I feel your pain brother. The same line on my
2GM let go 10 years ago, but I was incredibly lucky. I had motored against strong winds into the narrow river entrance of a first-time-visit harbou,r at the end of an exhausting 40 hour solo
passage (strong winds, lots of ships etc). The following morning I just happened to check the
bilge and found it black with engine oil. The level on the sump dip-stick was just below the lowest mark, and when I traced the leak and removed the offending line, the middle section fell apart in my hands. I reckon I made it in with minutes to spare!
But there's more: it was
Christmas, with no chance of getting a replacement delivered for a couple of weeks, but one of the locals who stopped to chat on the wharf just happened to be the guy who serviced the
fishing fleet. He took the bits home and made me a new line for 50 bucks, and I installed it, topped up the engine then cleaned out the
bilge that afternoon. I was incredibly lucky, sorry yours was such a painful experience.
Cheers, Graeme