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.

Oh, how sweet it is!

Well I got back to the boat last week and how sweet it is. Tonight I am sitting on the flybridge while typing this. We just watched a beautiful sunset and I am sitting here listening to Pandora (Internet music) enjoying the evening wondering why everyone doesn't do this (but happy they don't). You can tell it is summer. The moorings around us are empty. We do not have another boat within 500 feet of us. This is one reason we enjoy living on a mooring verses being in a marina. At a marina there would be another boat literally 4 feet away from us and the AC would be running 24/7. Being on a mooring means the boat always points into the wind which results  in a much cooler boat.

Los Angeles has beautiful weather and the pacific ocean but that is all it has. I am so glad to be back in the Keys. I rested about 3 days and then started doing some engine maintenance. I am changing all the cooling hoses, water pump, transmission hoses, and a variety of other odd jobs. Hopefully I will be done in the next couple of days.

I like how there are little clouds in front of the bigger clouds.

As you can see the harbor is pretty empty.

A beautiful evening from the flybridge.

Oh How Times Have Changed or Have They

I think back how things have changed so much since I was a kid and at the same time I think things have not changed as much as we thought they would. Since work is slow (actually dead) right now I have a lot of idle time on my hands, (that's dangerous I know) I watched a Back to the Future movie marathon the other day. All three movies back to back. The funny thing is that in the last movie they went into the future to October of 2015. The movie was made in like 1985 so their idea of 2015 is that everyone would have flying cars and all kinds on neat stuff like a hoover skateboard, Your food replicator would make a pizza out of some little pill or something. Well in reality 2015 does not look too different than 1985 for the most part. Styles of cars have changed but they are still basically the same as they were then. They are of much better quality now, but still roll around on four rubber tires propelled by an internal combustion engine and people still don't use their turn signals.

Other things have changed. I was reminded of this today when I got a new cell phone. I have been wanting a Samsung Note 4 for along time. I had an S3 which is a good phone but the Note 4 is much bigger and for my eyesight that is a very good thing. So I went to Best Buy to look for the phone. They had it on sale. Yea. The problem was how long it took just to get the phone and have them change all my data over to the new phone. And the paper work. I got Sharon one as well so I had to sign the paper work for both phones. I signed four paper documents and four electronic signatures and I was there a  total of about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I have bought cars in less time and with less paper work.

I got my first cell phone in I think about 1992 and it was a bag phone and cost about the same as a phone today. I think this is where the biggest changes have taken place. Phones, computers, and the like. Other than these things and the price of ANYTHING, not much has changed for me since 1985. I still use a stove and microwave to cook with. I drive a car that is a 1950s retro design (HHR). I still have the same wife, although she has changed (we won't talk about that). We live on a boat that was built in 1978, the year after I graduated from high school. I still drink Dr. Pepper, although now it's diet Dr. Pepper. I can not think of a single food that I eat now that was not available then, other than broccoli. Did they have broccoli back then?

Well as I think of it I guess the biggest change is in oneself. As I get older I am definitely changing. The hair on top of my head is going on strike but that's ok nose hair, ear hair, and back hair are taking up the slack. God does have a sense of humor although sometimes I don't think He's funny.  I do know some of my attitudes toward life and other people have changed and my patience with idiots has definitely changed. It has not increased by the way.

Oh well I think this is the longest post I have made in at least three years so it is time to stop rambling on.

My new Note 4 next to the S3. Can you say bigger?