Position           41:11.45N 071:34.69W

Date                Friday 7 September 2012

I would normally leave writing about our stay in Block Island until we leave but I am so excited about the salt water blockage that I must tell someone.  A real FIGJAM – the explanation of this technical term may only be conveyed personally and then only in a whisper - Just Ask Me.

A 0800 start in the engine room tackled the awful job of removing the salt water strainer.  It is not difficult per se but it is directly over the bilge and of course that is where the 10mm socket dropped.  Thank heavens for the magnet on the end of a telescopic rod, I knew it would come in useful.

Having removed the strainer casing from the water inlet I was able to extract the one way valve that lives in the water inlet pipe.  I am not quite sure why we have this but Monsieur Amel must have had a reason.  Anyway the valve provided the answer as to why there was a problem:

This hard woody sea weed was our very own creature from the blue lagoon.

The cleaned up version looked like:

A further good clean up to the inlet pipe helped water flow.  I was however left with the problem of this one way valve that was a loose fit in the pipe and could only be extracted by a lengthy dismantling job.

There is a solution for all those Amel owners out there because this criter can block easily and a method of getting it out to clean would be useful.

This standard marine hose just fits down the strainer inlet and the valve is a close fit inside it.  A smear of glue to hold it together and the complete assembly can be inserted and extracted easily from within the strainer.  Very ‘Blue Peter’.

Once again everything is working as it should and I wait for the next issue to appear.  For the time however we are making water, aircon and anchor wash pumps are behaving correctly and we have enough fresh water coming through to tackle the mountain of washing that has built up whilst water generation has been problematical.  Oh the things that you land lubbers take for granted.

Moving on.  The Ocean Cruising Club was in action again as Sid and Rebecca Shaw on ‘Dovka’ arrived from Wings Neck, with friends Bob and Wendy aboard, and rafted alongside.  We were then also joined for drinks by Tony and Rachel from ‘Saltwhistle III’, met on the Maine Rally, and new OCC members Paul and Susan LaFrance from the Amel SM2000 ‘Nomad’.  Saltwhistle and Nomad went ashore to eat and we joined Dovka for a very jolly and excellent supper, courtesy of Rebecca.