January 25

Things are going fairly well today on the repair and maintenance side. I ran the outboard again today for 30 minutes and afterward the oil looked fine - not milky with water. I am satisfied that I have done all I can. All the books say to bring it in to a certified repair facility after something like this. I know of one in PV and when/if we return there in March I may take it over to the shop and have them look at it.

Next, I tackled the watermaker. I disassembled the Clark Pump as suggested by Spectra and found the "spool assembly" intact and looking healthy. I also found a "reset button" on one of the end pieces of the pump which I never noticed before because it was facing away from where I have access. When I removed the end piece I noticed that the button was there and that its job is to nudge the spool assy. Valve in case it gets stuck. Well, I reassembled the pump and the system ran fine. I suppose just pushing that button would have corrected the problem. Taking it apart was doing things the hard way, but my manual doesn't even mention the button exists! I sent email to Spectra pointing out that the button should have been documented. They deserve a great thanks from me though as they were quick to reply to my original email and did set me on the path to fixing the problem, even if it was a longer path then necessary.