Early January 2013
The water maker is still limping along but is leaking.
We were in the bilge working on the motor mounts when we noticed water that was seeping into the bilge from where the starboard side water tank is. We tested it by taste and it is salt water. By logic it would seem the water maker was leaking. This turned out to be true. It seeps down to the area where the water tank is encased in wood. Then seeps down into the bilge. Hopefully all of it. We located the water leak to be in the Clark Pump which is the main water maker component. Debbie emailed Spectra support and they said it was a blown O ring. Now really the water maker has only been in use for only three months old!
So they said to replace the O ring in the check valve or have it fixed at a service center and they would fix it under warranty. (Now really, we are in a Mexican fishing village and hours bus ride from nearly anything.) Ok we weren't sure we had the o-ring so we emailed the local rep and Spectra support to find out if that was part of the kit that was given to us for the first year and inquired about the reason this would happen on a new unit.
Debbie un-installed the Clark Pump so we could work on it. Debbie did all the work as I was working on the toilet. She removed the cylinder which was no easy task. We have a normal Allen head wrench and of course there was no room to work on one bolt. It took a long time and removing extra parts to get it out. Anyway after the cylinder was removed we inspected the O rings and they looked good. We did not have one to fit for a replacement. Debbie cleaned and re-greased everything then put it all back together and re-installed the Clark Pump and after four and a half hours of work it still leaks.
So you really need a special tool made up to do this to make the two plus extra hours go away. That will be our next project to cut the Allen head wrench and have a steel shaft welded onto it to make it longer so it will fit all the way past the cylinder. The socket head bolt is so close to the cylinder even a socket on an extension we think is to big around to fit.
Then the next day we go into Perula to the hardware store. We were going to try that and there is an auto mechanic here so maybe him for the O rings. The hardware store had some so we got a couple of sizes. (We have since then purchased an "O" ring kit)
We then went back to the boat. There we fired up the Icom M802 SSB to use Sail Mail to contact the Spectra support people and see what else could cause the leak. We received an email from them that said they reconsidered the problem after they saw that the Spectra Venture 2000T was only three months old. They said that they changed their diagnose to a blown cylinder and they would ship a new one out or we could bring in the Clark pump assembly and they would replace it. Also they said they do not ship to Mexico because no one ever gets the packages. Ok so now what? Yet another field repair by Debbie. Only now we need epoxy and ???. We do not have any epoxy on board at this time so it looks like this field repair will get worked on in Melaque\Barra in a week or so.
We tried making water again (as we had no other choice since we are in an anchorage with no potable water easily had) so we put rags down and every 15 min or so wring them out until we are done making water. We wrote yet again to find out if we can still use the system as well as confirm we wanted the instructions for the field repair. We also wrote to the marine person in Barra (that we read about in the Pacific Mexico guidebook) to see if he has any success with FedEx packages...we'll wait for his reply before deciding how to go about getting the replacement part.
Another ripple on the lake (ocean) of tranquility!
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