For a while now the heads have been filling more slowly and the fridge and the freezer have not been as cold (They use sea water to cool). The day before yesterday I replaced the forward head water pump with a new spare I was carrying onboard, and for a while it filled a little better. But this morning it just wasn’t filling again. Another Apollo 13 fix issue. There must be an problem with the sea water inlet for the whole boat.

So, this morning on with flippers and mask and down I went to the inlet on the starboard side, about two metres down. A boating equivalent of a space walk. I cleaned it with a stiff brush and we tried the head again. A bit better but still not right.

Next job then, dismantle all the pipework from the inlet to the strainer (filter). Wow, the pipe was absolutely rammed with barnacles and mussels. Totally packed with sea life. Once cleaned out I also cleaned the seacock as well which had a whole mussel farm growing in there.

Now we’re back in business with sea water coming as it should.

Life just isn’t simple on a boat. The picture shows what came out of the pipe.