Yes Peggie, the gallon of vinegar just out of the photo helped me loosen up the calciferous crud in my hand from the bottom of the cylinder. I think this is the first full rebuild on this head since 2002. I treated it to a complete cleaning and all new rubber parts. This Raritan never let me down even when ignored. I did give it the annual shot of SuperLube and an occasional joker valve so it wasn't neglected completely. Maybe I'll start giving it the occasional vinegar treatment recommended in Peggie's book.

Peggie probably remembers that our boat pumps up into the bottom of the holding tank. If the foot valve and the joker valve both fail, the result in the head compartment could be real ugly. So far so good.

I whined sufficiently doing the rebuild that I was authorized an extra ration of Scotch when done.

You can tell we're getting caught up when I start working on deferred maintenance like this. I was reminded of our old book John Muir's VW maintenance manual for complete idiots. He'd always admonish that you "tell your jewel" that you'll do the job right later on if you take short term shortcuts on the VW's maintenance.