Woo Hoo!!

We have been saying that a lot today. The watermaker is finally working!  This morning George spent several hours working on it, starting with pressure tests suggested by our friend, Michael. George made sure the system was mostly filled with water then taped the dinghy pump to the intake hose. The idea was that the pump would pressurize the system and we would be able to see water leaks which would give us an idea where air was leaking in. We tried it three separate times and never saw a leak. Nevertheless, George replaced the impeller again (for the third time); replaced the prefilter again; removed a brass fitting, cleaned it and put Teflon tape on the threads; put Teflon tape on the threads of the other (plastic) fittings; and cut an inch off of the intake hose and reattached it. We don’t know which of those things worked—George said he used my signature shotgun approach—but the watermaker now works with no additional air in the prefilter. The water tank is now full. Hooray! 

Afterwords we celebrated by going for a hike up Perrys’s Peak. When we returned to the boat we both took guilt free showers! It certainly is nice to not have to worry about the watermaker. 

The water tank is full!

View from Perry’s Peak. Breeze On is the farthest boat on the right. You can just see Exuma Sound over the top of the islands on the left. It is much calmer today than it was yesterday.