PHOTO ABOVE: The hot water heater on Far Niente. Located aft of the stern end of the aft stateroom. 90% of the access port is filled with the heater per se. Work on the water lines was through the 5" slot on the right.

We woke this morning to the sound of our water pump running more than normal. After coffee we noticed the bilge pump kick on and empty clear water into the marina waters. Far Niente's bilge pump never runs; something was amiss.

Quick inspection of the 2-3 areas where there might be a water leak showed no trace of water. None the less the bilge was very slowly filling with clear water. There had to be a leak somewhere. Last easy area to check, the hot water heater located behind a panel in the back of the aft stateroom. Necessary items were removed from the stateroom and the panel was unscrewed. Immediately I spotted the leak; at a "T" coupling on the hot water side of the water heater. The main line feeds the boat hot water system and the "T" was connected to tubing that went up to the cockpit shower connection. This allows one to take a nice warm shower in the cockpit after swimming.

First thing to try, tighten the fitting, but of course this did not stop the leak. Then the entire piece of tubing pulled out of the fitting to the cockpit shower. As you can see from the picture above there is almost no room to get 2 hands and arms in the area to the right of the water heater and I could not reach the cockpit shower fitting which was farther back and up about 2 feet.

Plan "B" - plug the "T" with a cap. This should work, but first we have to find the right size threaded cap. After traveling for 3 hours to 2 marine supply stores, a Home Depot, a plumbing supply store, and a RV parts supply store I came to the conclusion that the cap I was looking for could not be found locally. It would need to be ordered and we would have no water system on board until the part arrived and was installed. Not going to work.

(I would like to thank Marjorie's Uncle Jimmy who dropped by to visit and ended up driving us all over West Palm Beach and neighboring communities looking for this part.)

Plan "C" - take out the "T" and connect the tube that feeds the house hot water lines directly to the hot water heater. Further inspection and evaluation showed that would work quite well. So I connected the feed tube to the hot water heater and pressurized the system. Water came raining down from the cockpit shower fitting. A cold water line runs up to the fitting to allow the blending of hot and cold water to get the desired temperature. With the hot water line disconnected from the fitting, cold water shot out of the fitting.

Plan "D" - I disconnected the cold water feed line to the cockpit shower. It had to be plugged to prevent cold water from coming out when the entire water system was pressurized. The tube i.d. was ½" and I finally found a ½" o.d. bolt in my parts stash that could be wrapped with teflon tape, inserted in the tube and clamped water tight to create a plug.

As I was assembling this plug I bumped the hot water outlet tube on the hot water heater and broke off the barb on the fitting where the feed tube to the house system attaches. ARGH!

It is now 4:30 pm and the marine parts store ¼ mile away closes at 5:00 pm. I made a mad dash to the store and THANK GOD they had the right fitting; ½" NPT for the hot water heater side and a ½" barb for the ½" i.d. tubing for the house hot water line.

About 5:30 pm the new fitting was in place and the house hot water lines reconnected to the hot water heater. The plug on the now spare cold water feed line was secure. Time to pressurize the system and check for leaks.

None found.

I'll wait 24 hours, checking and rechecking for leaks to declare the problem fixed. However this is only a temporary fix as now we no longer have a nice temperature controlled cockpit shower to rinse off after swimming. Fortunately we have buckets on board.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.