Thanks to you guys who gave me advice on how to tackle this job myself. I no doubt saved hundreds $$$$ and it really was not all that bad.
Taking a look, I realized that I only needed to pull off the two hoses, the cap nuts and only two of the wires. The tank was 3/4 full BUT, I knew that it was 95% water and the blue deodarizer from my normal "maintenence". But I also was wise enough to gently pull the grey hose off and give it a light "sniff test" just to make sure that it was safe to proceed! My other option was to run the boat many miles to the nearest pumpout station and I decided to roll the dice....... I won as there was very little smell.
The pump itself is mounted under and onto, the dark brown square panel. I had an old towel wrapped around the panel and a bucket right next to it as I lifted the entire unit straight up to allow it to drain and then quickly placed it in the bucket. I then placed a towel over the holding tank to hold any fumes to a minumum.
I then took the whole thing into the far corner of the yard and blasted it fairly clean with the hose. I soon found that the chopping blade would not turn and that it was frozen. The big question then was, "Can it be loosened, oiled up and put back in action?" You can see the small chopping blade at the very bottom of the second photo below.
Tools broke out and the blade argued a bit but soon came off. There was not enough of the "blade shaft" to grab with pliers to attempt to turn so the bottom plate soon came off with the three bolts. I was then able to get the shaft to turn, slowly at first, all the while flooding the shaft with 20 weight motor oil. I was able to spin it about 100 times in one direction and then easily in the other. Feeling "hopeful", I put it back together. Taking the opportunity, I sharpened the blade a bit with some sandpaper. Like a knife, the blade is only sharp on one side so care must be taken to ensure that it's reinstalled so that it spins the correct way.-
I hooked up the two power wires with the motor laying on top of the holding tank and the blade facing me. I leaned out of the mid-berth, reached up and hit the two buttons and the motor and blade were spinning freely and fast...... ensuring that the blade was spinning in the correct direction. I happily buttoned it all up with the knowledge that I could give it a field test on an offshore boat ride the next day.
However, after giving it the field test (it took about 75 seconds before I could hear the normal "groaning" of the pump running in an empty tank)....the quantity indicator which initially flickered at 1/4 and then went off indicating and empty tank, later indicated 3/4 again! I assume that the indicator is the small grey wire that goes into the white cap and that wire did look a bit frazzeled. I'm assuming that my problem lies there. Anyone know if that's an easy fix? The boat will go into my local Grady yard this Fall and I may get them to fix that.........
All-in-all, it was a simple repair job and the hardest part was working in such a confined area. Total time was under an hour..........
Thanks again for everyone's help! :goodjob
Taking a look, I realized that I only needed to pull off the two hoses, the cap nuts and only two of the wires. The tank was 3/4 full BUT, I knew that it was 95% water and the blue deodarizer from my normal "maintenence". But I also was wise enough to gently pull the grey hose off and give it a light "sniff test" just to make sure that it was safe to proceed! My other option was to run the boat many miles to the nearest pumpout station and I decided to roll the dice....... I won as there was very little smell.
The pump itself is mounted under and onto, the dark brown square panel. I had an old towel wrapped around the panel and a bucket right next to it as I lifted the entire unit straight up to allow it to drain and then quickly placed it in the bucket. I then placed a towel over the holding tank to hold any fumes to a minumum.
I then took the whole thing into the far corner of the yard and blasted it fairly clean with the hose. I soon found that the chopping blade would not turn and that it was frozen. The big question then was, "Can it be loosened, oiled up and put back in action?" You can see the small chopping blade at the very bottom of the second photo below.
Tools broke out and the blade argued a bit but soon came off. There was not enough of the "blade shaft" to grab with pliers to attempt to turn so the bottom plate soon came off with the three bolts. I was then able to get the shaft to turn, slowly at first, all the while flooding the shaft with 20 weight motor oil. I was able to spin it about 100 times in one direction and then easily in the other. Feeling "hopeful", I put it back together. Taking the opportunity, I sharpened the blade a bit with some sandpaper. Like a knife, the blade is only sharp on one side so care must be taken to ensure that it's reinstalled so that it spins the correct way.-
I hooked up the two power wires with the motor laying on top of the holding tank and the blade facing me. I leaned out of the mid-berth, reached up and hit the two buttons and the motor and blade were spinning freely and fast...... ensuring that the blade was spinning in the correct direction. I happily buttoned it all up with the knowledge that I could give it a field test on an offshore boat ride the next day.
However, after giving it the field test (it took about 75 seconds before I could hear the normal "groaning" of the pump running in an empty tank)....the quantity indicator which initially flickered at 1/4 and then went off indicating and empty tank, later indicated 3/4 again! I assume that the indicator is the small grey wire that goes into the white cap and that wire did look a bit frazzeled. I'm assuming that my problem lies there. Anyone know if that's an easy fix? The boat will go into my local Grady yard this Fall and I may get them to fix that.........
All-in-all, it was a simple repair job and the hardest part was working in such a confined area. Total time was under an hour..........
Thanks again for everyone's help! :goodjob
