While the Bos'n is away... Well, things keep going just fine

 
Last Saturday's Volunteer Day on the 12th was typical July Summer,, Hot, humid and breezeless, the kind of day in which to get things over with early. Nevertheless Volunteers mustered on board to do what needed to be done. Meanwhile your scribe wasn't much better off, just in a different spot, He,(that would be me) was, and still is-as of this writing somewhere on the Chesapeake delivering a sailboat. And back in Charleston, judging from the accomplishments on deck  made in that morning, I wasn't even missed. 

Four stalwart Volunteers mustered on deck; Walter Barton, Ken Fonville, Tony Marchesani, and David Reid. They went right to work, As always, the Forecastle needed pumping, as usual. Tony climbed into the engine room to  charge up the pump. David and Ken remained on deck to check the stream of water being emitted. They saw seawater then bilge water go out discharge. The bilge pumped out well, volunteers getting some  learning experience looking down into the darkness of the bilge. The Deck was surprisingly clean from an early morning downpour, so they set aside the plan to do a deck wash.  

David and Walter worked on the push boat's persistent slow leak, adding another patch- the fourth patch overlapping earlier ones. Maybe this one will be the charm. According to Walter after working the first three Patches, "its personal."
Ken and Walter lifted out the trash pump from its locker on the deck onto the  fixed dock and connected intake and exhaust hoses. The pump started and ran well but created no suction-  priming water made it to discharge hose but nothing else. The crew moved the whole rig across to the floating dock to see if lower suction lift (it was low tide so much suction needed from the higher fixed dock to water) would help, NO such luck. Tony was last seen online bringing up the pump's exploded view. His Engineer-mind now hardwired to isolate the cause.