Water in the bilge

 Kneeling in front of the bilge, I look in without understanding and wonder where all the water is coming from again. I curse loudly to myself, no one hears me anyway, the next boat is 200 meters away from me, at anchor. Also my clothing may be considered rather sparse, to non-existent, because we once again exceed the 35 ° C. Pictures I spare you and should also, if at all still, at most a wild dominatrix or the members of a SM shed on the Reeperbahn interested. The latter had their chance back then, when we visited Hamburg with friends and as part of a pub crawl at some point stood in front of the closed door and whined for admission. Back then, we were turned away because of the wrong outfit and even today, I think, mine is not appropriate.

Dinghy Dock Surf Side Beach, Aruba

So I pump the bilge empty again and go in search of the water source. In the meantime, a continuous layer of sweat has formed on the whole body. I try to soak up the dripping beads of sweat with a rag to prevent the bilge from filling up again. After a while I find the culprit. Once again it's the watermaker. Specifically, it's the pre-filters and even more specifically, the filter housings. The unit has two filter systems, a carbon filter and a particle filter. The housings are plastic and have a ¾" inlet and outlet. The one filter housing has already shown cracks in the plastic at the outlet in Cape Verde. I repaired it with epoxy at that time. Now the other housing also shows cracks at the thread and during operation the water pushes out so much that the bilge fills up. On my forays through Aruba's hardware stores I find two matching housings, though matching is slightly exaggerated. A mounting bracket is missing, of course, and is not available at the hardware store at the moment. The existing bracket of the old filter housing does not fit of course, but at least the filters are standardized and seem to fit. With the headlamp I sit like Siddhartha Gautama and practice asceticism. After 20 minutes, I disengage from my transformative enlightenment experience and have connected the filter to the inlet hose and the outlet hose. Installing the filter according to the manual, I sit on a towel according to Dharma, like Buddha, and contemplate my work. Only that the glistening on my skin is not from the gold leaf, but from the sweat that once again flows in streams along the ass crack towards the bilge. If I do not want to pump out the bilge again, I have to hurry. Doing credit to the name Buddha, I pull myself together and start the water maker. By the way, the name Buddha means "the awakening one" and with a push of a button the water maker awakens immediately and starts to produce drinking water from salt water.

Watermaker with particle filter 

But there are days when I feel closer to nirvana and despite all wisdom, infinite and eager compassion towards the new boat owners, a little envy arises. Quickly, however, this envy is discarded, after all, these people lack the experience of how it feels to grasp the transcendent nature of technology, at least to some extent with the mind, like a shining Buddha. So I inspect the watermaker in operation and find that the water outlet, which is supposed to carry the salt water that passes through the watermaker back to the sea, is leaking. Within seconds, I travel back 20 years and stand with my mind's eye again in front of the S&M store on the Reeperbahn and wish me a leather whip to tell the person behind the door, times quite properly my opinion. So I go out again and procure a new hose in the hardware store. As with the installation of the filter, I sit again, like a Buddha, in the stern of the starboard float and change the hose, only with this Buddha begins the happy age and I find the final liberation. The watermaker purrs and the lines are all tight. The bilge remains dry and I can crawl out of the hole and lie back calmly in the cozy cockpit, with fresh air and beautiful weather. 

The Maitreya Paradise. Surf Side Beach, Aruba

Maitreya, the turtle, appears - I call her Maitreya since some time because I think the future could use a Maitreya now - and asks where I have been. "I was looking for the happy age", "and found the future", she finished the sentence and then disappeared again, looking for something edible. Well, things can happen once you look into the bilge. Always a dry bilge, fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.