SD Day 6 - Water Tank Tests and Baja Filter

This morning I exposed the bilge, dried off a few spongefulls of water that had dribbled in overnight, then Arnold and I filled the port tank after emptying a bottle of green food coloring into it. The food coloring was Arnold's idea and it seems to have worked very well. We then looked at the tank, paying particular attention to where the hosing is clamped to the tank, and could see no leaks. We watched the bilge and no water - let alone green - was seeping in from the side. We then gave the same treatment to the starboard tank, using red food coloring. There was a bit of leaking from the bung at the top through which we plumb the tank and I soon fixed that with plumber's tape. There was water on the floor beneath the tank but we were pretty sure that it was the remains of all of that water that we had taken on the starboard side during our passage to San Diego. I mopped up that water and we had a good look at the tank and its fittings and could detect no leaks. No red water was seeping into the bilge.

The fact that the tanks were not leaking did not surprise me because I knew that Scotty had done too good a repair job (complete with pressure test) back at Fremantle for that to be a likelihood. However, I had been concerned that the hose couplings might be leaking as we rolled from side to side. However, all couplings were double clamped and water tight.

We still have a leaking issue when hobby horsing to weather, but we will have to look elsewhere for the problem. In the meantime, we'll be getting red water in the galley and green water in the head for the next few days.

At mid afternoon John called and said that he had sorted out the account issue at Downwind Marine. He picked me up 20 minutes later and we to get two Baja filters, one for me, and one for Jak who wanted to get one now that he's heard that they are not being manufactured any more and when Downwind's stock is gone ther will be no more. The filters are very good: solid aluminum body with three filters inside of progressively finer grade. This is a true "Baja" fuel filter in contrast to the single-filter plastic affair that had been sold to me in Richmond as a Baja filter.