Water everywhere but not a drop to drink

Shaun Quincey is weeks from land, and without means to make drinking water. Photo / Supplied

Rower Shaun Quincey has appealed for help fixing the machine providing essential drinking water on his solo trans-Tasman bid.

Stranded halfway to New Zealand, he's been forced to make an Apollo 13-style bid to repair the machine on board.

In the aborted 1970 lunar mission, made famous by a Hollywood movie, ground crew had to find a simple way for astronauts to modify a carbon-dioxide converter using tools available.

In a podcast posted on his website yesterday, Quincey said he had tools and parts, but couldn't find the fault. The desalinator hadn't produced drinking water in four days.

"If there's any other ocean rowers out there or people with experience of water makers, I need some help," he said.

"I've got a good power supply, the tools and spares kit here, but I just can't for the life of me figure out what's going on with it."

Quincey has 50 litres of water on board - about 10 days supply - but is still weeks from land.

He left Australia on January 20 in a bid to follow in the footsteps of his father, Colin Quincey, who rowed the Tasman in 1977.

Michael Buck, from Quincey's support crew, said the rower was positive, "but it is quite serious."

He said the machine was tested thoroughly before setting out. "We put it through every conceivable scenario and then tried to get it to work again, and we did it, so he knows how it works."

The desalinator, a Katadyn PowerSurvivor 40E, pulls seawater through an intake on the bottom of the boat and converts it to drinking water.

Buck said Quincey had made good progress in the past few days, thanks to strong winds pushing him eastward.

Despite running into two big storms, he was now halfway across the 2200km distance.

"He struggles with the loneliness so he's increasing the frequency of calling people," Buck said.

Quincey, a 25-year-old masters student, is posting updates from the boat on his blog and Twitter.

In the last post, on Thursday, he said he had almost dried out after recent rain.

Advice on fixing the desalinator can be posted on Quincey's blog at www.tasmantrespasser.com.