The village at Ailuk had a water desalinator, but it wasn’t working, so Tim and James (from s/v Pojean) tried their best to fix it. This is pretty common. Cruisers are known to be good at fixing things (they have to be in order to be self-sufficient), so if there’s something (or 15 somethings) in a village that needs fixing it won’t take long before the cruisers are on it. There were solar panels on the roof of the school and a battery and charge controller in a small access closet on the side. Meanwhile the boys and I watched the children throw rocks at birds in the trees. I think they were amped up on all the candy that Pojean gave them.
Anyway, Tim systematically troubleshooted the watermaker issue, and unfortunately isolated it to the battery charge controller. This isn’t something he could take apart and fix, the solution is basically that they would need a new one. It’s too bad, but this kind of thing happens a lot. Someone with good intentions donates something to a village but doesn’t maintain it and doesn’t teach the people of the village to maintain it, and it’s useful lifespan ends up only being a few months. No one was too distraught about it. They will depend on rainwater, just like they always do.
Getting to the bottom of the watermaker issue at the village on Ailuk
Gresham Family Exodus 