Three days. That’s how long I’ve been working on this damn watermaker. And it’s still not done. I do (finally) have everything semi-working, but it’s not putting out enough freshwater to sustain Luke and I. So, today I’m back at it. It won’t be fully complete until I can make a run to Panama City and get parts. Right now it’s pretty tough to get the parts I need, being anchored behind a remote island in a remote part of Panama.
The Generator
They say that the two things most prone to breaking while cruising are a) the watermaker and b) the generator. That has proven true for me. My diesel generator is super-handy, when it’s working. But it’s a super-PITA when it’s not working correctly, which is fairly often. It’s a simple thing, a single-cylinder diesel, with very few moving parts and only 500 (ish) hours on it. Ferryman produced it originally, and then several other companies “marinized” them. Mine is an Entech West version. I will say that all of the problems I’ve had with it are fairly straightforward – overheating (clogged heat-exchanger tubes), overheating (loss of coolant), and fuel (bad fuel in a dirty tank). Those things just happen. So it’s not a flaw of design, it’s just another system to maintain. But to me, it’s a worthwhile system to maintain. For running power-tools, charging batteries, etc – it beats the heck out of having to run an engine. I want engine hours to be moving S/V NOMAD somewhere.
Luke actually did a fair amount of the fixing of the generator, I had my head buried in the watermaker. The (original) issue with the generator was a clogged fuel filter (I believe). But the “mechanic” who did some work several months ago had overtightened the fuel filter to a ridiculous level. We had to remove the fuel filter housing, put it in a vise, and actually ended up completely trashing my fuel filter and bending my filter wrench. Another example of a simple task turned weird on a boat.
Of course, once we got the fuel filter changed and re-installed, I had to bleed the lines. Then we tried to start it, and it finally did start. But then I noticed another problem – the exhaust hose was spouting seawater. So I killed the generator, cracked a beer, and called it a night – it was after 7PM and completely dark. The fix was simple, and the next day I told Luke what to do and he did it, without issue. We now have a working generator. For at least a little while.
Watermaker Hell
So I’m changing my defunct Spectra Catalina 300 into a Spectra Cape Horn Extreme. The major difference between the two is that the Catalina is mostly electronic and the Cape Horn is mostly mechanical. In addition the Spectra Catalina uses a single vane pump, while the Cape Horn uses two diaphragm pumps. Two things prompted this change – my Catalina wasn’t electronic anymore anyways, and the Catalina vane pump was in bad shape. The repair/spare parts bill for the Spectra Catalina vane pump topped $1900, before shipping. Insane.
So, rather than continue to shell out big-bucks for an overcomplicated, underperforming system I opted to reconfigure one to the other. This would make more sense if I was a watermaker guru. But I’m learning. The hard way.
Long story a little shorter – I spent three full days bleeding, sweating, cursing, and fighting with my watermaker. And it’s still not right. But it’s closer. More importantly, I understand it now. What seemed like Black Magic is now a fairly straightforward system, almost entirely mechanically controlled and almost totally overhauled. As usual though, I relied on the help of a couple of friends around here to help me understand the system and it’s requirements – here’s a public thank you to Mike and Sheila. You are both awesome and helped me immensely – I’d be up a creek without your expertise and problem-solving.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I have a watermaker if it’s such a PITA. Plenty of cruisers survive without them. Well, in short, because I need it. For many people it’s a creature-comfort, for me it’s a necessity. S/V NOMAD was ordered from the factory with only 75 gallons of water storage onboard (the other side of the hull being a generator). That effectively means that if I don’t have a watermaker, I spend an inordinate amount of time sailing around trying to find water. I hate that, when I drop my anchor – the only reason I want to leave is because I’m tired of diving a certain spot. So, I need a watermaker.
The first problem I had with my watermaker redesign was a that the pumps were shipped without the fitting that connects them to the necessary hoses. The second problem is that they originally installed my watermaker with two different inner diameter (ID) hoses (meaning I needed two different ID fittings) which I was unaware of, because they are remarkably close in outer diameter (OD) size. The third problem was that the ShurFlo fittings I ordered leak horrifically. The last problem has to do with placement of the pumps, air bubbles in the fittings, clogged (and unnecessary) filters, leaking high-pressure fittings, and a leaky sea-strainer.
First I had air-bubbles in the lines. Then I couldn’t get enough pressure to my Clark Pump. Then I realize they’d installed the wrong filters in the wrong order (and too many). Then I realized that my fittings were restricting water flow. Then I realized that my high-pressure fittings were leaking on the membrane and clark pump. I tried to fix all of those problems, but it took an immense amount of troubleshooting, time, and talking through problems. Some parts were supplied by Mike, some by Sheila, and most brought in by Luke. An immense amount of helpful knowledge was shared by both Mike and Sheila, in the typical cruiser fashion – kindly, slowly, and without an expectation of anything in return (besides helping out when/if I can). So cool.
As it sats this morning we were making a little bit of water – but it’s wasn’t enough, and we believe that the shortage has to do with a) a leaky sea-strainer b) leaky high-pressure fittings, c) not enough voltage getting to the pumps. I’m was going to attempt to fix all of that tomorrow, but I decided to take a shot at rebuilding the Clark Pump, since I have it out anyways. All of this, of course, was compounded by me breaking a filter wrench and other unforeseeable bullshit – partly self-induced. Today I took apart the entire Clark pump, replaced some leaky high-pressure fittings, etc. Naturally it took all day, and by the end of the day when I went to try it out – it wasn’t working correctly. Rather than fighting it tired and frustrated, I opted to take a beer break and write this post. Then I’ll cook dinner and take a whack at it fresh in the morning.
When (or if?) I get it working correctly I’ll post some pictures of the setup and outline what I did to make it work. Of course, the way to avoid much of this is to simply NEVER buy a watermaker that is electronically controlled. Those parts break, short, have CPU failures, get struck by lightning (it happened to me), etc. And when all that happens, you end up trying to simplify your system – when you could have saved $3,000 and bought a simpler (and more robust) system from the get-go. Really, sometimes I believe the choice in equipment onboard (which I inherited) was made by someone with an IQ in the mid-teens.
Still Diving
The first day in Watermaker Hell (the second day I was working on the watermaker, though) was spent with the entire day (from dawn to after dusk) working on the watermaker. The second day in Watermaker Hell I managed to solve some problems and produce a few gallons of water. Then we decided to tackle some other projects in the afternoon/evening. Then we went diving right before sunset as a reward for being awesome.
We took a looong dinghy ride to an outer island and then dove an outer reef of that island. Both Luke and I were pretty happy with the way we dove – I was pushing 1:30 with a depth in the 50-60 foot range pretty consistently. We’re a long way from where we want to be, but we’re diving fairly and making a bit of progress. More practice and we’ll be even better.
While freediving at this spot was really great, spearfishing here was meh. That said we did kill several Lionfish, one of which was the biggest I’ve ever seen. I also managed a long shot on a small Cero Mackerel, which makes a guy feel good about his accuracy (since said guy was missing fish just two days before). Forgive the low-light pictures – Luke is still playing with settings.
I would have stayed there and dove for hours, but it was getting dark, we had a ton of fish onboard, and we weren’t seeing much. We also needed to get back, clean fish, and start dinner.
Of note, Luke is starting to play with underwater video and photo. My job continues to be mechanic/cook/provisioner/captain/navigator/parts-sourcer/spearfisherman/writer. It’s hard to add “video-guy” to that list, but Luke is a video-guy and I’ve got a bit of faith. Finger’s crossed.
Watermaker Hell (and Freediving)
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