Sunday - D6P1

For the second night in a row I slept poorly. On nights like this I tend to fall asleep OK and get a few decent hours of rest early on but then become restless and wakeful long before dawn. Sometimes, if there is really no need to get up, I can fall back asleep. On a day like this, I knew we really had our work cut out for us so I quietly crawled out of my mosquito tent and freshened up. Used the bathroom, brushed teeth and washed off my mug. I pulled on my clothes, the same lime-green tropical work shirt and tan (now mud brown) cotton cargoes as all the other days. I rotated to the driest and least rank of the three sets of undies and socks I had been using and went out to the porch. I pulled on and laced up my boots, grabbed a water bottle, and set off in the dark for el rancho. I tend to like the dark and feel very comfortable in it's soft enclosure. I carefully picked my way up the trail to the site and then found a good perch from which to watch the sunrise. I thought about what we would need to do in the day and half we had before us and let the day open.

Although the dawn looked like the sun would come out, early morning clouds brought a modest rain. This was beneficial in that it gave me time to see if the gutters were leaking or if the first flush vents were working. We had eliminated probably 90% of the leaks in the west side gutter but the west tank still filled quite a bit more slowly than the east and the new rains showed this to still be the case. Nonetheless, with a brisk rain the water was soon filling both tanks. As the first flush systems filled the water displaced the air in the vent tubes just like they were supposed to and the water rose in the tubes. The downside to the rain was that it worsened the mud we would have to work in.

The rain tapered off but it remained gray and a bit misty. The rest of the crew arrived and we were soon occupied with the final stages of the project. With the tank stands securely in place Mike directed the drilling and cutting of the main holes into the barrels. There would be three in each barrel oriented at 90 degrees from each other. The hole on the bottom would accommodate the bulkhead fitting for the outflow drain. It makes sense to put this to the bottom so near-complete emptying of the tank can occur. 90 degrees radial to this (on the horizontal side of the tank) was the hole for the water inflow pipe. Locating the inflow here meant that as water filled the tank it flowed audibly down into the barrel until the barrel was half full and the water level rose above the inflow pipe. Once this happened the inflow became inaudible to the ear - I did not bother checking it with my stethoscope. This little fact would become important later on in terms of trouble shooting leaks.The last hole was placed 90 degrees radially on the top of the tank where the chlorine port and air vent were to be placed. Once all of this was done, the PVC fittings could be added, the drum laid in the tank stand and strapped down, final plumbing connections made, and finally, the barrel lids clamped on. Only after all that could we begin to fill the tanks and check for leaks.

Mike picked up the drill and started using the circular cutting head to core out the first hole. Once he was done a bulkhead fitting with gaskets on both sides was tested. Perfect fit. Five more holes later and we could cross of one more task from our list.

Once the holes had been cut and we made the primary plumbing connections we were ready to place the barrels into the cradles that had been built on top of the stands. One of Mike's great ideas had been to use nylon belt straps (like what you use to secure things to a car top) with ratchet locks to hold the tanks in place. It was simple and elegant - it held the tanks securely but could be easily released to take the tanks down for maintenance. The barrels are quite light and we set them in the stands without any difficulty. We then turned our attention to connecting all the PVC plumbing. While this was going on we continued to (seemingly forever) work on the gutters, run bacterial tests, check and recheck chlorine levels, and generally do whatever it was we had been doing all week. Ambrosio and Daniel started to cut the zinc into the proper size to form a housing around the barrels. This is more aesthetic than functional and, frankly, I would go without it but it's not in my backyard. In any event, it is a rare thing to watch corrugated metal being cut with a machete. Yes, a machete. The most amazing thing is that everyone I have encountered on the island has all their fingers and toes.

Chip adding a temporary extension so people could get water without it spraying all over.

West side tank; valve in front is outflow; inflow bulkhead fitting can just been seen on the left side of the barrel.

Running piping under tank; using two elbows to make a U-turn.

We were working pretty hard and things were moving along well enough heading into the latter part of the afternoon. We had not bothered to stop for lunch so we were all pretty hungry. I broke out my sack of jerky and started passing it around. As we were leaving the following day I gave generously, both to our group, as well as to the local guys and any spouses or kids who were just hanging out enjoying the show. As I passed the jerky around I came to an old gentleman and realized that, without any teeth in his mouth, jerky was not an option. I apologized respectfully and explained that he couldn't have it. Feeling badly about excluding him, I commandeered a packet of Ritz-like crackers from Frank (just about the last thing in the world I wanted to do) and handed them to him He smiled, thanked me, and joined the feast.

El viejo con las galletas (look it up).

No jerky - very sad.

We worked and ate through the fading afternoon. You really could feel the tension rising as each small section got finished. Around four o'clock, the last of the PVC on the east tank was cemented into place and the barrel was ready to fill. It had been Mike's project and now it was his turn to open the valve. I was reminded of the quote from the movie "Rocket Boys" (the book was called "October Sky", an anagram) by O'Dell who says "a rocket won't fly unless someone lights the fuse". It was time to watch the rocket fly: Mike turned the valve and we could hear the water splashing into the barrel for the very first time.

Payoff: It Really Works!

The flowing water made a pleasant sound until the drum was half-full and the inflow pipe was under the rising water level. Everything seemed good, no leaks, no worries. We waited another ten minutes or so, following the water level on the clear plastic tubing we had installed as a water level indicator and it eventually topped out and ran out of the air vent. We opened the front valve to make sure it worked and water poured out. That was it. It was done. At least the first tank. There was a quick round of congratulations then, time to get back to work on the west side. The sun was setting and we were not out of the woods yet. We were not to be as lucky on  that west tank as we had on the east one.