6 months in a leaky boat

11/10/2016  Airlie

 Back in Airlie beach, reprovisioning, refuelling, re-watering in readiness for a suitable weather window to begin the return journey south.  Looking out over the anchorage, it’s apparent that the itinerant cruising fleet is thinning out as more boats leave.

The decision for me is beginning to take shape, as they tend to do. Shanti has developed a couple of nasty little leaks.  One is finding its exit through the vent above the stove, making cooking impossible during rain.  As with all leaks, it’s never easy to know exactly where the point of ingress is, other than to say it begins somewhere above deck and makes its way through the internal head lining (ceiling).  It could be coming in through the deck organiser (a group of turning blocks which ropes run through). 

 

 

Unfortunately there is no access panel to get at the nuts or backing plate or whatever is on the other side of the bolts.  One will need to be cut into the moulded fibreglass ceiling, just forward of the light fitting.

 

(Note the picture of "The Africa of Emanuel Bowen 1747" - a daily reminder to me of my dreams).

 

The other leak is more serious, in that it has the potential to sink the boat.  Again, it isn’t clear exactly where the seawater is entering the hull, but it is leaking into the stern locker at a rate of around 2-3 litres a day.  I first became aware of this problem while on anchor during a choppy northerly blow at Airlie. Shanti was not the only boat hobby-horsing violently, at times almost dipping her bow under the cresting waves.  The shallow anchorage is renowned for this, making it a very uncomfortable place to be.  The pumping action must have increased the flow of water at the stern, spreading it to other areas below the engine and floorboards.  The engine battery was half under water, which could have been a total disaster had it shorted.

I had been denied entry into the Abell Point Marina, due to not having salvage cover on my insurance with Norhern Reef/Edward William, so had to take out another policy with an acceptable company (You-i) and then almost beg admission into the calm sanctuary.  Once inside, I bailed out, mopped up and laid paper towels to find the leaks.  I discovered one of the through hull fittings from the cockpit drain holes was leaking.  Also there was a fine crack in the fibreglass just in front of the rudder post, through which I could see water seeping in.  As a temporary measure, I  taped the rudder post and pumped in a couple of tubes of mastic sealant, but that only slowed things down a little.

 

Shanti will need to be hauled out for at least a week to make good these repairs.  The recommended place to do this is “Boatworks” on the Gold Coast.  So that is where I’m headed.

It’s a very good thing that I’m not discovering these problems half way across the Indian Ocean.

 Meanwhile my old dinghy finally gave up the struggle to hold body and floor together.  It has served for a few laughs, with me rowing and Misha bailing the short distances it was capable of. 

 

I was delighted to find a second hand, aluminium bottomed 2.4m replacement here at Airlie, personally delivered to me.  What a joy to be able to carry jerry cans of fuel, water, shopping etc and stay more or less dry.  I still haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to stow it, but the tubes deflate and are removable so it should be OK lashed on the foredeck.

 

And my brand new inflatable kayak got to see the water at last.  As my eldest daughter Pandora says: watercraft – too many is never enough!