|
 |
 |
78
|
|
|
As you have probably realised by now, here in MarineZine
we are as happy to talk about unusual ways of solving problems and using
materials as about conventional ones, given that we are more interested in
sailing and the sea, living aboard and avoiding too much involvement with
the 'rat race' than in owning the boat as an asset or status symbol that
must be kept looking unused at all times.
We have this in common with a great many people, not all
of whom are fortunate enough to be able to live aboard their boats but
many of whom would love to have the opportunity to do so. Most of us
learn, at a fairly early stage, that life is a string of compromises.
Boating is no exception. If the choice is between fashioning something
that will permit us to stay afloat and carry on sailing, or staying in a
marina for weeks at a time, awaiting the recommended (because it is
profitable to recommend it) item, there is no contest!
Some of us quite simply do not have enough money to be
able to seek perfection. For some, the available time is the key factor.
There is also a streak, in many of us, that gets huge satisfaction out of
determining what needs to be done, casting around us for the best means
available of doing it and getting the problem solved. A crew that is
irritable and inclined to snipe at one another when the boat is becalmed
will suddenly become galvanised into a co-operative and enthusiastic team
when something breaks in rough seas.
By now you may be wondering what all this has to do with
plumbing and we will delay no further in introducing an excellent article
that we have received from Jon 'J.J.' Blackburn, a practical and
resourceful sailor with the boat husbandry skills that come from long and
regular contact with boats and the water and, like so many sailors, a bit
of a lateral thinker...
|
|
|
PIPES AND FIDDLES BELOW DECKS
J.J. Blackburn
I was refitting my galley after major surgery, which
involved cutting out the portside interior, and I decided to fit a new cooker.
Well, the prefabricated galley was soon made but I had no fiddle rails and was not looking forward to
finding my dinner on the floor.
The cooker is not gimballed as the boat is junk rigged and more sea kindly than most. So, I had two bulkheads to fit my rails between. After much scratching of the head I found an ideal material and system.
Copper water pipe!
 I used 22mm pipe across the back and the front and 15mm
pipe for the two sides. As I was fastening to bulkheads I joined these with four unequal tees.
The open ends of the tees were then filled with wood and resin and I was able to screw through the two bulkheads into this, holding the rail
at the required height above the cooker top.
 The rail looks great and there is just enough of it to sit and polish whilst
'Emily Grace' steers herself.
If you have a gimballed cooker, just use 90-degree bends and you can buy
pipe fittings designed to hold pipes onto a wall. These will hold your rail onto the cooker.
The nicest fittings, in my opinion, are called 'End Feed' in the UK. They are not pre-soldered and, in fact,
because of the proximity to the cooker, I drilled and riveted them and you cannot
actually see the fixings.
|
|
We can just imagine how smart that looks. The glow of
copper is a lovely sight, too, on a boat with plenty of wood down
below.
Thus, whilst this page has only touched on plumbing in a somewhat lateral
way, this time around, and a very few readers may feel cheated, perhaps
you, like us, find yourself pleased at the idea of being able to use
ordinary copper plumbing pipe to such good effect. Our cooker is an
ordinary domestic gas cooker, facing aft ; just forward of the middle of
the length of the boat and just to port of the centre of her beam.
We are very fortunate in that our rail is a stainless
steel one that came with the boat 's old cooker and was transferred to the
new one. It will doubtless be transferred again, when this cooker finally
becomes due for replacement. Had there been no rail and one were needed,
we would have been very happy to adopt J.J.'s idea.
Have you managed to solve a problem in a novel
way or use something in a way for which it was not primarily intended? Or
perhaps you have some advice, information or a story involving plumbing
that will gladden the hearts of the readers of the next issue that come in
search of plumbing know-how...
|
 |
|
|
|
