Be a seaman, not a headline.

[Dave Neptune]

Oh yeh!!!

Domenic, well said!

I've seen more than one boat go down because the operator(s) were more worried about getting help than getting the hole plugged. I actually saw a group abandon a 28_30 foot PB that hit the breakwater and holed just below the waterline. With the five of them on the port side the hole was above the water line and easily manageable. They shut the engines off and climbed on the first boat they could and watched the boat sink SLOWLY. A pillow or a towel would of done the trick.

Dave Neptune

[Mo]

A friend had a rough passage across NorthHumberland Straight around July 1st. That night his wife woke him "there's water in the boat". A thru hull had just fallen off, corroded, in a locker, nothing else in there to hit it....she calls 911, he goes looking for the leak and hits the pumps. He had a plug and hammer it in there...Coast Guard showed up but he was winning then...

A quote from him: "you wouldn't believe the water that will come in through one thru hull"

His pumps kept cutting in....found another one and when he touched it...let go and water was coming in again. Another plug...pulled the boat next morning and replaced both thr hulls in the bow.

Makes one wonder...

[Dave Neptune]

Dun't panik

Mo, we were anchored at Santa Barbara Island one night in an old 26' wooden gaffer. There were 2 thru hulls one for the cockpit and the other for what was the head which was plugged as my bud converted to a bucket, this was in the late 60's. The boat was equipped with a pot belly stove for cooking and warmth~really nice~ and one bunk. My buddy was sleeping in a bag on the bunk and I on the floorboards next to the stove. It was a rocky night and forward where the head WAS was now the anchor locker of which 3 were still stored and rattling away as we rolled around. Sometime around 2~3 in the am I woke up because I was getting wet. I yelled and grabbed a flashlight only to see an anchor sitting where the plug was and a nice stream of water gushing in. My buddy grabbed a tapered plug and immediately went over the side and found the hole as I was shinning the light on the HOLE. A couple of good smacks and we were OK with just a tiny dribble. We pumped her out with the Whale manual Gusher and once we figured the plug was OK we went back to try and sleep. In the am when the sun came up we removed the plug and reinserted it with a small towel wrapped around it from the outside. We could secure the towel from the inside with some line and sailed home the next day. We had to pump about every 5~6 hours to keep the water below the shallow boards~no worries. The boat was hauled 2 days after we got back so my bud could get a weekend rate to do his own repairs.
We didn't even get the wood for the stove wet so we warmed right up after tossing in a few pieces of oak.

Dave Neptune

[Mo]

Bill and Helen's Blog.... he told me the story last night below is a copy from their blog. Funnier with him telling it. LOL

http://helene8h.blogspot.ca/2013_07_01_archive.html

ok so sitting in Timmy's having coffee and relaxing to write this.

So we anchored at 11:30....and went to sleep. Bill mentioned that he heard the pump going on a lot but did not investigate.....we were really tired.

Just to help this ...the night before I had a dream that the water was in the boat and covered us in bed

2:30 a.m. I woke up. Pitch dark. I was cold and wanted my sweater. I heard water sloshing and it didn't sound normal. Grabbed my flashlight beside the bed and looked. our shoes were floating around in about 8" of water in our cabin.

Woke Bill really fast. After he said a few interesting words he got to the hand pump and started pumping....but the water was coming up faster than he could pump. I called 911. Got them and told them we were taking on water. They put me through to Coast Guard.

I tried to explain where we were. So they said they were coming to get us. Told me to get our life jackets on and have our small boat ready.

Woke up Matthew He kind of freaked out. Got him to climb over beds and put on his life jacket. and wait outside. I took over pumping and Bill went to look for the leak. By this time there is over a foot of water in the cabin. Bill found the leak and put in an emergency plug that we had on board. So now was a matter of pumping. He took over that and I went out and watched for the rescue boat.

I loosened the small rowboat on top just in case we had to get in it. Then watched for lights. After about 1/2 an hour the boat caught sight of us. And came over.

By this time Bill had most of the water pumped out. They called in and cancelled the helicopters.

For the record....if Bill had not found the leak, the boat would have sunk and we would have been sitting in our wee boat waiting for them

The other rescue boat came and once all the water was out they waited while we pulled anchor and started the motor...then the led us into the Charlottetown Harbour and got us tied up at the town wharf.

Phewwwww!!!!

As the Coastguards left they wished us a Happy Canada Day!!!!!

[sastanley]

Ok, you guys are making me feel a little better. One evening after sailing, I pulled the speedo paddle wheel, but inserted the plug backwards (unbeknownst to me until 4 days later when i visited the boat) and there was 6 inches of water in the boat.

This was prior to having an auto bilge pump switch...which incidentally has never come on by itself since.