During our first season with the boat, domestic harmony was somewhat marred by a problem with the sink drain. We have a double sink and every time we pulled the plug on one side it promptly filled up the other side until eventually it all drained away.

This got me thinking as I recalled it happening to other boats which I had sailed.

In our case it became apparent that since the drains from the two sinks were closely connected, as you tried to drain the water out of the first sink it was being held back by a pocket of air in the drain pipe and therefore the easiest route for the waste water was to flow across to the second sink.

So what was needed was a means of allowing the pocket of air in the drain pipe to escape. What worked for me was to add a splitter or divider in the connecting drain pipe which allowed the waste water to go one side and the air to escape the other side.

Such a divider could not be sourced over the counter so I made one by modifying the existing parts as described here.

By adding the divider it completely eradicated the problem and domestic harmony was restored.
The technique of using plastic pipe as a source of material that can be heated and formed and then glued, can be applied to numerous other fabrication projects.

Originally published in PBO Oct19

The DIY plywood spanner that reaches parts other tools can’t reach…

Renewing my leaking tap, I found that I could not get enough leverage to turn the securing nut under the worktop, writes David Mead.

There was ’t enough room for any of my tools, either. I could just reach the nut but not turn it with my fingers so I made up a plywood spanner just small enough to fit in the limited space yet big enough for me to get the leverage to turn the plastic nut, job done.

I used thick plywood for strength as the grains run both ways unlike plain wood which could have split with the strain.

Originally published in PBO Aug19