My saga of the water system on Inspiration started soon after we came aboard after she found us.  Well, to tell the truth it was during the final survey that I should have realized that this turnkey boat was turnkey to a point.  Almost from the start there were water system leaks and especially so with the water heater turned on.  After the third try to fix them and find non-existant parts plus screaming at the first mate on a 35 deg C day, I decided to hire it done so we could enjoy the summer of 2006.   After paying a ridiculous amount ot $ we had a pretty good system except for the following

• The water was really, really hot when on electric power
• There was a small but nagging leak under the sink near the heater
• The First Mate noticed a small but perceptible shock if you put your hands under the water when it was running.

OK, fast forward to last week.  Since the leak has persisted the marina checked into it and removed the heater.  They found a leak in the heater.  The model they recommended was the Force 10 406011 6 gallon with engine heat exchanger and 1500 watt electric.  It should be in next week and installed by the marina. No more leaks and shocks plus reasonable water temperature.  We shall see.

I think I shall never see the end of the list of things to do.  Next?

• Combiner for my special system
• Galvanic Isolator
• Rebuild shower sump
• About 100 things to do before restepping the mast this Spring.

We went to the winter rendezvous of the THYC of which we are ne of the 150 members.  About 60 showed up and we enjoyed the evening talking about all sorts of things.  Prior to the event we went over to storage and removed the bow sprit deck – bigger job than we anticipated.  It the removal process we had to drive out some of the flathead machine bolts and this lifted some of the wood.  We saved all the pieces and later we matched each to its respective location and epoxied them back into place.

 Before I left for work we had the wood 3/4 stripped amd ready to be bleached.  We are going to try colorox first and then if that is not sufficient we will use the stronger bleach.  It is such a prominant wood structure we want it perfect.  With this finished we will have a bout 40 hrs worth of work on left on the wood.  We know a lot more now than we did when we started.  Stripping seems easier now but the Cetol Light seems harder and if you throw Cetol Gloss into the mix we are still rank amatuers.  Our gloss gets bubbles every time it goes on heavier than a very, very thin coat.  It also seems to stay soft until the sun hits it over a period of time.

Over the Christmas holidays we re-wired the mast and the mast step to bilge. This took about 25 person hours. All splices were soldered with my trusty butane soldering iron in 45 degree F weather. I used two 100′ rolls of yellow & grey plus some other colors as shown on the block diagram schematic. The connectors are the automotive trailer type I bought from Dell City. The 4 way connectors seal well but the 8 way ones will need taped and sealed with the liquid tape. I used individual wire pairs for the two spreader lights to cut down the voltage drop of the 3 amp bulbs. It may seem a little crazy but I want individual control of the bulbs. I view it as a little extra insurance as I can keep one as a spare.

 Tomorrow I will try to write a little more of our activities on the boat.  I am just too tired to think right now.