The new belt is installed and the water maker works. Phew! What a relief. When George first started the motor after installing the belt it was making a terrible racket so he quickly shut it off. George checked the impeller and it was fine. We decided the noise might be coming from the belt slipping so he tightened it up a bit. While he was tightening the belt I was researching how tight that type of belt should be and read it should be just tight enough so it doesn’t slip, but not too tight. Ha! The Rain Man company has no instructions on belt tension for our type of machine (they do for their newer model that has a different type of belt and pulley system) and they haven’t even responded to George’s questions. So, we made our best guess on proper tension. After George made the adjustment he started the motor and it sounded much better. We still have about 30 gallons of water in the tank so George decided to pickle the system (add fresh water with a preservative.) That accomplishes two things: 1-we can postpone making water until we are more in need, and 2-it helps kill microbes that might be growing in the reverse osmosis membrane columns. To celebrate the functioning water maker we went for a brief snorkel.
Earlier today we decided to move further north to an anchorage that is more protected from west winds. We moved only about 1/2 mile as the crow flies but had to meander around for 3 1/2 miles to get here.
Newly installed belt.
View from our new anchorage. We snorkeled to the left of the beach. On the right you can see some boats in our former anchorage, about 1/2 mile away. It is possible to take the boat through that cut but it isn’t advised for anything small boats.
Spotfin butterflyfish.
Sea urchin.
Sponges.
Not sure about the swirly thing in the shadow but we thought it was interesting.
Squirrelfish.
This photo was taken last evening at Big Majors. I stepped out onto the deck to look at the sunset and saw the anchor right beside the boat.
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