Jack of All Trades

Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Mon 23 Aug 2010 04:32
Back on the boat, and doing jobs, and working through the tasks at hand. My
list grew while we were away as I dreamt up some "nice to have" jobs, like a
bilge high water alarm.
But today was what I call a "fix it day" and nice thing is they all worked
(not very often", but it started off:
1/ With the watermaker, we were out of drinking water, so this a must do
job, so I started the water maker, after changing the 20 micron filter, and
sure enough it started well enough, but when I was making water I was not
getting enough water, air was getting in the system, not a good thing. So I
shut it down, resealed the raw-water pump as it had a slight leak, and then
the sea strainer was cleaned, and as I did this I found that it did not
refill well as it should, and sure enough the incoming side was clogged with
twigs and bark, so I had to blow this out. (this poses a big issue which I
need to think about a remedy but I also need to check the main engine as
well. After an hour I started up again and sure enough we came up to
pressure well and we happily made good water. How I have got know this
system, but one of the interesting things at sea we need 800 psi to make 24
gallons an hour, but with all the rain in the water the salt content is down
and we finding that we need 600 psi or even less to make the same water, on
checking the manuals this is correct. One of the issues with the automatic
systems which others have is that it runs on pressure not flow, and you have
to adjust or else you would blow the membrane, mine is a simple watermaker
which I adjust the pressure manually to get the flow I desire so no issue,
(this has been a good water maker (Aqua marine).
2/ Was a leak on the port side coming in on the kitchen had to clean and
find leak, found and seem to stop it, but will only know with the next big
rain.
3/ After lights in toilet not working, found issue with the switch and
corrosion, WD 40 to rescue.
4/ Next was my friend the washing machine which had broken the engine
mounts, I had dropped with instructions to weld and then reinforce it,
outlining what I wanted as this also effects the alignment of the belt to
the drum. Got the modified brackets back, after painting, I then reassembled
with the washing machine and ran the test and YES, YES it worked. We have a
much strong system (I have had 4 of these brackets break) and it all
aligned, I ran a full cycle no issue. Then ran a bleach wash to clean the
system out. Tracy is very happy (a good thing).
5/ Got the small outboard back and checked the impeller all working so this
is now ready to go for it.
Plus we had significant rain, just bucketing down or drizzle due to Tropical
Storm Frank but things have calmed down, and rain stopped.
I remember my friend Ted Hill telling me when I bought the first boat that I
would need to be a "jack of all trades " to keep it working and it is
amazing what you have to put you hand too.
Now sleep is calling and new jobs tomorrow.