed by conecting up the other outlet under the chart table. The engineer thinks these will be easier...