The other weekend, when K and I went to Blue Opal to spend the night (so we could go sailing before the club opened the next day), I used the head and pumped to the tank. There was a bong (which is normal for the tank), and then I heard water dripping. Alas, I very quickly isolated it to the Whale Gulper 220 pump on the bulkhead that I installed in June of 2019, and discovered that the blue clamp ring had completely broken. That ring appears to be glass fibre reinforced plastic, and it sheared around the screw. Given it was 10 pm and I didn’t have spare parts, I basically said “fuck it”, went to bed, and ordered the replacement part the next day (from Blue Marine in Spain).
There’s evidence of rust on the sheared area, but I don’t know if that was before or after – I don’t know when the ring broke, but given some liquid I found in the shower pan a few weeks ago, I suspect a few weeks ago. Possibly when Ireland started experiencing an early summer, but I can’t prove it.
Anyway, the replacement went on easy enough, though it was the same contortion story as when I installed the pump. One hand holding the tube assembly in place against the body of the pump, and the other manipulating first the blue rings, and then a ratcheting screwdriver to tighten the machine screws.
Given the failure mode, I bought two replacement rings; the other has joined the spares box.
I’ll go back on board in a few days with a copious quantity of Dettol and water, and sluice the entire area down,.