Shortly after we got Tilia tied up securely at Burr’s Marina in New London, Anne left for Minnesota to work at Hennepin. Jim stayed on Tilia to get some projects accomplished. The highest priority was to install our new watermaker.
Marine watermakers generally operate on the principle of reverse osmosis, where sea water is pushed at very high pressure (up to 800 psi) through a membrane. The water comes through, but the impurities (salt, iron, etc.) are left behind and flushed back into the sea. The fresh water that comes out is remarkably pure and is safe for drinking. There are many vendors of watermakers on the market and after a lot of research and consideration, we bought ours from a company called Rainman.
We had it shipped to Anne’s brother, Tom, who brought it with him when he visited us in Newport. The wakermaker came in four large boxes with a combined weight of about 150 pounds. It was an amusing challenge to get those from Tom’s car to Tilia out in Newport harbor, and then find places to store them until the installation.
It took Jim about a week of work to get the physical components installed and then connected to the boat’s plumbing and electrical systems. This is a game changer for us because we can now make about 35 gallons fresh water per hour just about anywhere. When the sun is shining, our solar system generates enough electricity to power the entire process of making water. If there isn’t enough sun, we can always use the generator.
There are a few attractions in the New London area that Jim was interested in visiting: the US Coast Guard academy, Tall Ship Eagle (the USCG training ship), and the Submarine Force Museum (home to the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine). However, there was one other distracting attraction: the warehouse outlet for Defender, a marine supply company. Jim took advantage of the access to that resource to work on a number of other boat projects instead of being a tourist. We’ll have to go back to New London!
When he wasn’t working on projects, Jim had the chance to meet some of the other people who spend a lot of time at Burr’s Marina. Captain Tom deserves special note. He and his girlfriend, Carol, invited Jim over to their boat for a great dinner that included fresh-caught tuna. Yum! Captain Tom was a fun person to chat with about boats, the area, and life, and we look forward to seeing him again — back in New London or out on the water.
When Anne returned, we took a close look at the weather and realized we had a very promising weather forecast to make our way south if we left almost immediately. Otherwise, we could be stuck in New London for another 5 days. New London and the people we met are wonderful, but we wanted to get to Annapolis as soon as possible to increase our odds of getting a good spot for the sailboat show. That forced us to bid an abrupt goodbye to New London and Captain Tom.
