What is that? The green light is the sun shining through a hole in the bottom of the boat.

This is the view through the top of our raw-water strainer. All the water coming into engine, air conditioner, and heads comes through this strainer. The green light is Jackson Creek with the early morning sun reflecting off the sandy bottom under our slip.

The real Valentine's Day job was to sort out the problem with the Air Conditioner and Heat Pump. It had stopped pumping water.

CA cleaned the strainer. This allowed us to see daylight pouring in through the bottom of the boat. But still no water flowed through the air conditioner.

Clearly, the three choices are (1) an electrical failure in wiring or fuses, (2) a fried motor or (3) a failed impeller. Since the motor hummed, we were pretty sure that the motor worked (or perhaps it just couldn't remember the lyrics.)

What's left is probably (3) a failed impeller.

Ideally, we should do some kind of diagnostic testing to be sure. Sadly, however, the pump and all the plumbing is below the water line. Pretty much anything we do to experiment with the pump leaves water spraying around whether the pump works or not.

So, rather than mess around, let's just assume it's problem 3, the impeller. This gives us two choices: (3.a) is to find a new impeller; (3.b) is to simply replace the entire pump. While simple, the March LC-3CP-MD pump is \(200-\)300. A new impeller would be closer to $80.

Yes, the pump looks kind of nasty. But—except for the impeller—it seems to work.

Now the hard part is finding someone who has one of these ancient impellers for the Cruisair PM500L pump. It seems to be something they call the older-style 2 1/4" model. I've sent out some email inquiries. Hopefully, someone has this little thingy in stock.

I'm most optimistic about Edd Helms Marine.

Ideally, they have the part. I can reassemble the pump, connect up the various hoses and get it reinstalled back down inside the bilge.