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Well, this morning at 4am ish I was awakened by the sound of the bilge
pump... Not a good way to wake up. It gave me quite a scare. As it turns
out a pipe burst and over 100 Gallons of water went into the bilge. The
Bilge pump failed and would not pump and the battery box was full of water
to the top covering the batteries. Apparently there is no drain to the
battery box. I thnink they didn't want it to fill up if there was a hole
in the bilge. But this was filled from the top. The pipe was where a hose
was just clamped onto PEX with no fitting and only 1 clamp. So it just
came apart. We drained by drilling a hole, then siphoned, and then finally
sucked the last out with a wet dry vac. I was amazed the batteries didn't
short out but we still had power. I was a bit loath to put my hands in the
water. But we got it drained. Then we manually pumped out the bilge.
After that we re-filled the water tanks and turned on the pmup to find the
leak. High pressure water going everywhere. We could see it spraying but
couldn't find it till we took the floor out of the aft head cupboard. Then
we found the open hose and the pex going to the sink faucet. So looking
through the hardware store we carry with us I found a bunch of old adapters
and pieces of hose and pipe to hobble it together till I can get the
propper fittings. But at this point, though not pretty, it is secure.
We had previously known that the bilge pump might be going so today it will
be replacing a bilge pump. I think we're going to buy a new pump and then
rebuild the old one and keep it as a spare.
So all this during the storm and with Hannah and Mom coming this morning at
8am... Well, they are here now and we have had breakfast on Hannahs's cast
iron pans! With the water so high it was nearly impossible to get on and
off the boat. We are using one of our spare bumpbers as a step. My 84
year old mother just stepped on the spring line and climbed right up with
no help before we even put out the bumper.
Now the cat is a different thing. She is exploring every nook and cranny
of the boat and I'm afraid she's going to find a way into the bilge...
I know it doesn't show but the battery box is full of water and overflowing
Pex and Hose disconnected can you find it in the dark at 4am? Turn on the
water it helps!!
This should not be left like this... but it's solid.