New Music

I love music and almost always have something playing. It was the main reason I got a smart phone so I could get Pandora. I had Pandora for two years, but I was not too happy with them in that they don't have a very big play list, basically if you listened for a few hours you would hear the same songs over and over. Sharon told me about another music service call Milk from Samsung so I decided to give it a try. They have a lot bigger play list and play a lot of bands that I have not heard of before. I made an Island music station that plays a lot of Eric Stone, Buffet, and others. I had not heard of this band before but I really like their music. Lots of harmonica.

Washing Dishes

I was washing dishes today and thought just how great it is living on a boat. Looking out the window this is what I saw.

Tarpon swimming by the boat. 

Tarpon swimming by the boat.

View.

Later I walked down the dock and took these pictures. There are alot of Tarpon here. It is a same they aren't good to eat. I have been told they have so many bones that they are uneatable but that they are fun to catch as they put up a really good fight.

Tarpon.

Two Nurse sharks.

Lots of Tarpon hang around the marina and wait for the fishermen to clean their catch.

Some of them are 4 or 5 feet long.

Another Nurse shark.

It Works

Well I am gonna call it a success. The water maker works. I tested it today and it worked very well other than two small leaks. I will tackle the leaks tomorrow. As far as performance goes I was very pleased. It produced 16 gallons an hour. I was not sure what the production rate would be. I figured it would be between 8 gallons an hour and 15 gallons an hour. It turned out to be 16 gallons an hour, which is fantastic. The quality was very good as well. The product water had 235 ppm of TDS. Municipal water generally has 350 to 500, so the quality is very good. It will be nice when we are traveling to not have to wonder where we will get water and what the quality would be. I ran the test into a bucket instead of the boat's tanks just to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be.

A store bought water maker of this size would cost a minimum of $4,000 plus installation. This cost us about $1,700 including the materials for installation so I am very happy. Plus having built it I will understand what is wrong when it breaks.

Work continues.

Test run.

Water quality at 235 ppm.

16 gallons an hour, I love it.

The first glass.

Hope it doesn't kill me.

Sunset from the Flybridge

We love to sit on the flybridge and watch the sunset every evening. Tonight was an absolutely beautiful one. Pictures do not do it justice but the new 35mm camera we got does a better job than other cameras I have had.

Water Maker Update

Well, I can't say it is done but I can say it is ready to test. Once tested and none of the 37 fittings, 47 feet of tubing, 10 feet of high pressure hoses, two filter housings, two pumps, four valves, and various gauges leak, then I will say it is done. All that is left is to tie it into the sea water strainer in the bilge. I went to West Marine and bought a new sea strainer and various valves and fittings to re plumb the main engine and A/C unit to the only through hull that Walkabout has below the waterline. I am also connecting the water maker to this same through hull. When I got to the register the bill came to $699. I knew it was going to be alot but I almost fainted. As I was driving back to the boat I decided that I could wait a few days and order the stuff online. When I looked it up online I saw that I could get everything for $300 less so I ordered the stuff and took West Marine their stuff back the next day. The lady that did the return was the same one who checked me out when I bought the stuff. She was not a happy camper, but she had to take it back.

Hopefully the strainer and other parts will be here tomorrow and I can test the water maker this weekend. Once that is done I can start of the finish work of installing cabinet doors to cover it up.

Started on the WaterMaker

Well I finally began working on the water maker. I had planned of putting it in the main salon as I did not want to have to crawl around the engine room every time I wanted to make water. We had removed one of the seats in the salon so I planned on putting it on that wall and putting some cabinet doors in front of it. Upon investigating the area I found that there was a huge area behind the wall that was not being used. I opened it up and thought wow what a waste of space. It was big enough for an adult to fit in. I know this because I crawled in there to clean and paint it.. It worked out to be the perfect place for the water maker. I am two days into the project and probably have two more to completion. I will give a full report when I am finished for those of you who are interested or at least really bored and have nothing else to do but read my blog (I pity those in this category).

Marina Time

Well for the first time in almost two years Walkabout is tied up at a marina. We decided to get a marina for a month as I have some work to do building a water maker and Sharon's boss talked her into working another month. We got to tie up on the side of the dock rather that in a slip with boats on each side of us. That makes it a lot more tolerable to be in a marina as we have an open view on two sides of us.We are at World Wide Sportsman in Islamarada which is across the street from where Sharon works so she can ride her bicycle or walk to work. I then have the car to run down parts. World Wide is a Bass Pro Shop with a marina. It is a beautiful marina and grounds. There are restaurants everywhere you look. Islamarada is a beautiful town, probably the nicest place in the Keys. I think we will enjoy our time here. We have already gotten used to unlimited electricity, water, hot water, and easy shore access. Hopefully we will not get too spoiled.

Marina

Marina

Restaurant next to the marina.

Marina

View forward.

View to starboard.

Captain Sharon navigating the narrows.