Position: S14deg10.29min/E144deg14.16min We've been getting early starts these last few days; departure at 0600 hours. The winds have been gentle morning NE'ers, and then change around noon time to E-ESE. Today they quit altogether in the early afternoon, and we had to motor the last hour to the anchorage. Four other boats are also anchored here in Owens Channel, and they all ended up motoring in as well. The scenery is spectacular; boulder out croppings, high hills, and long, isolated beaches. Yesterday our fresh water system stopped working. We couldn't pump water with either of our two foot pumps, and the 12 volt pressure water system stopped working as well. It appeared to be a suction leak of some sort, as we could get nothing but air out of the spigots. Since there are so many hose clamps in the various hoses, as well as one 12 volt pump, one accumulator tank, two foot pumps, two water mixers, one hot water tank, one intake manifold, one vent manifold, and one cockpit shower line, the opportunities for problems become immense. Over the course of these last two days I narrowed down the possibilities and installed two half-inch shut off valves to isolate the 12 volt pump and the head foot pump, thereby allowing separate testing of the manual and the pressure sides of the system. To shorten the story, after lots more diagnostics, it turns out the foot pump in the head is kaput and needs a rebuild. Over the years I've found these Whale Mk II pumps fairly reliable but haven't had a lot of luck rebuilding them; the seal kits just don't seem to work all that well. Although the bosun's locker does have a seal rebuild kit, my solution is to also carry spare pumps to interchange the bad one with a new one, which is on tomorrow's agenda.
Picture: Coming into the anchorage...again, no one here!
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