Taking on water!

I really was beside myself this morning all I could do was lay in bed and watch my things bounce off the wall.

“Why is my floor wet” I thought? I put my fingers in it and tasted it, salt water! How could I be taking on water? All my threw-hulls are perfect, everything is double clamped and I just went through and replaced all the hose a few months ago, this cant be!

I checked the t-hulls under the sink, and the ones in the head, no water. That only leaves the one for the motor intake, and the 2 scuppers. I opened the engine room door and found a river of sea water hammering into the bilge. I could see the threw-hull for the motor and it looked fine.

I jumped into the cockpit and started pulling everything out of the lazerette, Bingo! You know the $5.00 a foot hose with the wire in it that shouldn’t break, well it breaks! I just installed this a few months ago. Something (I think my dive bag) was bouncing on it and it broke. I turned off the valve and stopped the water. I don’t know that I can fix it. I do have another scupper which isn’t a problem. The only problem is I have an anti-siphon valve in it from the cooling water and a small amount of cooling water is pumped into the boat when I run the engine now.

I spent the next two hours inflating my dinghy and lashing it to the foredeck for a piece of mind.

I spent a small fortune today calling friends and trying to get weather info. Everyone who looked at charts told me the same thing “It’s going to get worse before it gets better”! Some told me to go south but I’m not going to beat into this sea. I am going a little more west and taking the waves more from the stern which seems to help a bit. My friend on the SSB told me to prepare for 4 more days of this.

I’m sure I’ll be fine as long as I can keep the sea out of the boat.

I need a vacation!

Cheers.

Alex