Good job Mitch. After servicing my own through-hulls for the first time this spring, I gave a lot of preemptive thought to how I would handle the sort of leak you describe. My plan was going to involve a wetsuit (and a tapered wood plug from the outside, then waiting a few hours for it to swell up & totally seal the intake-- though this would not work on the engine, which has a strainer over the intake...) So I'm glad to hear it's much simpler than I thought.
Glad also to hear that Pilgrim is in the drink! I assume you're hanging at the East End? Sandra Lee is up in Falmouth. Let's have a mini CD regatta one of these days!
-Dan
In water seacock maintenance
Moderator: Jim Walsh
Hi Dan -
Yes, its good to be floating again. We will have our first sail of the season this evening when we plan to deliver Pilgrim from Freeport to her mooring in Portland. Yeah baby, we are back in business! I'll be keeping an eye out for Sandra Lee this summer. It would be great to get together on the water instead of standing around in a boatyard.
I think there are enough Cape Dorys in Casco Bay that we could have a really great raft up. Unfortunately we won't be able to attend any of the Maine Cruise events due to some crazy scheduling, but I'd love to get the local CD fleet together some weekend for an evening and maybe some racing! Any interest? There are just a ton of local CDs listed in the registry and with the help of this board I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to pull a bunch together.
Yes, its good to be floating again. We will have our first sail of the season this evening when we plan to deliver Pilgrim from Freeport to her mooring in Portland. Yeah baby, we are back in business! I'll be keeping an eye out for Sandra Lee this summer. It would be great to get together on the water instead of standing around in a boatyard.
I think there are enough Cape Dorys in Casco Bay that we could have a really great raft up. Unfortunately we won't be able to attend any of the Maine Cruise events due to some crazy scheduling, but I'd love to get the local CD fleet together some weekend for an evening and maybe some racing! Any interest? There are just a ton of local CDs listed in the registry and with the help of this board I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to pull a bunch together.
plunger action
Re Captain Vigor's plunger hypothesis: I've heard of sailors using the cover of darkness to swim up and attach a plumber's plunger below water to the hull of a competitor's boat the night before a race. But success (or failure, depending on perspective) would depend on the plunger making a tight seal with the hull. Any water (or air) leaking into the inside of the bell-shaped rubber portion of the plunger would eventually eliminate the pressure differential created when the plunger was pushed in and the plunger would fall off.
It seems that even if the plunger stayed in place when attached over a through-hull---wouldn't happen unless the seacock was 100% water tight---it would pop right off the moment the sea cock was opened or the barrel removed. This could prove to be a most awkward moment.
Maybe this could be a job for "Mythbusters" on the Discover channel.
It seems that even if the plunger stayed in place when attached over a through-hull---wouldn't happen unless the seacock was 100% water tight---it would pop right off the moment the sea cock was opened or the barrel removed. This could prove to be a most awkward moment.
Maybe this could be a job for "Mythbusters" on the Discover channel.