The One Where They Fix The Fresh Water Tank (by Annie)

Take one upstate NY winter, add a well-intentioned but inadequately insulated water tank fitting, freeze repeatedly, thaw, fill then wait for the fun.

What started as a slow drip turned into a repair that took weeks to get right.  The cracked piece was actually part of the molded water tank, a collar of sorts that lived on the outside of the tank, with a small elbow piece in the center to connect to the water line.  This orifice is the point of entry to fill the tank from the city water valve and also the exit point to the pump and into the Duck.  So yeah, pretty important.

I tried a hose clamp around the collar (lame, I know), some Water Weld, some Water Weld with a hose clamp, and even a plastic weld (where you melt plastic rods with a soldering iron - fun but ineffective).  None of it worked and the tank kept on laughing at me.  It was at that point I knew I had to drill out that whole piece and start from scratch.

After drilling out the old, cracked, leaky part

I used a 1.25" hole saw to drill out the old piece then cleaned up the cut with sandpaper to make a nice smooth surface for the new seal.

The new rubber seal, called a Slip Seal

New tubing and elbow

all together now

At this point, we filled the tank to see if the new seal would hold as-is.  Nope!  So we waited a few days for the arrival of a tube of food grade silicon adhesive.

That sealed 'er up tight!

The tank has been sitting full for nearly two weeks now.

Can you believe it?  No leaks!

All that's left is to drain, sanitize and fill then we're back in fresh water business for boondocking.

And now for something completely different

Here's Ellen, our polydactyl kitty.

How's about them toes?!

She has the bone structure for two back-left feet.  I bet she'd be a great swimmer!

She's responsible for the Chupacabra footprints found in the sand here

Her front feet come complete with opposable thumbs.  We had to start hiding the Q-tip box because she likes to grab handfuls.  Awesome or creepy?  I vote for awesome!

Things you don't learn in school

The water in the pool is 90°F, something up with which we'll have to put.  I weigh about ten pounds in water, which is probably why my back hurts more when I get out.  I am a pool mammal.

[RUMBLE]

It rains most days now, for a little while, and there is always thunder.  Some of the cats are afraid of thunder (as I typed "afraid," Ellen began to claw at the sofa trapdoor).  That's because cats don't understand storms and are too dumb to be afraid of lightening.  I had a stepfather who reassured me by saying If you hear the thunder, it means you're still alive, which is true and stupid at the same time.

Annie has been working on the leak in the water tank (still, DW and Darlene).  She's down to the last thing she knows to try before there's nothing left but to replace the tank, so we're afraid to test it.

[THUNDER]

She also found a graywater valve cover that would allow us to dribble out through a cut-off garden hose onto the ground - if that were legal - instead of extending the slinky in a tell-tale sort of way.  Please note I am talking about gray water, not poop.  The Ducks do not endorse poopwater dumping onto the open ground except in certain circumstances, and the judge agreed to throw the case out if we immediately left the county.

[LIMB FALLING]

Annie fixed the drainage problem in the refrigerator with some ingenuity and saliva (her own).

I make jewelry more lately.  You know where to look.  If I could do that in the pool there would be no reason to leave other than to drain my gray water.

[CATS HEADING FOR STORM CELLAR]

I have always wondered why storm cellars in Kansas are separate from the house.  You'd think you'd want to have quick access without going outside.  I just figured it out.  Your house gets blown away, and being in a shallow open hole under it will have limited value.  Limited by how tight you can hold onto plumbing.  A hole in the ground covered by more ground would have to be safer, but that's the last place people go.

You do not have to watch PBS to learn something.

[ANNIE PUTTING ON HELMET]

We've been watching a lot of movies.  Blockbuster rents movies for 49¢ on Sunday during the summer, and Annie would rip those onto a computer to watch later if it were legal.  We used to go to the library on Saturdays, but Shannon recognizes us and talks gay to us for half an hour.  He hands us every gay-themed movie on the shelf, tells us the gay plot, tells us about his gay friends in Las Vegas, and tells us his church says gay is a sin.  We're the only gay people he knows here in Lake City;  we are exotic and exciting.   You've felt it, too.

[UNPLUGGING THE COMPUTER]

We go to the same fruit stand all the time, and now the men there give Annie extra fruit.  She's catnip.

Annie packs heat.

Annie takes no guff. She takes no prisoners. She asks questions first, then shoots.

We are so upscale [how upscale are you?] that we have two furnaces: a 35000 BTU monster that heats the coach, and a tiny 7* BTU furnace that heats the bedroom. One dark and stormy night last week, the big furnace lost consciousness and went into a coma.**

*this is a lie

**when a grammarian loses consciousness, does she slip into a comma?

How big is YOUR orifice?

Consulting with Bill Fletcher, of Fletcher Trailer Sales (we love this guy), Annie got a handle on what might be wrong, got the part and fixed it. Almost. The space was too tight to get the old control board out and replace it, which wasn't the problem after all, and this sentence is a misdirection because the problem might have been a stripped wire, or might have been the ice maker line dripping onto the furnace, or might have been a bad connection somewhere else, but NONE OF THAT IS IMPORTANT STOP DISTRACTING ME. The point here is that Annie removed the furnace, took it to Bill, watched while he examined it, understood the problem, and brought it home and installed it.





That involves seating it correctly in this hole:

rewiring it, reattaching the gas line, and aligning the exhaust with the exhaust hole on the door:




••NOT SHOWN - I GOT COLD••

We can't blame 9.  He was just a child then.

and then it was warm inside. Magic!


















What Else?


The same weekend she did this:





and removed this:














So what if it was -8°F. just after sunrise this morning?  What could go wrong?†






† irony

Trust me.

Rig height win.

Today, Annie got up on a ladder so tall an oxygen mask dropped from the sky.  This is NO EXAGGERATION.



She went up to search out and destroy a leak above the windshield, and she did at least one of those things.  Probably two.

I cleared off the dining area and found two bills,  half a bag of clementines (still good), a cat (fresh), my first marriage certificate (expired), an Amazon order I thought I'd returned, and two-five pound weights.  What's on your kitchen table?