Current Position: 17 33.957’S 149 37.068’W; Local Timezone: UTC-10; HDG: N/A; COG: N/A; SOG: N/A; Distance to Waypoint (Tahiti, Carrefour Bay): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 4229 nm;
Comments: I started the day by chasing down the air leak in the fuel polishing system. It was the clamp on the large pre-filter, which was tight enough to suck fuel out of the day tank, but not the main tank. Once tightened, I was able to polish the fuel in the main tank. It is clear from the gages that a lot more vacuum is necessary to pull fuel up from the main tank. After 30m of polishing the main tank (maybe 15 gal), it was clear the filters were becoming clogged, since fuel was still flowing, I let them be. Ideally, I will remove most of the particulates before I have to change the filter. In the meantime, while the fuel was being polished, I removed the mainsail and laid it out in the deck to be sewn. It was not that easy to get the Sailrite machine on deck, but easier than trying to sew the sail in the cabin. I took advantage of overcast skies in the morning to repair the sail. When I finished repairing the sail, I checked on the fuel polisher, which was still working on the main tank. The pump was making a strange noise and was hot. I turned it off to cool down, then switched it over to circulating the fuel in the day tank and it worked fine. I suspect the pre-filter is clogged and stage extra effort to pump from the main tank was too much for it. I took the dinghy in to buy some Racor filters, do a little shopping for groceries, and check where I can get potable water. The water on the dock is chlorine treated and drinkable. Tomorrow, I will start the process of filling the main tank. It will take several trips because one of my 5 gallon Jerry cans has very good drinking water, which only leaves me two to move water. I suspect it will take at least three trips. There was a rain shower at 14:15. Not a great day for making solar energy. I wanted to run the engine a bit anyway, to finish circulating all the fluids before changing the filters tomorrow. I was having trouble getting the engine started. I turned on the instruments and discovered there was no fuel in the day tank. This is surprising because I didn’t think I had pumped it out. I used to have a problem where the fuel would get siphoned out because the overflow to the main tank was a tube that when to the bottom of the day tank, but I thought I had fixed that. The pressure gauges (and the sound of the trickling of fuel into the day tank) tells me the filters are nearly plugged, but I will leave the pump running for a bit to see if I can transfer some fuel from the main tank into the day tank. I need to take a taxi to the auto parts store tomorrow and pick up the fuel filters before changing all the filters out.
Comments: I started the day by chasing down the air leak in the fuel polishing system. It was the clamp on the large pre-filter, which was tight enough to suck fuel out of the day tank, but not the main tank. Once tightened, I was able to polish the fuel in the main tank. It is clear from the gages that a lot more vacuum is necessary to pull fuel up from the main tank. After 30m of polishing the main tank (maybe 15 gal), it was clear the filters were becoming clogged, since fuel was still flowing, I let them be. Ideally, I will remove most of the particulates before I have to change the filter. In the meantime, while the fuel was being polished, I removed the mainsail and laid it out in the deck to be sewn. It was not that easy to get the Sailrite machine on deck, but easier than trying to sew the sail in the cabin. I took advantage of overcast skies in the morning to repair the sail. When I finished repairing the sail, I checked on the fuel polisher, which was still working on the main tank. The pump was making a strange noise and was hot. I turned it off to cool down, then switched it over to circulating the fuel in the day tank and it worked fine. I suspect the pre-filter is clogged and stage extra effort to pump from the main tank was too much for it. I took the dinghy in to buy some Racor filters, do a little shopping for groceries, and check where I can get potable water. The water on the dock is chlorine treated and drinkable. Tomorrow, I will start the process of filling the main tank. It will take several trips because one of my 5 gallon Jerry cans has very good drinking water, which only leaves me two to move water. I suspect it will take at least three trips. There was a rain shower at 14:15. Not a great day for making solar energy. I wanted to run the engine a bit anyway, to finish circulating all the fluids before changing the filters tomorrow. I was having trouble getting the engine started. I turned on the instruments and discovered there was no fuel in the day tank. This is surprising because I didn’t think I had pumped it out. I used to have a problem where the fuel would get siphoned out because the overflow to the main tank was a tube that when to the bottom of the day tank, but I thought I had fixed that. The pressure gauges (and the sound of the trickling of fuel into the day tank) tells me the filters are nearly plugged, but I will leave the pump running for a bit to see if I can transfer some fuel from the main tank into the day tank. I need to take a taxi to the auto parts store tomorrow and pick up the fuel filters before changing all the filters out.