I remember watching a series of shorts about a group of people just kind of sailing around random places and encountering problems which...
hahahhah...
...of course were easily solved by scientific literacy on the part of the characters!
I believe that this was on "321 Contact" - can anyone confirm this?
It was called Voyage of the Mimi. It might have been a separate show.
You are indeed thinking of The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). I vaguely remember the show myself, especially their getting shipwrecked on an island and then coming up with a clever way to get water that they could drink (the ocean water is salty among other things).
Looking it up, it also had a young Ben Affleck on there. Maybe someday it'll be available to watch on DVD? Doubtful, other than the fact that he was on there.