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Watery World

Good morning everyone. Well yesterday was what we call a "toad soaker". It just poured so figuring that we were going to get wet anyway we played with water all day. We started the day priming and firing off the new fire/bilge pump installation. It worked like a charm. We have also brought aboard a small portable pump for increased capacity and helping other vessels. We discovered that it was a trick to get it primed but it did work well. We also discovered a leaky fuel gasket in this brand new pump and took it back to the local farm supply store who put it right onto the bench and made it right.

More great strides of progress occurred yesterday. The fresh water system was put into service with only one minor drip under Mary's sink that was easily fixed with a twist of the wrench. I think that is the best I have ever done. I usually forget one valve or another and create a minor flood. OK engineers, grab your pocket protectors. The water is stored in 16 different small tanks ranging from 55 to 100 gallons in size separated by valves and distributed throughout the schooner so as to trim the vessel just right when they are full. Our total capacity is 1100 gallons and is fed to the small 24 volt pump. Gravity does some of the work but the pump is required to generate any pressure in the showers or sinks. I have a small flow meter in the system on the discharge side of the pump. It reads weekly usage as well as lifetime usage. According to this meter we use about 110 gallons per day while away from the dock. Last season we used a total of 10,400 gallons over about 126 days (Saturdays and Monday mornings skew the figures). The cook stove, Diamond, will come to life today now that her water jacket (the cast iron sleeve that makes all the domestic hot water) has what it needs to keep from overheating.

Today we start to bend on sails!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

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