We had problems with the watermaker yesterday - having run it for an hour, the high pressure in the system ruptured a feed pipe. Undaunted, I cut the pipe and reconnected it to the system and restarted. two minutes later, it split in another place. Not good. The pipes were simply not up to the task intended. What were we to do? We need the watermaker to maintain some degree of comfort, so we looked around the boat for some alternatives that we could bastardise. We found a high pressure hose as an overflow pipe coming from the calorifier, thankfully grossly over-engineered by Jeanneau (bless their little cotton socks). So, we cut a small length to replace the broken one and reinforced it with a water pipe on the inside. Connected it up again and set the watermaker working again. The next pipe to go was the next in line, only this time it was a long length. We cut as much of the overflow pipe as we dared and replaced it with the non-pressure pipe so that the overflow facility would still work unabated, then tried to stretch the cut length to fit the system. Thankfully, it just reached, and after connecting everything together again it now works properly. I rewarded myself with the well needed shower that would have been forfeit if the solution had not worked. We have enough bottled water to last us the crossing, but we would have been somewhat smelly as a crew when not able to clean ourselves from time to time.
The anenometer is playing up, and we have air in the water system which means that the water pump keeps running when it should cut out, but these are jobs for today. The good thing is that the crew have not mutinied yet, the cat hasn't been let out of the bag, and floggings have not needed to commence. Long may it continue.
Progress across the pond is going according to expectation, everything and everyone aboard is covered in salt crystals but we salty sea-dogs are all having a great time!