The projects today were for me to get document disks burnt and in the mail and for Scott to get the watermaker working. My project I was very confident in as I had burnt the disks the afternoon before and today simply had to gather all the addresses and find a location within walking distance to express mail them from. Scott's job, well, this watermaker has plagued him since the day it arrived from the manufacture. It was to be an engine driven belt system able to produce 25 gallons an hour making us the envy of all others.

The day it arrived in March of 08 and the package was opened it became apparent what a daunting task this was to be to install. So, the box was closed and set aside.

In June of last year when we made our first attempt to leave for a long term cruising experience the box was reopened and Scott began the install. It became quickly apparent that gosh, not all parts were included; oh the big main ones were but many of the little nuts, bolts and other miscellaneous parts were not there. The manufacture was very quick to point out that he could simply run down to the hardware store and pick them up. Scott began to doubt what else he was to discover missing when he got into the project deeper. Well, many calls to the manufacture (which is s single guy) with various responses to Scott's questions like "Well didn't you work on tractor motors when you were young" and "Well yeah, it is likely it won't work with what you have going on there". Scott put the remaining parts back into the box and we left for our ten week tour.

June of this year, the parts again came back to the boat from storage and are once more opened. Progress is indeed made and the week before we are to leave we actually had the high pressure pump installed on the front of our engine. Jerry from L & M Marine in Everett was great and without his assistance on this we likely would not have made this critical step happen. Jerry did the engine install on this boat in 2007 so he knew her very well and he knows the Yanmar.

One critical piece to the system is the pressure vessel that holds the membrane. Last year in Scott's frustration and perhaps his haste, he installed one of the ends wrong and pinched the O-ring. We once again called the manufacture who lives up on Orcas Island and asked if we brought it up there if he could pull the end off and make sure no damage was done. So we made an appointment for the following Wednesday. We took the day, a ferry trip to the Islands and arrived to have him not answer his phone, not be around and that the address he uses is for the local post office. Well, I believe I was probably more mad at this *&C@#% then Scott was. We have about six grand into this system and even the manufacture has ditched us and we are leaving in a week.

We find a machine shop thanks to Scott's buddy Leon who can and does pull the end off, gets us more O-rings. When testing the water pickup again, we determine that it simply is not pulling enough water from the low pressure side to work and that the cause is likely an old clogged line and a water source off of the engine pick up will have to be taken. So, back in the box go the few remaining parts and we find a place on the boat to store the membrane and pressure vessel and we leave for parts south without the watermaker working.

"Today is the day, September 10th 2009 We will have water by the end of the day with God as my witness" I hear Scott proclaim as he leaps from bed. There are only two critical steps needed to complete the install. One, re-plumb the water pick-up and two install the membrane. We have doubts about the membrane as we've been told they have to be used within a year or they go bad. We have kept it in a cool dark storage unit for most of the time and we still see moisture inside the inner liner so we are hopeful.

Now is when the story gets anticlimactic, but we have a great source of water and the engine doesn't seem to mind using some of its water as it's exhaust has just as much water flow as before and the temperature remains steady. We open the membrane to indeed find it dripping wet inside the package; as a side note this is the part where there is a big $800 turn around point. If this doesn't work and we get saltwater on the membrane and can't get it working in a very short period of time we would need to buy a new $800 membrane. But hey, no pressure! We get the membrane inside the vessel and after a brief period of confusion over which end is the brine seal end and confirmation of the flow end we get it sealed and hung in the engine room ready to energize.

We start the boat's engine, start the watermaker and quickly identify a couple leaks. One is significant enough that we stop and Scott goes to work fixing them. We start again and after going through the 40 minutes of running the system to provide an initial flush of the membrane it is time to increase pressure in the system and see if we make water. This system is designed to start creating water between 600 and 900 PSI. So, up to 100.....200.....300....400 "crap nothing, maybe this isn't happening Babe" 500...600 "WE HAVE WATER" The system is running and is making water at about 22 GPH and it taste the best! Victory is always sweet!