Surveyed!

Today we had "Tango" surveyed by Capt. Dave Ghidoni of Key West Marine Surveyors.  A very pleasant and , as expected, knowledgeable tugboat captain.  We had no surprises.  Everything I thought was wrong, he agreed with and we found very little that I did not know. 
One minor new "thing" is that the wingnuts that come with marine batteries are no longer acceptable for permanent installations. 
The other problem with "Tango" is a basically inaccessible diesel filter.  I've already ordered the solution to that one.  I'm going to install two Racor filters with diverter valves that allow rapid changeover from one to the other without having to bleed the system.  I'm also adding a small boost pump that will allow me to prime and bleed without spinning the engine.  I'll mount the whole affair on a board and put it on the aft engine bulkhead above the rear bunk with a cutout from a diesel can as a catch basin.  Two absorbent "pigs" should handle any drips or leaks.
The boost pump will also allow me to "polish" the fuel by opening a valve to the return line.
The fuel cutoff cable is fixed.  The problem was more than just a bad cable.  The pillow block on the lever at the engine had the screw sheared off level with the block.  I drilled and tapped a new bronze screw in to hold the cable. 
The key switch was easy and getting rid of that wire-nutted rig laying loose in the aft locker was a relief.
As an example of the kind of problem I'm dealing with, the IPO installed a Norcold refrigerator holding plate in the ice box along with the evaporator/condenser in the starboard lazarette, but never removed the thoroughly broken Waeco unit.  It took me all of 5 minutes to snatch it out.  Now access to the lazarette is much easier and there's more room in the ice box.
One trick to keeping the ice box cold is to reduce the cubic feet the system needs to cool, or increase the insulation.  I can't change the outer insulation, but I can get blocks of foam sized to go through the opening, seal them in plastic and fill the voids with these temporary fillers.  That reduces the amount of air exchange from opening the lid and lowers the load on the system.  When you provision for a trip, you fill the box with cold food and store the foamies in the lazarette.
I've made my mind up about batteries.  When we come back down, four new GC-2 golf cart batteries are making the trip along with the watering system.  All the batteries are going in the aft lazarette for access. 
I'm cutting a manhole-sized access into the starboard lazarette rather than risk my sanity with wiggling into that insane top access hole.  Not worth it.  The manhole will be thoroughly reinforced and will not compromise structural integrity, but will allow rapid and convenient access to the diesel tank and even allow for other storage possibilities for necessary, but seldom used stuff like tools and even water cans (best kept out of the sun). 
More when the mood strikes!