-c1300 hrs, 276nm west of Peru-Chile border
A Point in Time
Off watch, sometime between napping and sleeping an unfamiliar alarm went off. A few moments wasted to make sure it wasn’t just in my head, and then more alarms. Something important was happening, urgency required. Nap done, now I’m very awake. Hearing the sound of rushing water inside the boat focuses one's attention.
More alarms. Jenn lifted the pilot house floorboards for a look into the main bilge. Water was cascading into the deep bilge from under one of the main freshwater tanks. We refer to this bilge as our basement. It houses not only two large water tanks but also three fuel tanks, six survival suits, dive gear, science equipment and anything else needing an easy home. It is big and deep.
I drop into the basement, throw suits, bags, wet gear up to Tess then reach down to taste a handful of incoming water. Happy news, it is fresh water. Now our concern isn’t so much about sinking but about losing our supply of fresh water.
Jenn checks the bilge switches and then wisely turns off the freshwater pump. Alarms stop, water flowing into the bilge stops, and the bilge pumps do their thing. After a few minutes the standing water in the bilge area is gone, alarms stay quiet and the puzzle of discovering the what/why of what just happened begins.
During the refit of One Ocean all the plumbing fixtures, hoses, connections and fittings were replaced. Oo isn’t a particularly complex boat but there are two marine heads, two ‘bathroom’ sinks, one wonderful shower stall with fixtures and drain, a double galley sink with separate fresh, salt or watermaker water faucets, two deck washdown spigots and, finally, a terrific fresh hot or cold water shower fixture on the swim deck. Our furnace provides heat to the interior and also heats all of our domestic hot water. This is way more than anyone really needs to know but I’m trying to make a point here. Snaking around many compartments from one end of the boat to the other - there are dozens of connections and hundreds of feet of hose. We have no quick idea of how many connections, or their locations, because they are hidden. All are potential suspects in this mystery.
Lucky for us, we just happened to be standing close to the outside hatch in the cockpit leading to the 'heater' room when Jon heard water running and opened the hatch to investigate. Bingo. The small pressure pump for the domestic fresh water lives just under the heater unit. The hose on the outlet side (pressure) was not attached to the pump, i.e. it came off, causing the pump to cycle continuously, pumping freshwater into the bilge. It is standard practice for all pressure and below waterline hoses to be double-clamped with proper sized hose clamps. This fitting only had one clamp, and that clearly wasn’t enough. No finger-pointing here, it could have been me forgetting the second clamp. This pump was moved a few times to make room to work on other equipment.
Everyone onboard should know where important things are stored. Hose clamps qualify as something which may be urgently needed, right along with tapered plugs (leak stoppers!), safety gear, etc. etc. Jenn and I packed the boat in Anacortes and attempted to put things where one would expect them to be. I carefully stored hose clamps – all of them – in one of those ‘obvious’ places, ready to present themselves when needed. You all know where I’m going with this. Two hours of increasingly frustrated looking and finally the bandolier of hose clamps appeared. In a plastic tote, at the bottom of a storage compartment, beneath three other containers was the “misc” container, home to no fewer than 56 stainless steel hose clamps of various sizes and quality. My bunk is on top of that storage area. Those clamps will now live in their own container underneath the chart table and right next to the emergency tapered plugs.
Hose reattached with double clamps, bilge pumped and cleaned, gear re-stowed while making miles toward Valparaiso. Thanks to my crewmates all is well with senses of humor intact. We should have stored the hose clamps in the snack or liquor cabinet.