For years we’ve prided ourselves on having good access to anything and everything which needs maintenance on our designs. Of course this is based on real-world experience, and when something is out of our realm of experience…

So recently the galley faucet started to leak when it was turned on. Probably an “O” ring seal. Faucets are no big deal, although we’ve never dealt with one on a boat before.

The first thing to do is check the notebooks with all the manuals for the faucet service drawings. Oops – the plumbers must have forgotten to give that one back. So here we have this shiny chrome body and handle, with nary a fastener to be seen on the top.

Gentle pull, smooth application of force, no luck. Then crawl on top of the sink counter and look at the back of the handle. Voila! A tiny set screw. Three trips to the engine room for the right allen key and off comes the handle. Now what?

There is no discernible way of taking this thing apart from the top. And under the sink? Would you believe there’s a sink on one side and ballast tank on the other so close that getting a wrench on the fasteners is almost impossible.

Careful examination and a lot of cussing reveals a wedge-shaped piece of metal, held in place with a hard-to-reach nut. Off to the local plumbing supply store with the evidence – a handle – to see if we can find some “expert” advice.

“Looks like a Moen,” says one counterman.

“It must be a Grohe, one of the old models” says the other.

Return to the boat with a special wrench and wishes of “Good luck – those suckers are usually rusted solid.”

How right he is. No joy with the special wrench. OK – enough of this. We’ll get out the hacksaw and disassemble this the hard way, piece by piece!

However, we’ve got to get the old sails off the boat and make ready for new. So we’ll live with the drip for the next few days.

In the process of re-assembly we leave off retainer and top, so we see where the faucet is actually leaking. Turn on the pressure pump and wham – out comes the body of the valve, along with a high volume of fresh water directed at the headliner and thence all over the galley.

So that’s how you get out the faucet bodies! With body in hand we return to the plumbing supply.

“Hey, that’s a Valley head!” says counterman #1.

“Yeah, and I had to special order a body earlier this week,” says counterman #2.

“No, I thought we had one hanging on the wall,” from #1.

They did, and within 5 minutes of arrival back aboard, the galley sink was as good as new.

Moral: Always look for the easy approach – there usually is one which works – rather than getting destructive. If the simple approach is not immediately self-evident, put off the major disassembly until you can think things through. Sometimes all it takes is a little pressure in the right spot…