As might be expected of a ship that floats on water, uses water, leaks water, sucks water and blows water, the on-board water systems are both complex and interesting. Pretty much all of the water is PUMPED into, around, and out of the ship one way or another apart from

UNPUMPED.

1.RAIN pouring down on the decks, which may just pour out at the gunnels but more like will drip down into the cabins below and eventually end up in the bilges. The decks are well sloped from the peak back to the engine hatch and in the opposite direction from the stern, The good old wheelhouse looks after most of that end and is the driest place on board. The wettest place is the engine room, bcause of the slopes from stern and bow to this area. Because the skipper or crew or guests rarely if ever spend time down here it gets a low priority among caulking parties

2.SEAWATER shipped on board in heavy weather, washing over the decks in F9 which may or may not act as 1. above. Seawater will usually enter about the mainmast and will run back most of the length of the boat. No big deal as nowadays. We don't get crews able to deal with F9 and would usually stay in a safe haven from F6 up. The boat is somewhat delicate and should not be pushed too hard.  

3. LEAKS in the hull of which there will always be some, often many, but none usually significant on its own except as a handy way of winding up a skipper on a dull day. Obvious sources, easy to find, are the Portside propshaft and the Portside hull behind the 'covers' in the Portside heads. The whole deck over the engine room. Driest place on board is the wheelhouse. It never leaks. Its roof membrane was renewed in 2005 by Tony and Eric. The next driest place is the back end of the engine room aft of the mizzen mast and UNDER the said wheelhouse. The forepeak is pretty dry most of the time but not to be trusted for sleeping purposes.

WATER PUMPS: There are at least six water pumps in the engine room at all times!

Each ENGINE has two water pumps. One is integrally part of the engine, circulating fresh water round the engine block and heat exchanger and through the ship's hot water cylinder immersion heater which is simply another heat exchanger. The other pump is external, sitting on top of thhe engine and belt driven. It sucks seawater via a filter into the engine's heat exchanger and pumps it out  to the exhaust pipe. Yes! You read that right! At all times while a ship's engine is running there will be hot water (sometimes but not always steamy) spraying from the exhaust outlet. And if there isn't you better shut that engine down fast and investigate.

BILGE PUMPS: Any unpumped water which does not escape via the gunnels, will find its way down to the bottom and centre of the boat into The Bilges, from which it may be pumped by automatic or manual pumps or even a diesel-engined fire-pump which lives in a locker on deck. Pump outflow points for bilge-pumps are found on the PORT side about two feet above the water line. There are three bilge pump outflows as follows.

1. For the 240VAC pump which controls the water level in the bilge under the main cabin while berthed. This pump can shift about 2500 litres per hour continuous

2. Alongside No.1 is a second outlet for the 24VDC pump which does a similar job to the mains pump.

3. Engine-room bilge outlet about 10' aft of 1&2, instantly recognisable most of the time as being somewhat oily (entirely as a result of poor house-keeping in the engine room let it be said). Engine room bilge has an 'emergency' electric pump, with special needs, known only to Engineers. It is an ingenious device using a 24VDC starter motor to drive a pump which sucks up from the engine bilge and blows the water out via a non return valve.

Each 'head' has a pump which everybody on board should know how to use and which the Chain Gang must keep in working order. It is able to pump out excrement, wet paper and urine mixes, sometimes termed No.1s and No.2s. It is also able to pump in seawater to flush the bowls. 

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FRESH WATER

KJ has three storage tanks for fresh water.

The main tank is in the centre of the mess under the table. (What is its capacity?)

There are two auxiliary tanks, Port and Staboard in the forepeak under the lower bunks. The auxiliaries are supposed to be isolated at all times and maintained full JUST IN CASE. (We are told they hold 130 gallons in reserve)

Filling the tanks is done from on deck.

The procedure is tedious and somewhat complex and please note

Ron's advice.

Tighten the brass plate for the water supply with the PLASTIC key

which at all times hangs with the 'door' key on the gas bottle in use.

NEVER EVER tighten it with the tool used to secure the diesel tank access caps.

PLEASE?

HOW YOUR WATER COMES AND GOES

Water from the taps comes (from the main tank) via a pressure pump mounted under the sink in the galley, which is controlled by a wall-mounted switch high up over the sink workspace. At about eye-level over the sink is a gauge which indicates roughly how much water remains in the main tank. This gauge is active only when the pump switch is on and indeed acts as an indicator of switch status.

This switch must NEVER be left turned on when the boat is being left unattended.

That means the switch should always be turned OFF before leaving the boat.

Have you got that clear in your head now.

To double-check whether the switch is OFF or ON, first look at the gauge.

If the gauge appears to be reading 'empty', there are only three possibilities.

1. The tank is empty.

2. The switch is 'off'.

3. You have a VERY interesting little electrical problem involving the switch, the gauge, the sender unit and the water level in the main tank

The proper procedure is as follows. Open a tap and listen for the sound of the pump pumping and look for water flowing from the faucet. If no sound turn ON switch and try again. Look to see whether gauge is showing a higher reading than before. If there is still no noise and/or no gauge movement refer to 3. above.

If turning on the switch shows a higher reading, the problem was 2.

1. is very rarely the likely problem.

3. will eventually happen but not yet!

Kenya Jacaranda's pumps are driven by three different power sources:

1. HAND:  Jabsco Pumps in the heads for flushing the toilet bowls. These take at least 5 strokes of the pump (set on empty) then at least 10 (set on fill) to shift the contents of the bowl out to sea. Any less leaves residual excrement in the outpipe and this stinks the head. It is fully appreciated that some of our more delicate members have difficulty stomaching this kind of talk but they are the same ones who complain about the slightest whiff of shh.. sorry .. excrement from the heads.

 Each head has two sea cocks, No.1) is about 1.75"OD and provides seawater for flushing. No.2) is about 3"OD and serves as the 'exhaust'. It is a good idea to leave both in the open position during the sailing season.   

There is a Whale Gusher pump in the galley for emptying waste water FROM the sinks. (An electric pump supplies hot/cold TO the sinks.)

Portable hand-pump stored in engine room for various pumping jobs is a Whale 30. THE HAND PUMP IS NOT WORKING AS OF DEC.1. It was dismantled and some maintenance done. It has been removed to Brian's workshop for serious overhaul.

2. ELECTRICAL, 240VAC and 24VDC: All bilge pumps and the pump which supplies water for wash-basins and sinks operate off 24VDC. Except for ONE 240VAC pump which acts as the primary defence when the boat is moored up and plugged in. More info in dedicated page on electrics, which see.

3. DIESEL DRIVEN: Fire-pump stored on deck beside gas bottles, which is capable of pumping out the main cabin bilge on its own and can also pump sea-water to deal with a fire anywhere on board using a complicated system of crossover stop cocks in the Skippers cabin.