Before the Rumors Start Flying

[Carl Thunberg]

Jack (SeaBelle) drew my attention to this article in the paper this morning concerning my wife and children aboard Leona Pearl. The newspaper has most of the essential facts wrong. Yes the boat had about 4 inches of water over the cabin sole and yes, she did call the Coast Guard and they were escorted into South Portland. All that is true.

The source of water was from a ruptured 40-gallon water tank, so the boat did not take on water. The water came from inside the boat. At no time was anyone in danger. Marcia did everything right given her knowledge at the time and given that she had children on-board.

I have to say the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Flying Fish responded immediately. They were on-scene within ten minutes, which is pretty remarkable since she was well off-shore when she radioed them. The crew were extremely professional and they were especially good with our children. Our dinghy now sports a very nice sticker with the Flying Fish logo. Of course while they were on-board, we were also treated to a vessel safety check which Leona Pearl passed with flying colors.

Anyway, here's the link to the article. Thanks for letting me know, Jack.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /850099402

[Warren Kaplan]

Glad the family and the boat are okay. Fear not about the article in the paper. With the 24 hour news cycle and the short attention span of the general public the whole incident is out of the minds of everyone except those actually involved!

Now...ahem...for the important thing! Whaddaya' gonna do about the water tank!!!!!!!!!

[SeaBelle]

"The operator did an excellent job reporting her vessel in distress and getting everyone to put on their life jackets," said Lt. Lisa Tinker, the command duty officer at Coast Guard Sector Northern New England in a press release. "She had the four pieces of information that we look for when responding to a search and rescue case: the vessel's position, the nature of distress, the number of people on board, and the vessel's description." - Coast Guard Report

[Neil Gordon]

Yes the boat had about 4 inches of water over the cabin sole ...

Countless threads here on leaks of various sorts suggest that you taste the water to help identify the source of the leak. (Sniff first, just in case the leak is from the holding tank!)

"Salty" indicates that the ocean isn't staying on the outside where it belongs; "fresh" suggests either rain water or, as Marcia experienced, an internal water tank; "essence of single malt" suggests you have a real emergency.

[David van den Burgh]

Yes the boat had about 4 inches of water over the cabin sole ...

Countless threads here on leaks of various sorts suggest that you taste the water to help identify the source of the leak. (Sniff first, just in case the leak is from the holding tank!)

So, Neil, just curious to know if there's a SOP for Great Lakes sailors in a similar situation? I get the sniffing part to rule out the holding tank, but what's next? Have you given it any thought?

With the deep bilges characteristic of Cape Dorys, I'd say four inches over the cabin sole is rather alarming. Especially with kids aboard. Sure hope I'd think to taste the water.

[CruiseAlong]

That it was not as bad as suggested by the front page of the CG Web Site. I thought it looked like a CD next to the cutter. Thanks for lettingus know everything worked out ok.

[Dave H]

I was onboard a '75 CD 25 when the owner noticed water about ankle deep on the cabin floor. We started manual pumping. It turned out to be that we had broken the plastic thru hull fitting for the manual bilge pump in the starboard lazarette while jostling stuff around in there to get the PFDs out. We were ok on starboard tack, but but when we came over to port tack, the heeling motion put the through hull below the water. The pumping we were doing was of no use. So I concluded that when there's water in the wrong place, the first thing is to locate the source. I prefer bronze through hull fittings.

[Carl Thunberg]

Somehow I knew there would be some Monday morning quarterbacking on this one. The Captain of the vessel knows all this and the source of the water was identified very quickly by the CG engineers who boarded the vessel. Out of deference to the children who were freaking out, she chose to be escorted into South Portland. That's a Captain's decision. So she lost a day. No big deal in the overall scheme of things. Had it only been adults on-board, the USCG would never have been hailed. The stakes are much higher when you have children on-board.

I fully support the decisions that were made. My issue is with the press who were looking for a more sexy story to print and didn't bother to check if they had their facts straight.

Warren - I now have lots of room for storage. Two water tanks last me almost a full season since I use the water VERY sparingly for a quick rinse of the dishes only. So, if I'm down one tank I'll just fill it more often. Fortunately, it's the starboard side tank that's on the same side as the battery bank, so the boat lists slightly to starboard anyway. This may balance the boat better. I'm thinking some pullout drawers could store all of our clothing for a couple weeks. Hhhmmm. Lots of possibilities.

[S/V Necessity]

Carl,
Both my tanks are out right now, and I intend to check them over carefully before re-installing them. But I was wondering how your tank failed, and if you think it's anything others should be concerned about. Is there anything in particular I should be giving extra scrutiny to? Many of us are sporting plastic tanks that are getting up there in years!

[Carl Thunberg]

This is real-time information while we're under way. We still have two weeks left of cruising. Since I need to disassemble the starboard side settee to take a look at it, I really won't know until the end of the season. Unless it's a gaping hole, I probably won't be able to see much using a mirror from inside the tank.

[Steve Laume]

You can check the fittings on both sides of the tank without taking anything apart. There is an inspection cover on the aft/active end of the tank. You can see the plugged fittings on the forward end from inside the little stowage area near the cabin sole. The reason I am mentioning this is that I had a hose come off shortly after I bought my boat. Last year I had a small fresh water leak in that little locker I thought was coming in from on deck somewhere. When I investigated I found that the unused vent fitting had snapped off. I was trying to think of all sorts of ways to fix it. Nothing likes to stick to that stuff and there was not much material to tap into. I finally came up with the bright idea of just sticking one of those little 1/2" rubber plugs in there. It was a tight fit and worked great. I keep a spare on the boat to ward off future problems. It sounds more like the drain fitting might have let go on your tank but I would bet the trouble lies with one of them. The tanks don't seem to split open but those plastic welds can be a problem.

Great job handling the situation and I am glad the problem turned out to be rather minor, Steve.

[Ed Haley]

Fortunately, it's the starboard side tank that's on the same side as the battery bank, so the boat lists slightly to starboard anyway.

To balance the port list caused by filling the port water tank (Starboard left empty) we would fill the starboard refer with enough beer to balance the trim. It seemed the water level dropped at the same rate as the beer ;o))

We also used the bow storage for beer, wine and spirit storage and to counter the weight (from me) at the helm.

Marcia did what most of us would do - think of the kids first and do what would ensure their safety. Then look for the source of the problem. It's like calling the fire department first before trying to put out a fire no matter how small the fire appears to be.

[M. R. Bober]

Carl,
It was a good call. Water over the sole is scary stuff. Glad to hear that the crew and vessel are doing well.

Every best wish,

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster (Where we are so laid back, that we do our "Monday morning quarterbacking on Thursday), VA

[Dick Kobayashi]

As the only member of the CD crowd who has previously has an accident covered by FDD of Dover, NH (August 1962 - if you can take in the date - NO it is not 1962 BC)). I can assure you that the overly dramatized coverage then as now is a consequence of running a newspaper in an area where there is not enough news to fill the a weekly paper, let alone a daily.

Not that much changes, Carl. and pleased that all the Ts are all well credited by the CG

[Bob Emmons]

Hello all,
I did experience a failure in my waste holding tank about 4 years ago, and unfortunately I did the taste check immediatley as any prudent sailor would......my wife now hesitates to kiss me anymore......anyhow Carl, my tank ruptured at a the seam between the side and top panel. I found that it could be repaired with a special high density poly welding kit. I rented the tool and plastic material and welded the seam as good as new! If you have this situation, get in touch with me and I will forward all the details when I get home.
Bob