Spectra Ventura 200T water maker update 2013

Late January 2013 Anchored in Chamela (Perula Bay) and now Melaque\Bahia de Navidad

Our Spectra Watermaker 200T Deluxe is still leaking.

Our in-the-field temporary fix for this is to funnel the water to a place for collection. The water leaks out of the Clark pump(CP) and then into the holes that are for the water maker hold-down screws and in by our starboard water tank. It then drains into the bilge. This would be fine but we do not know how much of it actually drains into the bilge ad how much puddles in by the tank. This could cause rot to our tank and the surrounding wood and also stink later, it is sea water.

Leaking cylinder to right.

CP removed for dis-assembly the CP also gets removed to lay down the plastic sheeting while at anchor or not making a passage.

Water maker running and salt water on plastic sheeting that will get wetvacked out. We are at anchor.

 The fix for this was to remove the Clark pump (CP) and lay down some plastic sheeting. We had some Home Depot clear paint tarps and used one of those. Debbie removed the Clark pump and laid down the tarp and duck taped it so the water would drain to a snapware container. She also put a snapware container under one end of the Clark Pump so the water would drain to the low spot under the settee by the forward end. This is all a pain and it takes time. Then after say a half hour Debbie wet vac the water from around the Clark Pump and from in the container, then dumps the water overboard.

Socket head bolts right next to the cylinder.

 To remove the cylinder from the CP Debbie had to painfully remove four socked head bolts. They are close to the cylinder so they can only be turned a slight bit each time. One is too close to other parts so it is more difficult and requires removing part of the CP structure to get at. To this end we are currently looking for a welder in Melaque or Barra to fabricate a tool for us. We want to take the Allen head wrench we have and have it cut and lengthened so it is long enough to reach the end of the cylinder. This way we can get at all four socked heads without the trouble of the short Allen head wrench.

Debbie working at removing the cylinder from the Clark Pump. We are at anchor in Chamela .

Cylinder removed but there are still pieces on the cylinder to remove if it were to be replaced.

Check valves where some O-rings go.

2-020 O rings which can be gotten at most auto supply stores and some hardware stores.

 We figure this will happen again sometime, an O ring perhaps or something but it will happen and we will be better off with a tool to work with it.

 When we sailed from Chamela to Melaque\Barra we had to remove the tarp and re-install the CP.

Then in Melaque she did the whole process all over again.

So we are making water.  It is a pain but not as painful as carrying it.

The other option is to buy it. At this and most anchorages you need to haul it to your boat. That means taking a water bottle and putting it your dingy and taking it to shore and carrying it to an exchange center or small abarrotes - not a big deal until you get the full one. They are of the size of an office water cooler. Then you need to lug this full bottle back to the boat and that is not easy. First is the walk to the beach from the store then the across the beach to dingy and then the dingy to boat trip.  Then where do you store it? Put it in the water tank? Store the big bottle? This is much more painful to us…besides the boat we just saw do this process, has a couple on it at least half my age.

 When were at the La Cruz marina we filled our water tanks with water. It tasted awful and smelled worse. After a couple classes of lemon aid we dumped it all out. It is not potable water (not drinkable).

 There are only a couple marinas that have drinkable water that we know of.  One is El Cid in Mazatlan and another is Paradise Marine in Puerto Vallarta.

Here, there is a marina called Marina Puerto de la Navidad at the Grand Bay Resort Hotel that has non- potable water and on the morning net people wanted to fill their tanks with it. They want to drink it. Some say it is not bad. Some say it is OK to drink. The marina says it is not OK to drink. So then you know it is an issue if people are willing to drink water in Mexico that they are told not to drink because of how difficult it is to supply your boat with good drinking water. Another boater said as much over the morning net as words of caution on drinking the marina water. There could be parasites or other problems with the water as it is not fully filtered; it is for washing your boat not drinking.

So the water maker leak is a pain but the alternatives are more so.

 Spectra support says they will not ship to Mexico as the parts never get to their destination. Hmm how difficult can we make this?? They would like us to drop off the CP to an authorized Spectra Service enter in the US. Well that would be nice wouldn’t it, if we could!  So they will send a replacement cylinder as it is under warranty because it is ONLY THREE MONTHS OLD but not to Mexico unless we pay for it and we take full responsibility for it if it does not show up.

Hmm, well now what. There is an alternative. Fix it ourselves. Spectra Support says that the crack, which we never saw when Debbie had it apart, could be fixed. You would of course need to determine if it is before or after the piston. If it is after we could use JB weld then we have on-board repair. We would need to cut a groove in the crack and apply the JB weld. If it is after the piston then it would need to be epoxied. This is so the piston can travel over it so it needs to be smooth and precise, that sounds easy J.

The first task is to get the cylinder here. We contacted a marine shop that does boat work in Barra. They said we could ship it there by UPS signature required and they would get it. No duty required as it is a repair part. On our TIP we listed the Spectra Ventura 200T water make and Spectra will place a label stating the value is say $350.00 on it and it is duty free. But then there is a tax so we can give the shop the tax money for the package when it arrives. After looking into it further, we think we should go with an established shipping agent.

 Next we searched for a Shipping Agent. We found one in Manzanillo. We are currently in contact with them to see if they can get the shipping done.

 We passed by Tenacatita, when sailing here. It is a beautiful anchorage but without any services. The dingy landing can also be difficult. There were 29 boats in the anchorage at the time. We heard from a fellow cruiser that one of the boats there, called “Legacy”, which on the stern had a sign that said “Factory trained Spectra Water Make rover” or something close. He will be in Melaque\Barra this Thursday and we will see what he can do. In Tenacatita the cruisers organize Mexican Dominos and Yoga and other activities and each Friday they have a dingy raft up and pot luck to meet the new arrivals. Sounds like fun. We will stop on the way back up north for Hurricane season. We chose to pass by so we could work on fixing the water maker.

So until then….