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

[Lancerbye]

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.

LOL. Good time to test the water.

[cal40john]

This is why I installed an alarm switch in the keel. It's on top of the lead so somewhere around 15 gallons of water gets in the boat before it goes off. This also activates the big bilge pump. Since the switch is on top of the lead, that is where the keel volume increases significantly and is still around 2 1/2 feet down in the keel, so I have a chance to close seacocks and look around for a leak while everything but the lower portion of the keel is dry, so a leak is easy to spot.

And yes I know where each through hole in the boat is, and propane locker drain, speed transducer, holes most times above the waterline, and don't forget to look at the stuffing box for the leak.

You know you can refine each of these what ifs to the point where you pretty much just have to get into the life raft.

A reasonable person makes all the reasonable preparations he can and knows what to do with them. If you were in the military you actually practiced them. Then you ad lib as the situation demands.

I have a friend who used to be an EMT, and taught first aid classes as well and he used to get very upset with people trying to do more and more twisted what if situations that were impossible to plan for.

Many years ago my wife got food poisoning bad enough that she passed out, I didn't know what was wrong at the time. We were on a 16 foot Boston Whaler in the middle of Puget Sound in 15 knot winds, a couple of feet of waves. After calling out her name and giving her a shake, I tried to do ABC. I could not feel her breath on my ear because of the wind. I could not see her chest move through the multiple layers of clothing and the dry suit, with the boat jumping up and down it probably would have been nearly impossible to see her chest move even with the layers off. While I started working on alternate solutions I tried calling and shaking her again, at this point she came to. At the time I kept thinking they didn't cover this in First Aid. Well they're not going to, you can't cover every weird situation, and nobody will remember them if you do try to cover 1000s of them.

[Jim Cate]

Lots of good thoughts here.

But one that was missed: Taste water, if it is fresh and it is ankle deep, close the hatches... it is raining like hell out there!

Cheers,

Jim

[David_Old_Jersey]

Close the collission bulkheads.

Shut the seacocks.

put the kettle on.

Check each compartment for obvious leaks (esp. hose splits) and start bailing out.

Hope that the leak stops..........

[zeehag]

make sure ye turned toilet to dry pump insteasdo f leaving it on wet pump so ye stop sinking yer boat. fix holes. nothing will sink a boat faster than a toilet in thw wet pump position. happens a lot.
make the spare pump work.
why didnt pump work in first place? of course shut thru hulls.
if it were my boat with boards awahs, i would have way tooo much water in bilges to save her unless i had bought a lot of spare pumps and had them installed and the wter wasnt over the level of the dinette seat under which one bateryt bank is located. is too much time to engage a generator and pump the bilges-- lol use a bucket--it may be funny but is very very true--nothing like a scared soul with a bucet to save a boat full of water.

btw--dont worry where and when you will pee-- you have already done so--and yer pants are a wet nasty brown color now--just keep on keeping on and ... gooooood luck.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by callmecrazy

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?

Yup, sure looks like it. Last year some IDIOT (that would be me) put a hole in our boat (it took real effort) and I had some toilet wax on board and it instantly stopped the leak.

I heard about the toilet wax thing here on CF.

What is different is that they are packaging it is an wonton soup container. Guess what I'll be doing soon?

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

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

Very good responses ... both of you.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

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

Now exactly how would one know what piss tastes like????????

[capngeo]

CalJohn......

I have a friend who used to be an EMT, and taught first aid classes as well and he used to get very upset with people trying to do more and more twisted what if situations that were impossible to plan for.

Amateurs "what if" and train until they get it right.....
PROFESSIONALS train until they CAN'T get it wrong!

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by capngeo

CalJohn......


Amateurs "what if" and train until they get it right.....
PROFESSIONALS train until they CAN'T get it wrong!

WELL SAID.........Michael..

[bigpuff]

Originally Posted by capngeo

OK next one....
It's 0300. You're single handed, hove to, down below, getting some sleep 500 miles from the nearest land. You're an old man like me with a prostate bigger than your bladder and you get "the urge". You roll out of the bunk and SPLASH SPLASH! YOU'RE ANKLE DEEP OVER THE SOLE..... What next?

have piss before you do any thing , the bilge will do ,your going to pump it anyhow

[JPA Cate]

How fun to read back through this thread again!

It makes me feel glad to know where all my through hulls are, secure that I personally tied the tapered bungs to each one of them! (Ya know, guys, doing this might make your wives feel more secure, too, let her do it, but supervise her knots.) Check hoses, knotmeter transducer, toilet intake and egress, engine intake, sink egress, shaft seal.

Okay, we've solved the sinking problem.

Now, about going to land. Do you remember you were 500 mi offshore. Well, that's a while to go. You're still singlehanding.

Me, I'm still hove to, and I'd bail and pump the boat out. Maybe fix a hot meal, for energy to draw on. The water's on the outside is the main thing. The next thing is a plan for approaching land, but not too fast. Since I'm that far offshore, I will assume that I hove to to rest, due to the weather. So, when the weather has ameliorated, I would resume course (deck log will have the compass heading). I must say, I woud keep a weather eye out.

I want to see those mackeral skies and mare's tails* for pre-frontal passage warning, and perhaps another hove to, period. [Funny thing, some of those old northern hemisphere, east coast of north America sayings may not be true down here ("red sky at morning, sailor take warning -- sand coming off the Sahara, red sky at night, sailor's delight) , here more like red sky in the morning, salior take warning, red sky at night, sailor take warning.)

* "Mackerel skies and mare's tails means tall ships wear short sails."

Now, as it happens, in my boat, ankle deep water would not flood our lead acid batteries. So, if nothing was wrong with the engine, perhaps I'd have electricity for bilge pumps and VHF, but let's assume not.

I would position myself to approach the coast as it was becoming light, having slept, hove to, perhaps 30 mi offshore so as to be rested for the most stressful part of a journey. I would have continued keeping my DR, because although it's only a guess, it would be my best one. ( I cannot fix my position by sextant; I become violently seasick when I try to bring the sun to the horizon). I would continue aiming for land, and look for anything at all that I could relate to my charts. (Yes, carry paper charts.)

There might be traffic I could follow towards port, even jetstreams, or might be able to chart my own course.

Presumably, one has at least a hazy idea of what to expect as you approach most shores, sometimes aids to navigation, or conspicuous items on land. Once you get close enough to ask someone for help, you'll be watched till you get in towing distance.

Now, some of you modern guys might dash for the satphone, but really, it's a sailboat, you can get it 500 mi., once you stop the leaks. You have to master your fear, accept the seriousness of the situation, don't waste time peeing somewhere else, what's a little more salt in salt water, after all? and stop the leak.

Unable to stop leak, then consider evacuation, but most of your energy should be put to controlling the leak. Water outside...GOOD. Water inside...may be a problem.

Now, I have read of ways to use your jib sheet or your main sheet to start your engine, but I am not convinced that I could work out ways to lead the lines to do it. But I'd think about it. I watched the video of the guy on this year's Vendee Globe work out a way to do it that worked. Maybe I could work it out, maybe not, I'm not an engineer, nor a physicist, more like a plumber.

All for now, guys,

Ann

[Dockhead]

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?

I do. I could find any one of them blindfolded in less than 15 seconds, on my boat.

[Pendragon35]

Originally Posted by Bash

Okay, here's the serious answer.

The first thing I'd do is taste the water. That will tell me whether it's salty or fresh, hot or cold.

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.

Then you can pee.

In my boat, once the water is ankle-deep over the sole, you've already lost the engine, and the batteries are under water. The fact that they're sealed AGMs might help, but if shutting the seacocks doesn't stop the flow of water, it's time to grab the ditch bag, inflate the liferaft, and set off the EPIRB. Even then, the rule is not to board the raft until I can step up into it.

I had to laugh quietly reading this. I'm 65 and have the prostate issue too. i'm guessing you are much younger or at least better. When you are an older man and you have the prostate bladder thing... there is NOTHING you can do before you pee!

[rognvald]

Has the OP, or anyone, established that this actually happened to him or is it a theoretical topic of discussion? If it happened, then he had no business being 500 miles offshore without knowing the location of every through-hull. This also is an indication that some, if not all, have never been serviced or checked. This knowledge would be the difference between sinking or saving the boat. Good luck and safe sailing.