That sounds like a typical day in the garage. Just be thankful you don't have to spend the fare and six hours getting off and on ferries to get to the parts store and back.
Real aggravating when you find the part number on the box is not the same as the part number of what's inside.

These pumps are better at pushing fuel than they are at pulling fuel which is why it's not recommended to put a filter between the tank and the pump. But I can see no problem with putting a large capacity filter before the pump. I have a plastic one before the pump on my truck and have recently bought a 100 micron inline for my bird.
Both have mechanical pumps. A large capacity filter has very little pressure drop at rated flow and almost nothing at street/highway use. I like the plastic on the truck as I can see inside to check for debris or water.

Last year one of the five valves in my fuel pump failed, I had starvation while booting it up a large hill in second gear with the rears smoking, rather embarrassing. I took the pump apart and found fine particles lodged in the one valves holding it partially open. A filter before the pump may have prevented that. Could have dirty fuel or,most likely, the 49 year old tank is getting rusty. I haven't had a chance to drop the tank and check.