0300, hove to in.......

[Bash]

Originally Posted by psteele235

Before peeing, taste the water to see if it is fresh (manageable for 500 miles provided you have beer) or salt - if the latter pee then proceed as above.

Patrick, sorry to have "stolen" your answer. We must have both been typing at the same time.

[capngeo]

Wow! Ankle deep over the sole with fresh? you guys have BIG tanks!

Inflating the dink is a great idea.. but the EPIRB got wiped out when the Chinese shot down the commo sats.. you're on your own remember? No rescue coming by modern means. Yeah you might luck into a freighter, BUT this is my story... they are all getting bottom jobs in Washington State with copper free paint for the next several months.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Wow! Ankle deep over the sole with fresh? you guys have BIG tanks!

I have five water tanks that total 200 gallons. Four of those tanks are below waterline, with only the forward tank, which holds 75 gallons, above the sole. (Plus the water heater, which holds 12.)

But, yes, I could pump enough fresh water into the bilges to float my slippers.

[smurphny]

If you'd had your foot over the side of the bunk (as any OLD wood boat sailor knows is the traditional leak detector) you would have detected the problem before it got ankle deep.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Bash

The first thing I'd do is taste the water.

If it's hot and salty, turn off the engine.
If it's hot and fresh, turn off the water pressure.
If it's cold and fresh, consider saving it, you still may need it for drinking.
If it's cold and salty, shut all seacocks immediately.

And if it tastes like piss, your bladder problem is worse than you thought!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by smurphny

If you'd had your foot over the side of the bunk (as any OLD wood boat sailor knows is the traditional leak detector) you would have detected the problem before it got ankle deep.

Well, the point is that I have a second bilge pump six inches above the working pump at the bottom of the bilge, and it sets off an alarm when it starts to work.

So my chances of sleeping until the water is ankle-deep above the sole are pretty slim, even if the Chinese just shot out all the GPS satellites.

[smurphny]

Originally Posted by Bash

Well, the point is that I have a second bilge pump six inches above the working pump at the bottom of the bilge, and it sets off an alarm when it starts to work.

So my chances of sleeping until the water is ankle-deep above the sole are pretty slim, even if the Chinese just shot out all the GPS satellites.

Ditto here and the second pump is an old Jabsco, mounted on a bulkhead that makes so much damned noise it would wake the dead.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by smurphny

Ditto here and the second pump is an old Jabsco, mounted on a bulkhead that makes so much damned noise it would wake the dead.

Especially if the dead have enlarged prostrates. (As per the OP's scenario.)

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by capngeo

How many among us KNOW the EXACT location of all through hulls? Water, Waste, Transducers, Impellers/logs, Prop and rudder shafts..... How about things not normally thought of.. grounding plates? keel bolts?

If ANY of those things is causing the leak, here is the (temporary) solution.

Check out their vids.... and someone tell me if this is not the exact same material used in Wax Toilet Rings?

[SabreKai]

1st things first, taste it. Then pee in it. Its going to be salt anyway. My fresh water tanks are too small to flood over the floor plates.

Next, grab the flashlight and try to determine the rate of filling. You woke up because of a full bladder, not an impact or a violent change in motion. No loud noise woke you up. That sez a major structural problem is not likely. Stop splashing about and listen for the sound of running water. Start checking in the following order.

1. First thing to check is to pull up the floor plates over the keel compartment where the DS transducer and the Sumlog head exit the hull. These are the deepest hull penetrations and will have the most water force behind them if they are gone. Are they still there? Leaks here should be obvious. A jet of water should hit you in the face. Plug with a tapered plug.

2. Take the flash light and go look in the engine space. Check the cockpit drain hoses, Port and starboard through hulls, the rudder stuffing box and rudder shaft log and the shaft stuffing box and shaft log for water leaking. These are deep to middle deep. You can see them by looking through the lifted counter top and shining the light aft past the engine block. If one of the drain hoses is gone, then close the seacock using the extension handle on either side of the engine bearers. If the seacocks are broken off or if the rudder/shaft stuffing box or shaft log is gone, and its leaking rapidly, then decide if you want to risk getting caught under the cockpit deck in a boat that's filling up with water.....

3. Moving on, those not being the problem, check the raw water intake to see if the seacock has sheared off. (this one should be closed when off shore.) If it is, pull out the access panel, and bung a tapered plug into it. End of story. Start pumping.

4. Next in order, check the galley sink drain (shallow depth) and the freshwater piping from under the port side deck down and forward to the pressure pump. Follow that up to the accumulator and then to the bottom of the galley fresh water tap. Fresh water piping don't sweat it. More in the jerry cans in the lazarette. If the galley drain hose is gone, close the seacock. If the cock is gone, bung a tapered plug into it. Access via the panel under the sink.

Next, check the fresh water line running from the bow tank to the head faucet. Check the head sink drain. (shallow depth) Check the head intake plumbing. (shallow depth) Again, fresh water, no worries. Its too small to worry about. Sink drain, close or plug, access at bottom front of cabinet. Head intake, close or plug, seacock in the open, on the right side of the head.

Next move forward and go check the waste outlet on the port side, (shallow depth) under the head of the V-berth. Close or plug.

Having checked and verified every through hull and hose, check the water level in the cabin. Is it still rising? If so somehow you now have a structural failure. Pull up the floor plates over the keel bays and toss in some rice or cornflakes, any thing that will float. Look to see if there is a swirling motion caused by an upwelling of water in any one bay. Possible broken keel bolt/s?

Now its time to get the raft and bailout gear ready. Dealing with a deep keel leak may well be impossible.


Sabre

[svcambria]

Originally Posted by Bash

Well, the point is that I have a second bilge pump six inches above the working pump at the bottom of the bilge, and it sets off an alarm when it starts to work.

So my chances of sleeping until the water is ankle-deep above the sole are pretty slim, even if the Chinese just shot out all the GPS satellites.

Ditto to add to the previous ditto.
Then I get out the emergency pair of ruby slippers...

Michael

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by psteele235

Before peeing, taste the water to see if it is fresh (manageable for 500 miles provided you have beer) or salt - if the latter pee then proceed as above.

Smell it first. I cracked a holding tank once.

[sammyo]

Oh you're all missing the very first step. Quickly reach across for the flashlight, slip, fall face first into the water.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by sammyo

Oh you're all missing the very first step. Quickly reach across for the flashlight, slip, fall face first into the water.

Thank god for LED! Could have been worse back in 'the good ol days'... "reach for oil lamp, slip, set water on fire".

[Lancerbye]

At ankle deep in my boat the engine room would still have been water free unless the the hole was in the engine room and it was totally flooded, meaning the the source of the leak was there. the bulheads will prevent water from sneaking in. A bulkhead at either end of the engine room. The leak would have to be handled first (yours and then the boat's). Then the water pumped out and the engine started with the sealed gel cell house bank which is above sea level close at deck level.