Water where it’s not supposed to be

Bag Harbour, Haida Gwaii, 6-JUN-2018 – It’s been raining in Haida Gwaii. As far as I can tell that’s all it does. The wind is variable: it might be good sailing wind, or 40-50 knots, which sends us and every other boat to find a safe harbor and hunker down. While in the safe harbor we use the dinghy when there are breaks in the wind.

When we first bought Caro Babbo I hadn’t considered a water maker. All the books and long-distance sailors I’d read talked about two things: a mister for rinsing after washing in salt water (everyone washed in their cockpits after stripping off their shorts or bathing suits – they don’t sail the waters we sail in*), and collecting rain water.

Looking at Caro Babbo, I found a water run that channels the water from her flush deck alongside the cockpit. In a good rain it is quite river. By blocking the depression in the combing where the water flows over the side I could channel that fresh rain water into the water tank and bladder on the port side.

After buying the water maker I had completely forgotten about all of this.

After a month in Haida Gwaii’s rain, I learned that solar panels were not going to drive the water maker and when we do move, we sail – so no power from the engine. (A tow-generator is under consideration.)

While Jennifer slept one morning, I listened to the drumming rain and remembered the water collection scheme. I decided to revisit this plan and perhaps implement it in Juneau while Jennifer is in Atlanta, and write a blog piece about it.

I needed a picture to supplement the blog piece.

I climbed into the cockpit with my phone as a camera and shot a few pics. Then, I checked on the Portland Pudgy dinghy, Hilary Hoffmann, and found it upside down and submerged floating with only the keel above the water, supported by the foam in the bottom of the hull: THE WATER TIGHT COMPARTMENTS WERE COMPLETELY FULL OF WATER.

This is our life raft, it is not supposed to sink.

If you have been following this year’s blog stream, you know that it is the season of leaks.

Flipping didn’t concern me as much as the watertight compartments filling. It has been blowing 20 knots with 40 knots in gusts alternating 90 degrees between Southeast and Southwest. But sinking?

We called the Portland Pudgy people on the sat phone – we’re getting our monies worth from Iridium. Debby, who answered the phone, wasn’t going anywhere near this and asked me to call back in two hours when Dave returned.

Once on the phone it became clear that Dave is an engineer not a sales and marketing guy, nor a customer support person. He did little in the beginning to calm me other than to tell me that this shouldn’t have happened.

Over the course of a bunch of phone calls, which included reading the HIN (Hull Identification Number) to him, Dave told me that the O-rings he gets with the watertight hatch covers are too hard and will leak. They now make their own. He’d send me a set for free.

I, also, needed also be sure that the covers are attached properly.

By the next day I figured out that if the towing bridle was pulled hard at 90-degrees to the length of the dinghy. The downward force from the far-side attachment point might dip that side’s gunwale.

How was the water getting into the dinghy? When we put the boat upside down on the deck, water dripped at a steady rate out of the stern watertight hatch that I open and close whenever I retrieve and stow the oars. That’s how the water was leaking in. The new O-rings should fix this.

We stowed the oars under the seat, when we left the tied to Caro Babbo overnight. When the dinghy flipped upside down, the oars floated away.

To make a perfect trifecta, when the dinghy was tied along side two days later, our holding tank overflowed effluent through the vent directly into the dinghy.

Portland Pudgy is shipping the deep lee boards, the oars, O-rings and gaskets to Ketchikan. The parts are $318, shipping, $108.

Using the dinghy with only the outboard scares the willies out of me. If the engine dies there’s no way to get to shore or back to Caro Babbo. So, we’ve only done it twice, both times when people were around watching us.

Has my faith in the Pudgy disappeared? No. Dave pointed out that if this had been an inflatable life raft in 40 knot gusts it would be airborne if no one was inside. And, I have read, there is close to 30% chance an inflatable life raft won’t inflate.

We’ve learned that the Pudgy isn’t invincible and needs inspection and maintenance. Dave suggested putting four or five inches of water into the watertight compartment, turning the dinghy over and looking for places where water comes out of the boat, then sealing or repairing any leaks that I find.

It is the trip of water: rainwater, fresh, salt, water-maker water, and black water.

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* The same thing apparently from the northern European and Scandinavian sailors I correspond with who want to know why we don’t shower in the cockpit. A picture on floating ice next to the boat made the point, but a family that wanted to trade boats with us rescinded their offer.