Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

Getting water in a house is easy, you turn the tap and water just flows out.  On a boat it’s not quite that simple.  On a boat there is no water pressure to make the water flow; you have to have a pump.  When it works as it should an electric pump fills up an accumulator tank with water and pressurized air.  When you turn on the faucet the pressurized air pushes the water out of the tank, through the lines and out the faucet.  When it works as it should.

As much as possible we have to repair things on our boat ourselves.  There are two reasons for that.  One, of course, is money.  The cost of labor for all things marine is outrageous.  Two, we will not always be someplace where we can find someone to repair things.  Being able to make repairs yourself allows you to be more independent and living in a marina is a great time to learn all the systems.

When we moved our boat from west FL to east FL we thought we ran out of water.  However, when we moved onto the boat we filled up the tanks and still nothing would come out.  When we turned on the faucet nothing happened.  Normally, either water would flow or you would hear the pump running to fill up the tank.  We had nothing.   Fortunately, we had a foot pump.  You just step on a little pedal over and over again and it pumps water out a spare tap.  Of course, that’s only at the galley sink (kitchen sink).  We’ve been really busy on other projects, so the foot pump will have to do for now.

We’ve been using the foot pump for a week and that’s our only source of water on the boat.  It’s taking care of us until we have time to fix the issue with the electric pump.  Then one day I see some water on the floor of the galley.  I trace the water back to the foot pump and find that it is leaking all over.  Now we need to do something immediately and we opt to fix the foot pump because that problem doesn’t need to be diagnosed.  It’s leaking – it either needs to be rebuilt or replaced.  We head over to visit our friends at West Marine and see if they have a pump or a rebuild kit.  They don’t, but it turns out that the West Marine down in Stuart has a pump in stock.  Stuart is only a 40 minute drive so it’s not a big deal just irritating because I passed within a block of that West Marine earlier in the day when I went to a doctor’s appointment.  We place an order for a rebuild kit then drive down to Stuart to pick up a new pump.  If we rebuild our old pump we’ll have a spare if we ever need it.

Our old pump is at least 30 years old.  I’m not sure if it has been rebuilt in the past, but the point is Whale pumps last forever.  When we arrive at West Marine to buy our new Whale pump the guy at the counter basically says the same thing – people never bring back Whale pumps with problems.  They’re bullet proof.  We do some more shopping then head up to the counter to check out and now there is a girl there.  She is ringing us up and suggests that we get the extended warranty.  The pump comes with a 5 year warranty already, they last forever and you can by rebuild kits.    For just an extra 20% we can extend the warranty for another 2 years.  We pass on the extended warranty.

The pump is pretty easy to replace – a few screws and a couple of hose clamps and we’re done.  We try a test pump and it works great.  Later that evening, after cleaning up from dinner, I see water on the floor again.  Maybe I should have gotten the extended warranty.  It turns out that I didn’t get the hose clamps on tight enough.  A few more turns on the screws and everything is tight and leak free.

The new foot pump, installed and ready to use.

 

That keeps us going for another week until we both have time to figure out why the electric pump isn’t pumping.  I grab my multimeter and we start by checking the connections at the pump – no power.  I disconnect the wires to look at the crimp on connectors.  They need to be replaced, but that’s not the problem. There is an inline fuse, but it is whole so that’s not the problem.  Then we go back to the source.  There is a switch panel that controls all the power distributed around the boat, both AC and DC.  I open that up and check to see if there is power when the switch is on – there is.  Next we go to the distribution panel and check to see if there is power – there is.  We follow the wire through the walls, under our bed and into the galley.  There are no other connections and the wire looks good.  We find some connectors behind a hose under the kitchen sink and test to see if we have power there – we do.  We check the fuse again – still good.  We test that there is power going into the fuse holder – there is.  We check to see if there is power leaving the fuse holder – nope.  Somewhere in the simple fuse holder there is not a connection.  Back to see our buddies at West Marine.  We buy a new fuse holder and some new connectors.  Home on the boat we replace the fuse holder and the end connectors, flip the switch and listen to the pump load up the accumulator tank.  We lift the tap and magically water pores out without having to use a foot pump.  That lasts for about 10 seconds then the tap starts sputtering and a few seconds later the water stops flowing.  Fortunately, the only problem is the starboard (right) side tank is empty.  We turn off the starboard tank, turn on the port (left) tank, turn on the faucet and waters flows out just like it should.

It has been more than a week since then and everything is still working as it should.  Well the water is still working as it should, not everything is working as it should.  Of course, that’s several other stories.

Our sink with it's 4 faucets.  From left to right: a hand pump to pump water out of the refrigerator, the primary faucet, a faucet from a special water filter and a faucet for water from the foot pump.