Hi Bill thanks for the " heads up" when we are in places for more then a few days we run fresh water into the sea chest to keep stuff from growing and limit salt buildup. I guess " fresh clean" water may be very hard to come by in many of the places you guys have visited.

Safe travels b

Regards
Richard Sm209

On Mar 14, 2011, at 5:58, "Judy and Bill aboard SV BeBe" <yahoogroups@...> wrote:

I know that we have all forgotten to flush the salt water out when leaving the boat unattended for more than a few days and returned to smelly water when operating the heads.

Many of you may have been in places like India where filth and garbage is everywhere including the ocean water near the coast.

We recently spent a month in Cochin (Kochi) India. We were berthed in a (the only) marina and had about 1 foot under the keel (we were in a deep slip). The water was terrible. It was thick with mud, garbage, weeds and occasional dead dogs. The water had a smell that matched its contents. I was cleaning the sea chest strainer every day while we were in Cochin.

When we left Cochin, I felt that within a short period the water in the heads would clear up. The water did become clear, but the smell continued. I knew what I needed to do.

I disconnected the three hoses from the sea chest and all of the hoses from the salt water manifold and removed the manifold. Inside the hose from the sea chest and inside the salt water manifold I found what appeared to be oily greasy gunk which restricted at least half of the flow of water. I used water and the rigging-wire-roto-tool that I have pictured on this website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amelyachtowners/photos/album/1208267126/pic/1783391874/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc) to clean out the gunk in the hose and the salt water manifold. I have used my home-built tool now 4 or 5 times including head hose/pipe cleaning and sea chest and salt water manifold cleaning. I am beginning to think it should be standard equipment especially if you end up stopping in places like India. Funny side note: Two days ago while in Route to Maldives from India, an India Coast Guard ship warned private vessels not to come within 5 miles of their position because they were engaged in anti-pollution exercises. We got a really good laugh of of that!

Back to my story: I have had to clean these out before, once because of mussels growing in the sea chest output-pipes and the hose to the salt water manifold; and now, this time. In each case the growth did not go beyond the salt water manifold. It seemed like a magnet that stopped whatever was growing there. It is puzzling to me, but I am thankful that I did not need to clean beyond this point.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Best,

Bill
s/v BeBe, SM2k, #387
Currently Male, Maldives awaiting SevenStar Transport ship to Marmaris, Turkey---the pirates did/will not get us, but because of them, SevenStar got a bundle from us!

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