Tuesday, December 9, 2014

December 7, 2014 GA USCG and water maker

The reviews of this anchorage were right, we did get some wave action here by passing boats.  Plus we heard the wind come up around 5:00 am.  We were able to sleep in this morning, at least until the US Coast Guard showed up.  Dave was already awake and happen to be looking outside when the USCG boat pulled up along side our boat with about 8 people on board.  3 of them boarded our boat for a routine inspection.  This was our first.  First, they asked to check our bilge to see if we were taking on water.  They wanted to be sure it was safe for them to be on board.  Then they asked for Dave’s driver’s license and our boat registration, HIN-hull identification number and a phone number.  They asked for the horsepower of our engine and of the outboard motors for our dinghy.  For regulations, they asked about life jackets, trash placard, and if we had a horn.  We were both thinking “please don’t try the horn” because the air horn was close to empty after yesterday.  It was a good experience and we found out that we were in “ship shape”.

Today, Dave decided to run the water maker (WM) after it had been sitting for 4 months.   Once it was running, we would take our first showers in 5 days.   4 months ago, we ran “pickling juice” through the lines to avoid any growth in the lines.  When Dave tried to run the WM, it kept blowing the circuit breaker.  He had to tear apart our dinette area to get to the  pumps.  I heard lots of swearing and then rummaging in our aft cabin, aka our garage.  The boost pump didn’t appear to be working, so he bypassed it with a pump that we had removed from our forward shower, but was still in good condition.  The system ran with the shower pump.  So he removed the boost pump and found corrosion on the brass area (another issue).  The pump ran fine when not hooked into the WM system.  He put it back in and it wouldn’t run.  This is where Dave said the Gremlins hiding in our boat like to take over just to confuse the issue.  Dave did notice that with the cap of the impeller loose, the WM ran, with it tight, it wouldn’t.  So he tried to do some adjusting with the cap, replaced it, and it ran!!  We took our showers after about 6 hours of Dave working on this.  When we were done making clean water, we had to flush the sea water out of the system.  Now it stopped working again.  So Dave just loosened the cap for it to work during this process.  If he left it loose, water would eventually leak in this area.  The plan was to call the company in the morning.  After we had dinner, Dave was looking though the WM’s manual in the technical information area to check on ordering filters.  Here was a little note written “if you don’t use the WM for extended periods of time, the impeller may stick to the cap.  You should remove the cap and impeller and clean any residue before replacing them.”  Well, if it had been in the “trouble shooting” area of the manual, it would have saved Dave about 5 hours of work. 
At least it’s running, the lines didn’t stink, so the pickling must have done it’s job.  And Dave said this was some of the purest water we have made with our water maker.  He still plans to replace the filters and recheck everything.

While Dave was doing all this, I was updating my blog, reading a book, or cooking meals and doing dishes.  All in all, it was a lazy day for me. 

Dave adjusting the anchor.  The second anchor mounted on the bow clanged against the boat the first night.  See the blocks at the base of the mast?  They rubbed against each other in the high winds the second night and went "eee-eee, eee-eee" all night long.
doing my part

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