Watermaker - the bane of our lives

We came into Airlie Beach yesterday and managed to contact Kent, the owner of Enzed Whitsunday who specialise in high pressure hoses and pipe fittings. He came on board and we ascertained the problem which in a nutshell was that the hose from the high pressure pump to the membrane which separates out the fresh water from the salt had ruptured in more than one place. The hose which had been installed back in the Bay of Islands in 2007 was rated at 650 psi whereas our system produces fresh water at 800-850 psi. This is just another example of the dishonest shoddy approach to the selling and installation of Open Ocean's water maker system. How the hose lasted as long as it did is a mystery.
Dennis, I'm now certain that this was the source of water in the engine bilge as we came north. I think it was leaking slowly as we made water and whenever I looked in the engine compartment to see where there might have been any leak none was to be seen because at that stage the watermaker had been turned off. It was just very lucky that when I turned the watermaker on as Gina and I left for Hook Is. the other day I was still watching the water pressure when it suddenly went from 800 psi to zero. This immediately alerted me to a problem and the leak was then very apparent as water was pouring into the bilge. If the hose had burst later after I had shut the lid giving access to the pressure gauge water would have continued to pour into the bilge and we would have sailed on in blissful ignorance. Not a pleasant thought at all.
Anyway, today Kent came on board and installed a replacement hose from the HP pump to the membrane. The hose we have now will handle up to 4,000 psi. A huge safety margin. Then Kent left and Jim decided to start the engine and see how it was all working. No sooner had the pressure come up to 800 psi than the high pressure hose on the other end of the membrane burst like a bomb liberally showering Jim in the process. We should have realised this was likely to happen and replaced it as well but it is now replaced with a length of stainless steel tube which will be bullet proof.
We are crossing our fingers when we say this but this is the last of the critical parts of the watermaker installation to be replaced and hopefully now we can get the last of Open Ocean, Opua out of our lives.
Terry Forsbrey of Open Ocean and additionally John Martin of the Island Cruising Assn (based in Opua) would have to be two of the most objectionable crooked and unprincipled people it has been Jim's misfortune to have ever been associated with. John Martin was unfortunately employed by Jim and his then wife as designer/project manager to build a house for them at Kerikeri in 2005/2006 and not only grossly misrepresented the cost, but was incompetent and dishonest in his role. When he was sacked he threatened to stop any subcontractors from working on the house "for 6 months". Needless to say this never happened. In addition (just to illustrate the dishonesty) there was a bank account under the control of Martin but funded by Jim and his wife for sundry small expenses associated with the building. It had a balance of some $4,000 in it when Martin was sacked and when a refund was requested Martin refused. It was later found that he had used the funds to pay his solicitor's costs in fighting his termination, which happened anyway. Later his ex partner who was a totally different (and honest) person became so embarrassed by this shameful episode that he refunded the amount out of his own pocket.
So our message to anyone reading this is to have nothing whatsoever to do with John Martin of the Island Cruising Assn., Opua, NZ or Terry Forsbrey of Open Ocean Ocean Watermakers - also of Opua NZ. Not sure what it is about that place - maybe something in the water?!!!!
Our plans now are weather permitting (it's still howling from the SE) to leave here on Thursday and head for Cairns. Beyond that we are not sure as we are rapidly running out of time for the Darwin rally so might look at going to the Louisiades (PNG) and then Malaysian Borneo after that. At the moment our plans are very fluid!!
Watch this space........
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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