We were 8 hours from Nuku'alofa in route to Minerva reef. Our water tanks were near empty. There was an algae bloom in the water so we hadn't been excited about making water earlier in the day. The bloom does a number on our pre-filters and causes the system to have to work a lot harder than it normally does. But after 8 hours of seeing bloom in the water, it was clear that it was an ocean-wide problem. I decided that we needed some water.

I went below and opened our water maker valve and turned on the switch. The switch then automatically turned off. I took my hat off and scratched my head. "Oh! A wise guy!" I said in my best Curly, from the Three Stooges, imitation. I turned the switch back on and it turned off. This went back and forth for longer that I care to admit.

There are two switches on Adventure that turn the water maker on. One is on the AC panel and the other is on the water maker. I wondered if the switch was shorting out, so I turned off the the AC panel switch. I then turned on the water maker switch. It turned off.

I started doing some calculations. We have 12 gallons of water and 1000+ miles until we reach New Zealand. After the mutiny on the Bounty, Captain Bligh did 3500 miles on 120 liters (approximately 30 gallons) of water and he had 18 men aboard in an open boat. Hmm... I thought, but he didn't have 3 girls. We'll never make it. I turned the switch on again. It turned off.

A friend once told me that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results. I tried again. Same result.

Kathy came down. "Are you making water?" she asked in passing. "Yes." I replied as I tried to turn the switch on again. Kathy wasn't paying attention and went back into the cockpit. I wasn't quite ready to tell everyone that we were going to die a slow death of dehydration. I preferred that to motoring all the way back to Nuku'alofa.

Tara came over, "Hey Dad! Since you're making water can I take a shower?" "Uh...Could you wait a few minutes?" "Come on Dad! I'm hot and I don't feel good." "Uh... Okay." Captain Bligh would have never made it.

I stood there looking at the switch. It was, so, obvious that the switch was bad. The switch still tripped even when AC panel switch was off. There was no power coming to the water maker switch. There was no reason that it should trip. I looked through my arsenal of spare parts for a new switch. Nothing. I made a mental note that I need to have a spare AC switch. I tried the switch again - nothing.

I was out of ideas. I tapped the screwdriver against the switch. It was a sad moment. And then I heard it - the little voice in my head. It was Scottie from Star Trek. "You just need to bypass the main circuit," he said in his Scottish accent.

"That's it!" I yelled aloud. I ran to my junk drawer and retrieved some wire. I bypassed the water maker switch and turned on the water maker from the AC panel. It worked!

We have 102 gallons of water now and I'm starting to believe that we'll make it. I told Kathy how we almost died and she downplayed the whole thing. "You know, we're traveling with 6 other boats. There are 12 boats already at Minerva. I'm sure someone would have given us some water." It's hard to be a hero on our boat... Hum.