Not what I had planned!

This weekend did not go exactly to plan. I know everyone reading this that has any experience with boats is saying ‘it never does’ and I’m all for changing plans and always prepared to be flexible, but when I arrived at the boat on Saturday morning ready to service the engine, boyfriend (engineer) in tow to help in case I get stuck what I was not prepared for was to open the hatch and look down at ankle deep water throughout the entire boat. Poor Pheobe our cocker poodle was therefore banished to the deck, much to her disgust as she hates to be more than 3 foot from me at any time.

Now lady of Lewis has a pretty big bilge, it’s about two and a half foot deep and although narrow it can still hold a crap load of water. So to have filled up the entire bilge and then the boat with another 3 inches of water ….well it’s a concern. On the Brightside we know its not coming from the bottom as she’s out of the water. On the less brightside when she goes back in it might well come in from the bottom. My heart only sank further looking around to see the brand new quite expensive dehumidifier sitting in 3 inches of water

Oh, I'm not sure if I’ve mentioned in a previous post that the bilge pump is one of the items on my list to fix, and it now being completely submerged under water I could not see what model it was (this was a job on the list of this weekend!) to get the service kit to fix it.

After bailing using a large mug into a bucket, passing the bucket up to Carlos to throw over the side for about 10 minutes we decided this was a ridiculous idea. So off to the chandler we went. Just in case there are any non-boat people the chandlery is just a specialist shop dedicated to all things boaty. If you are into boats, the best explanation of a chandlery I can give is: it is basically like walking into a porn shop. No joke. I LOVE a chandlery. Everything new and shiny. Things that you have never even heard of. Although I always tend to walk out quite a bit poorer and feeling a bit naughty so it really does have more in common with a porn shop that you would think. Anyway back to the problem at hand.

Now seemed like as good a time as any to get a domestic battery (£85), a 750 electric bilge pump (£25) and 5.5m of tubing (£8). The 750 on the bilge pump means it pumps 750 gallons per hour so back at the boat we made quick work of emptying the majority of the water. Since the heads is not fitted I simply fed the tube down one of the seacocks so it went straight outside. Since this is a very temporary set up the wires wouldn’t allow us to reach the bottom of the bilge with the electric pump so we used my 60litre oil extractor, which I only use for water to get the rest out. I will take this opportunity to say that when I bought the extractor for about £70 online I felt as though I was being completely ripped off however I can honestly say it’s the best thing I’ve ever bought.

With the water out the boat we took off the manual bilge pump completely which is now sitting at home with a service kit ready to be cleaned, perhaps re-painted and serviced, then got to work trying to work out where the hell that amount of water is coming from.

Obvious culprits: where the mast normally goes is a big hole, which I had covered with a bin liner but done a fairly poor job so we were pretty sure that the majority came from there. There are a few holes covered with gaffer tape that likely contributed and we just put the amount of water down to the god awful weather that we’ve had.

Finally we spent an hour or so going through the engine service list and just identifying everything on the engine so we know what we’re doing for next time. So not a total loss to the day but it was the first time since buying her that I actually thought to myself maybe I’ve taken on too much, which is just such a disheartening feeling so early in the project.

I headed back on my own the next day with renewed energy and enthusiasm with fingers crossed while opening the hatched to find that although it had not overflown the bilge was now completely full again. Following some light profanities I went through the same routine as the day previous. I then remembered that when the boat was down in Plymouth where I found her she had a spray hood on which I had to take down for the transport. This was obviously keeping the rain out and my new conclusion is that the hatch itself is leaking a lot!

Finally deciding the best temporary fix was to go to do it all and buy a 4m x 5m heavy duty tarpaulin to cover the entire coach roof, including hatch, mast hole and all other small gaffer covered holes. Feeling much happier by the time I left I now feel reasonably confident that when I go back next weekend she will be dry inside.

My main lessons and tips for this week are:

1. Always have a full tool kit with you. No matter what jobs you think you will be doing you will no doubt need to do something that will require the exact tool you don’t have so just take everything.

2. Whatever problem you’re trying to tackle ask yourself how urgent is a solution. If its urgent then find a quick temporary fix so you can then take you time to fix the root cause properly.

3. Pink Dubarry deck shoes submerged in bilge water will do a fantastic job of dying your feet bright pink….and I mean bright! It does not come off. No matter how much you scru

#sail #sailing #Bilge #Leak #bilgepump #electrics