Nothing Is Too Good for an Alden

When we were looking at boats back east about a year ago, we heard this phrase: "Nothing is too good for an Alden." We assumed it meant that the boats were well planned, engineered, built and outfitted. And basically we found that to be true.

But just because a boat starts out good doesn't mean it stays that way and the hidden areas of our boat attest to that.

Most boat have some storage under the floor panels, but when we bought our boat we were amazed to find huge tangles of wire, hoses, and machinery placed willy-nilly in the bilges.

Above you see the area where the water heater sits just forward of the generator. This is how most of our bilges looked. They were also filthy and reeked of diesel.

Apparently over the years when some piece of equipment was replaced, the old wires were abandoned and left in place, and new wires and hoses were draped through the easiest part of the bilge. And not secured. And connected without proper terminal blocks. So now we say with tongue in cheek, "Nothing's too good for an Alden."

We have spent the last three days tidying up the bilges; rerouting wires and hoses, securing everything with cable clamps and zip ties, and cleaning everything with degreaser. So now the bilges in the center part of the boat look like this...

And maybe we can actually store a few things in the bilge now. 

And the spot where the water heater lives looks like this. It's still crowded, but at least now we can see the bilge pumps.