We often describe sailing as hours of sheer boredom punctuated by moments of pure terror and that pretty much describes our last passage on Lake Erie. It was a short 4-5 hour transit from Dunkirk, NY to Buffalo, NY, about 32nm. There was virtually no wind, and so we would have to motor the whole way. Things were going pretty smoothly, until Nick went below after I relieved him at the helm. We were about 3 hours into the trip. He began his routine of checks, fuel, bilge, etc, and quickly shouted up for me to kill the engine. I had just heard him checking in the bilge, so I had a good guess that he was seeing water in the bilge. If he asked me to put the boat in neutral, I also suspected that he thought water was coming in from the prop shaft, or at least the back of the boat. Just writing these words gives me anxiety. Water coming into the boat from anywhere is a problem, water coming in from the propeller shaft can be a major problem. After stopping the boat and making sure we were clear from any traffic or hazards, I left the helm to find out what was going on and help troubleshoot. I immediately could see that the problem was water flowing in the bilge from aft of the companionway. I'd describe it as a babbling brook amount of water, which sounds so lovely and peaceful, but believe me, seeing this kind of water flowing in your boat is anything but peaceful! I asked 'prop shaft?', he said, 'not sure'. So I checked. It looked fine/dry. We have a dripleas system and the rotor was intact and properly positioned, set screws present. I have the shaft marked where the rotor was adjusted to and I could see that mark. We immediately both went to the master stateroom and removed the mattress to gain access to the rudder post and stuffing gland. It also looked fine. We then began going through underwater thru hulls (holes in the boat where water comes in for various reasons), looking for the source, and Nick found it! He went to look at a thru hull under the generator. This thru hull was fine, but when he opened up this area, he found a fresh water line that had become disconnected, resulting in all the fresh water from our water tank being pumped into our bilge. Normally, we'd hear this pump, but with the engine droning on, we did not. Turning off the fresh water pump immediately stopped the flow of fresh water. Fresh water from the tank isn't enough to sink the boat. We carry 140 gallons of fresh water.
The good news in this little heart-stopping experience was that we now know that our diaphragmatic bilge pump can indeed keep up with our fresh water pump, because we had pumped out almost all the water in our tank into the lake. I wish I knew how long it had been going on, but regardless, the bilge was reasonably dry, considering the amount of water that must have been pumped into and out of it.
Once we knew the problem was under control, and so were our hearts, we carried on to Buffalo uneventfully. I'm proud of the way we handled this. Because we make these regular checks on shift changes, Nick was able to spot the problem. Because we know our boat, Nick was able to find the problem. We handled things calmly, and systematically, as a team. We knew where to look, we eliminated the biggest possible problems first and our thinking and diagnosing was aligned and methodical. We know the boat pretty well after all the work we've done on her and this was a situation where that paid off. For example, I had checked and applied lock tite to the set screws in the rotor of the dripless system and marked its location on the shaft before we left Chicago. That and my experience re-packing the rudder glandte 2 winters ago gave me the critical knowledge, information and confidence to know where to look and what to look for. This is why we have tried to either do work ourselves or at a minimum be involved with the work done.
As a side note, the problem could have been easier to diagnose if we were in salt water. A quick sniff or taste of it would have revealed the if it was coming from inside or outside the boat.
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