Once upon a bilge pump…

Early morning view from the slip aboard Marguerite

The sights, sounds, and ingenuity that occur upon a sailboat is truly fascinating. Every night we spend upon our boat, (or any boat for that matter), is an absolute adventure. There are always the most interesting sounds one encounters, some of which are a bit unnerving until you determine what they are. Getting used to sounds like the tail of a carp slapping against the side of the hull while it slurps at any growth below the water line is a good one. (Scared me to death our first few nights aboard, until I saw one in action a few mornings later). Or the thump of a turtle shell against the bottom is another good one. Of course, the slapping of halyards against the mast is an old favorite as well. However, on really quite nights, I could occasionally hear our bilge pump humming away, and that was always a comfort. I had noticed early on that when my husband, (who’s a bit heavier than I am) sat on our starboard side, the bilge pump seemed to run more. I assumed that our boat was taking on water through some thru-hull and would simply ask him to move to port. At this time, I should probably point out that there is a great importance in observing and diagnosing the various boat sounds, and I had indeed diagnosed this one properly; the problem, however, was my solution. Rather than search out this thru-hull and determine why it would take on water, the obvious fix was to move the husband…problem sovled, right?

The sights aboard are also quite interesting. I am fortunate enough to always be looking the right direction to spot a beaver slapping his tail on the water before he dives, or a large mouth bass hit and roll at the top of the water. There are the most lovely, natural sights out on the water. And then some sights that are quite unnatural…like water on your cabin floor. Once, after a day of sailing, we came back into our slip and were tidying the cockpit and putting away sails, when I stepped into our boat and found that my fun little green shag carpet was a bit of a puddle. This is, obviously, NOT a good sight! Recognizing that we had healed over quite a bit to starboard as we sailed, I assumed it was the same pesky thru-hull problem, but couldn’t figure out why the bilge pump hadn’t resolved the issue. After a quick look at the batteries, my husband informed me that he had noticed the battery hooked to our solar panel was dead, so he had unhooked the solar panel to take a look at it. He had, however, neglected to disconnect the ONE OTHER THING that was operated by the now dead battery…our bilge pump. Once more, my diagnosis was correct. The problem was again a combination of some faulty thru-hull and my husband. (Bahaahaaa! Cracked myself up with that one.) And once again, my solution was lacking. We put the bilge pump on the working battery and I made my husband sit on the port side of the boat as I listened to the purr of the bilge pump and watched the water pump swiftly out of the cabin.

Then, a few Fridays ago, there came a combination of sight and sound that finally prompted an appropriate response from us. As we sat in the cockpit under moonlight, boat drinks in hand, with our good friend Matt, we recounted little adventures and humorous stories of our days on the water. I brought up how ridiculous it was for my husband to find a dead battery and leave our bilge pump hooked to it, (a favorite story of mine that gets just the right amount of smirk and eye-roll from my husband). As I stepped into the cabin to grab another drink I felt my foot slip into the plusher-than-usual green shag carpet and realized that there was a bit of a sloshy sound that accompanied it. I looked down and saw that dreaded sight…again…water on my cabin sole. And it was accompanied by the sound, (or lack of sound), that I find equally dreadful; the lack of the bilge pump purr. My first thought was, “Good one, Lord. Don’t make fun of my husband in front of his friends. Noted.” The second thought was uttered aloud, “UGH! MOVE TO THE PORT SIDE! THE BILGE PUMP ISN’T WORKING!” Naturally, ignoring my “move to port” suggestion, my husband came into the cabin as I lifted the shag rug out to Matt so that we could all easily see the water pouring into the cabin from our bilge access.

Now, I really do enjoy discovering the origin of the sights and sounds we experience on our boat, but for whatever reason, it was tonight’s combination of sight and sound that finally prompted me to a proper response…”Where’s that friggin thru-hull!?!?” FINALLY, I went through our cockpit locker down into the bilge and discovered several issues. One, our thru-hull was actually connected to a hose that was supposed to drain our sink out to open water. Instead, the hose had busted from the sink drain, and because there was no check valve on the line, every time the thru-hull was far enough below the water line, water came through the hose and emptied right onto the bottom of the hull. Secondly, when I had secured the hose in an upright position, there was a significant amount of water in the bilge and though our pump had power, it was not pumping out. No worries, we have a manual bilge pump…problem number three…the hose attached the the manual bilge pump was not actually long enough on one side to reach the bilge, nor long enough on the other side to reach out of the cockpit locker. Great.

Life-saving ingenuity 😉

But you know what? It actually was great. The ingenuity that took place on the parts of Matt and my husband at this point was a thing a beauty. I mean, move over great thinkers and inventors of our time! These two rank right alongside Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs…it’s amazing the problem-solving skills that come into play as your boat is sinking! Matt found a multitude of one and two foot hoses of multiple sizes, (I undoubtedly would have fussed at my husband for keeping these, but am glad that Matt did!), which Ray taped together to form two lines long enough to pump out most of our bilge. We had to borrow a kerosene pump to get the water out of the interior bilge as the hose still wasn’t long enough to access the lower cabin from our cockpit locker. But lastly…and perhaps my favorite, hence it’s picture above…Matt used duct tape and a sharpie to fashion a plug for our thru-hull to prevent water from pouring back in.

Today, we’re going to put our new bilge pump in. The wires had corroded on the old one, which we were able to fix, but then there must have been something jammed in the float and we couldn’t shut it off. (This time around, we’ll be hooking up the manual switch as well, something that the previous owner had neglected to do.) Last weekend, we went out and fixed the connection to the sink and plan to install a check valve on that line as well, so no more water pouring in when we tilt to starboard. Yay!

The sights and sounds on a boat can be wondrous and exciting, and sometimes, (when you get the right combination), even positively inspiring! This weekend, I’m looking forward to watching the baby turtles on the dock lines, feeding the ducks that are almost fully grown now, and listening to the silence of my cabin in the night…even if my husband is laying on the starboard side.

One of the baby turtles…Ethan thinks it’s his pet. 🙂

Peace and blessings,

Mindi