$750 for a clock? More like $20

The 'nautical' clock on board was non-operational when I bought the boat... no big deal, I thought.

A running joke amongst boaters is that if you put the word 'marine' or 'nautical' in front of a product it multiplies the price by 10x.  

It's a 'nautical' clock by Weems & Plath, very nice model with a bell mechanism and everything.  After replacing the batteries and cleaning the battery terminals, it still did not work.  A bit of research revealed that Weems supports its products and repairs its products.... all you have to do is mail it in for evaluation.

I did so and Weems offered to fix it for $230 plus $20 shipping.   

I researched the price of the clock new, and the replacement unit is around $750.  Similar replacement clocks wihout the bell mechanism run for under $200.   So there was no way I was going to fix this quartz-bell clock for $250.

Fortunately a bit of resarch on eBay and clockparts.com revealed I can purchase a replacement quartz mechanism for about $20.  

Removing the old movement was pretty straightforward.  Pry off clear front glass, unclamp the hands from the movement, and lift the face of the clock off the casing.   Then undo the 3 phillips screws and the movement comes off.  

  Original face and movement.  Movement is now scrap/e-Waste.

I bought the lowest-profile movement I could find at clockparts website.  Ideally you put the shaft through the face and fasten from the front using the retaining nut...

Unfortunately there is very little space between the face and the front plexiglass on this weems housing.  There is no way to fasten the movement to the clock using the front retaining nut....So some improvising with epoxy putty was necessary.   I won't be able to check it through airport security, but it's solid and it works like a champ:

Here's what it looks like re-installed in the original casing:

For those curious, here's the Bill of Materials from clockparts.com (less epoxy putty):

Boat Cookies!

 I finally re-installed the EZ-Bake oven on Mystic Star, just in time for cruising season!

This is the 'After' shot, so let's back up a bit....

The previous owner ripped out the oven (due to a propane leak) and had a dorm fridge in the oven's place.  He kept all the mounting hardware, hoses, and fittings, so the only guesswork for me was how to route the new propane hose....

After wrestling with an electrician's fish pole kit from hazard fraught (and breaking one), we figured out the best way to run the propane hose is NOT the original port side void (using the same hanging locker  hole as the solenoid wires) , but rather in the overhead C-channel in the aft bunk (shown with the hand-drawn red arrow):

This is looking up at the port overhead in the aft bunk, looking aft.

As for re-rigging the propane locker, I purchased a vapor-tight through fitting by Trident Marine.  It was tricky to mount it, as the bezel/retaining nut requires access to the back side of the propane locker (not reachable with human hands).   So after boring out the hole with the dremel, I cut a notch through in the bottom of the new hole so I could slide the backing nut in sideways, twist it back to the bulkhead, and glue it to the backside with epoxy putty.  I tied a ruslter's hitch to the nut with whipping twine just in case the putty let go while setting.  If you look closely at the keyhole you can see the threads of the backing nut, neatly glued in place with the threads still clean:   

After an hour to let the putty dry, I screwed the bulkhead fitting to the backing nut, filled the clocking notch with some more putty, and made the bulkhead fitting wrench tight:

This is what the line looks like in the locker after we ran the hose and before I put the tank back in.  I ordered the 20' length of Trident Marine propane hose since the original length was 18 feet.

The Shutoff solenoid is still on order, but I leak checked the propane line with soap bubbles at either end, and confirmed proper operation of the stove using heaping amounts of butter and chocolate chips:

tag: C&C 30 Mark II Propane line route