Solana is currently located in Mexico, and that means a lot of AC usage. This is especially so during summer when temperatures and humidity go uncomfortably high even for locals – running AC 24/7 becomes a life saving necessity.

The AC system on Solana consists of 4 AC condenser units located in lazaret. They are cooled by raw (sea) water pumped through them. The raw water part of the system consists of throughulls, hoses, fittings, strainer and a pump. Three times in the last 2 months this system was on a brink of causing a significant disaster. Basically, I could end up with sea water being pumped or just flowing into the lazaret, uncontrollably, maybe while I’m not on the boat. The consequences of that are hard to underestimate.

The first potential disaster was coming up in the shape of a plastic elbow connecting 2 sections of a 1″ water hose near the inlet thru-hull (under the waterline). I am not sure what plastic it was made from (but didn’t look like nylon to me), and it literally dissolved over time in salt water! Part of barbs simply disappeared and the other side was having barbs paper-thin, ready to be gone at any moment:

The hose was using 2 clamps on each side of this elbow, but the whole connection fell apart once I tried to flush the part of the system with fresh water and it applied a bit of pressure to it. If left unattended, that could result in an open thru-hull under waterline opened into the boat. Ouch. I’ve replaced the length of hose in a way that does not need an elbow, just bends a hose a bit.

The second potential failure was a 1->4 manifold that splits the flow of raw water into 4 AC units. It developed a pinhole leak:

This one would not sink the boat, but had to be fixed anyways. Temporarily, until I replace the whole manifold, I have used JBWeld on it:

Should work for a while!

And lately, James Knight, who was on board, noticed the Y connectors at the far corners of lazaret, and from 6 feet away he immediately said they are dangerously corroded. And they were indeed, to the point that metal in parts of them has completely transformed into rust, and that wall of rust was effectively all that was keeping water from gushing into lazaret:

After removal and a bit of cleaning, this how those connectors looked like:

Stainless steel of unknown quality in a raw water system w/o electrical bonding… What can go wrong?

Replaced it with self-made Y from CPVC and Nylon (it was hard to find 5/8 Nylon Y here):

Not sure how long that will hold but will keep an eye on it and will order simpler 1-piece nylon Y just in case.

Another piece of equipment on those connectors that disintegrated were clamps:

Those are regular fully perforated clamps, probably 304 SS.

Replaced with ABA 316 SS ones, they may serve longer:

Disaster averted! Well, at least this one 🙂