WATERMAKER REPAIRS IN PARADISE 

My last WEB update mentioned split end caps on my Spectra watermaker membrane. On Monday, June 23 I sailed 38 miles to Isla Coronados where Tackless II, with Don the local Spectra rep, was anchored. 

Since then I have spent over 24 hours working on the Spectra system.  Don, who has been trained as a repair technician at the Spectra factory, also spent at least 16 hours helping and working.  We replaced one membrane end cap which quickly stopped that leak.  We then  found that the 90 ° elbow on the high pressure, 800+ PSI, inlet was leaking around the threads in the body of the Clark pump.  More research showed that the threads in Delrin body of the Clark Pump had a minute crack in them.  Spectra provided a new center block (containing the HP inlet) as a warranty item.  No more HP leak. 

Now I have only two remaining problems - the 20 micron pre-filter has a leak between the screw on filter housing and the mount that is bolted to the bulkhead. It drips about once every 3 seconds. That saltwater runs down the power leads to the pumps in the lower compartment and soaks everything in salt water.

All three housings leak on the one mount in question but do not leak on the other mounts.  It has an O-ring that seems to be OK but water does find a way past it. I've replaced the 20 micron filter & mount with the plankton filter & mount and the leak got worse.  I'm now trying to make a thin gasket for the housing.

For now I put a funnel with hose below the filter to drain the water into a large tub. But, the leak does diminish the efficiency of the system. I can see a little surge of water each time the Clark Pump hits its 100 PSI reversal point, so the leak is absorbing some of the pumps energy and pressure.

The other problem is that either feed pump by itself will deliver 7.5 GPH of product but when I run both pumps at once I see lots of air bubbles in the suction line to the aft most pump and only get a total of 12.5 GPH product from both pumps . There are NO leaks in any of the suction lines so I can't figure out where the air is getting into the system (The 20 micron filter is on the discharge side of the pump).   I suspect air is being sucked thru the threads of the plankton filter housing.

The product  output of 12.5 GPH is at a Spectra system voltage of 13.3 volts as supplied by the solar panels.  When the Yanmar diesel runs  to  keep the voltge at 14.4V the product output jumps up to 14.5 GPH.

The good news is that the Spectra makes 12.5 GPH of very good water, 450 ppm, when powered by only the solar panels.  Even when I take three freshwater showers a day I use less than 10 gallons of water.  So, less than an hour a day of Spectra run time keeps the water tank full of very good water.

The weather here at Isla Coronados is getting hot as one would expect this time of year in the Baja.  Daytime air temps get up to the mid-90s and Mirador's cabin temperature hits 92 or 93 at times.  I really should put up the big sun awning that covers the entire boat, but I keep thinking I will not be here that long. 

The temperature in the forward sleeping compartment is about 86° when I go to bed at 11 PM or so and drops to the low-80s by daybreak.  I have installed two 12V fans in the sleeping area that move a lot of air at the cost of 0.4 amps apiece.  One fan is mounted next to the overhead hatch and brings cooler air from outside down into the cabin.  Therefore, sleeping has been quite comfortable.

There is a lot interesting snokeling near this anchorage.  However, there are also two interesting problems with it.  The first is that the surface water is quite comfortable at about 78° but just 5 feet down the water temperature is about 66° which is downright cold when wearing just a shorty wet suit.  The other day I had to swim onto the beach and sit in the hot sun for 20 minutes to warm up enough to continue diving.

The other problem is the "agua males" and "string of pearls" jelly fish that are prevalent in the local waters.  They do sting and the irritation continues for several hours once out of the water.

The other stingy things in the area are the small honeybees that come aboard looking for fresh water.  I put a large plate of fresh water on the aft-most seat in the cockpit which keeps most of the bees out there.  But I always have a dozen or so buzzing around the sink in the galley.  They are very docile and will fly out of the way when it is my turn to use the sink.  I have also found they can handle a dunking pretty well.  Sometimes one of the bees gets washed into the bottom of the sink when I turn on the sink water .  It will just swim out of the water, climb up the side of the sink, shake it's wings, and then fly away.

Yesterday I washed the cockpit with fresh water and then went over to MV Quay Linn to play dominoes.  When I returned to Mirador the cockpit floor looked like I had installed a new shag carpet.  There were, literally, thousands of bees enjoying the water left over from the washing. 

A while later I started the BarBQue which is mounted on the stern rail.  While trying to drop a hamburger on the grill I managed to get a bee between two toes and then  discovered that they do indeed sting. 

I'll be here at Isla Coronados for several more days before I move northwest to San Juanico or La Remada.

If my ICOM HAM radio can transmit this WEB page with no problems I will start including pictures in subsequent updates.  The ICOM seems to be working well again and transmits continuously with no dropouts.