So we've been enjoying sailing in our new (to us) 30' Pearson "Constallation" these last few weeks, getting the thing ready for some fall travel and doing minor tweaking to systems that had . . .well. . .deteriorated over the three something years the boat sat on the hard. It has been a mercifully small amount of work, and not a lot of things we've found that needed fixing, which is great because we're both looking forward to doing some fall travel.
Was that just the bilge pump going off? No worries, it's been raining.
Anyway, between that and getting my new book out, we've been a bit. . .
Was that just the bilge pump again? Well, I just moved back to the cockpit, so the boat shifted, that was probably it.
Anyway, with the new book and the weather finally cooling. . .
Um, that was just the bilge pump again. Um. Okay, so maybe we need to check the. . .
<<Pump kicks on again>>
AAAAGH! OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD what's going on? We're TAKING ON WATER!!
It has to be the stuffing box. Everything else is fine, so it MUST be the stuffing box. It was dripping a little when we first splashed but I figured that was just because it was dry, but. . .
<<Pump kicks in again>>
AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!! So we jerk all the carefully stacked boxes out of the quarter berth, pull out the teak slatting that closes off the engine compartment. I grab a huge pair of water pump pliers, and, with a flashlight in my teeth, I crawl into the dank, uncomfortable space to find. . .
. . .nothing. It's dry. It's absolutely dry. Dry as a bone. Mojave dry. Sahara Dry. Dry Martini with a sawdust chaser dry. Dry.
To quote Deadpool, "What the actual hell?"
We begin working methodically from the stern forward. Engine throughhull is dry. Water jacket is dry, muffler is dry.
Sink drain throughhull is dry. Water line is dry. Head water intake is dry. . .
Head waste throughhull is dry. Head sink throughhull is dry. Dry Dry Dry. WTAF?
What's left? Are we holed? What's left? I remembered there was, all the way forward, a transducer mount. Maybe that. I pulled out the drawers under the Vberth and played the light on it.
Dry. But right below where I was looking was the head sink foot pump. That was NOT dry. It turned out to be the culprit, slowly leaking all the water in our fresh water tank into the bilge. I pulled it out. I've a rebuild kit on the way. Whew.
My point of bringing up this little exercise in aquatic panic is this: With apologies to George R. R. Martin, Winter is coming. A lot of us will be putting our boats on the hard (we liveaboards, of course, will not) for months on end. Boats do a lot of things brilliantly, but sitting around not being used is not one of them. This might be a great time to consider replacing washers, gaskets, hoses and the like so your spring doesn't include episodes like the one detailed above.
Aside from the minor heart attack, it's shaping up to be a really fine fall. My new book, "Zarabeth's World" is out, (I know, I know, I keep posting this. We're excited. Gimmee a break) and the proofs from the publisher were unexpectedly lovely.
Feel free to rush over to Amazon in a buying frenzy (but if you love it please make sure you leave a review. We live and die by those things). At any rate, the weather has finally cooled a bit, the winds are freshening, and we're looking forward to what are usually the two or three best months of sailing on the Bay.
M
Was that just the bilge pump going off? No worries, it's been raining.
Anyway, between that and getting my new book out, we've been a bit. . .
Was that just the bilge pump again? Well, I just moved back to the cockpit, so the boat shifted, that was probably it.
Anyway, with the new book and the weather finally cooling. . .
Um, that was just the bilge pump again. Um. Okay, so maybe we need to check the. . .
<<Pump kicks on again>>
AAAAGH! OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD what's going on? We're TAKING ON WATER!!
It has to be the stuffing box. Everything else is fine, so it MUST be the stuffing box. It was dripping a little when we first splashed but I figured that was just because it was dry, but. . .
<<Pump kicks in again>>
AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!! So we jerk all the carefully stacked boxes out of the quarter berth, pull out the teak slatting that closes off the engine compartment. I grab a huge pair of water pump pliers, and, with a flashlight in my teeth, I crawl into the dank, uncomfortable space to find. . .
. . .nothing. It's dry. It's absolutely dry. Dry as a bone. Mojave dry. Sahara Dry. Dry Martini with a sawdust chaser dry. Dry.
To quote Deadpool, "What the actual hell?"
We begin working methodically from the stern forward. Engine throughhull is dry. Water jacket is dry, muffler is dry.
Sink drain throughhull is dry. Water line is dry. Head water intake is dry. . .
Head waste throughhull is dry. Head sink throughhull is dry. Dry Dry Dry. WTAF?
What's left? Are we holed? What's left? I remembered there was, all the way forward, a transducer mount. Maybe that. I pulled out the drawers under the Vberth and played the light on it.
Dry. But right below where I was looking was the head sink foot pump. That was NOT dry. It turned out to be the culprit, slowly leaking all the water in our fresh water tank into the bilge. I pulled it out. I've a rebuild kit on the way. Whew.
 |
| Really? The foot pump? |
Aside from the minor heart attack, it's shaping up to be a really fine fall. My new book, "Zarabeth's World" is out, (I know, I know, I keep posting this. We're excited. Gimmee a break) and the proofs from the publisher were unexpectedly lovely.
 |
| Just in time for fall reading. |
M
No comments:
Post a Comment