Year 2- 28 August 2025 –Bari Bay -Flores (Copy)

We had a lazy start although I got up about 7.00am with no time pressures. It was another nice day so Tony decided to make eggy toast using the remainder of the bread. This we had with sugar or maple syrup which was delicious. There was plenty of fruit to eat as well.

We had decided not to move today but we had to try and sort out the water maker – which is so important here as you cannot go into a marina and fill up. You may recall the problem seemed to be that the water maker would run for 15 minutes or so and then there was a surge in pressure on the High-Pressure pump. My guess is that this is an electrical issue and probably a faulty capacitor (a relay).      

I had looked up online various potential causes and the starting point was to check the sea water inlet and the seacock to check it was not blocked. We therefore turned off the seacock and took off the cover and checked the filter. It was not blocked but there was a bit of shell type stuff within it. We cleaned it out. We then checked the filters and I changed all 3 namely the 20 micron, the 5 micron and the carbon filter. We then looked at the initial pump and it was new in New Zealand and I had been told it was sort of bullet proof.  We therefore having done these checks decided to start up the water maker which we did and clearly the initial pump was working and it pushed the water through the new filters etc. We therefore decided to start the high-pressure pump which you need to push the water through the membranes which makes the desalination and makes fresh water. This seemed to work initially and ran properly for 15 minutes and then it started to osculate and so the problem remained.  We turned it all off. We needed to look at the High-Pressure pump. We took the top of the pump off to look at the wiring and we looked inside and the white 50uf capacitor had a great lump coming out of it- see picture of the day. This was surprising and clearly likely to be the issue as when it got hot it would interfere with the voltage and caused the osculation.   

We looked at the wiring carefully and some had melted and was not in a good way. We took a careful note/picture of which wire went where. Clearly the wiring was not in a good place and attention was required. We therefore gradually started taking it apart and we had to clearly check that the wiring was going into the right connectors. Luckily I had spare capacitors.

Tony was fantastic as he is in the building trade and knows a lot about wiring etc. He set about looking carefully at the wiring and connectors and contacted an electrician he knows in the UK. This electrician’s father wires these pumps day in day out. His message was that capacitors go and that wires do melt etc especially if the wires are loose and there is vibration. I had also contacted the person who helped me in NZ with the water maker who suggested we continue what we were doing and did not think the initial pump would be the problem.

The work took most of the day which is why this blog will be short. We decided to do each set of wiring one by one replacing the connectors with what I had and the problem for Tony was that the wires were old and stiff and falling apart. Anyhow in sauna like temperatures in old swimming trunks we undertook this work. Jon made us cups of tea and supported. In fact the first thing he did was dive on the water inlet and check it was clear.

Tony (mainly) with me assisting fetching this and that gradually rewired the system with a new capacitor and by about 5.00pm we were finished having started at about 8.30am. We started up the water maker again and all worked well and it was making water. However, we needed to run it for at least 15 minutes which is when it failed before. It ran and ran and continued beyond the 15 minutes and so we continue to run it over the next couple of hours to fill the starboard tank. This was such a relief. What is clear is really the whole pump section needs to be rewired with better connectors etc. However, for now we have it working. Thank you Lord.

We let it all run while I packed everything away and we all had a swim to wash the sweat away. We then showered and sat on the aft deck with a well-earned beer. As it got darker the flying foxes started to come overhead. It had been a boring hot and sweaty day bit we had succeeded.

Jon had cooked a tomato pasta supper which we had with green beans which was good and welcoming. We will head over to Labuan Bajo tomorrow. We should be able to provision and refuel I hope and maybe we will find a decent electrician.

The picture of the day is the capacitor which caused the problem – see the growth growing out of its side.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com