Today I ordered a First Alert combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector. I’m mostly concerned about waking up dead from CO poisoning in an enclosed space, especially with the vents closed during winter.

It’s a pretty good size to install on a wall or the ceiling, and the B&W style matches the RETROvan nicely. There are more complex devices available, but they don’t get very good reviews. This one has a 10-year battery and voice alerts, so you can’t really go wrong for $54.99.

My custom 11-gallon water tank finally arrived. Once I removed the shelf, it fits the galley cabinet nicely. So now I just need to get the right 1/2-inch NPT barbed elbow fittings. Hopefully a trip to George Morlan Plumbing will solve that. On top, there’s the filler inlet and the vent. On the bottom is the outlet that connects to the pump.

The idiots at RONCO Plastic did put the ugly part of the tank on the front (with their embossed logo upside-down), so I had to turn it 90° to hide that. And you can see I still have room in the cabinet for a fire extinguisher, MAGLITE and more tall bottles, cleaning supplies, etc.

I’m going to mount the SHURFLO water pump right onto the plastic with screws, which should work fine for vibration and noise. You can see it above, nestled just under the sink. Next step is to trace the drain hole onto the wall panel and cut it out. But I’m in no hurry to disassemble the galley for the last time. At least not until I have all the correct fittings in hand.

I found a perfect use for my Pirates of the Caribbean flag. It provides privacy from the outside and just enough translucency from the inside. And it reflects my worldview during these dark days of the Zombie Apocalypse.

I also ordered a cool retro USB microphone for working in Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro.