All bunged up

Daydream believer said:
carefull-- dancrane suggested that & was nearly hung drawn & quartered
Dans posts
Click to expand...
I wouldn't presume to imagine anything concerning anybody else's SWMBO. I was picturing the chaos that might be on board my boat, and how my SWMBO will happily tear around the countryside aboard 600kg of wilful equine muscle, but believes the numbers on the Beaufort scale to be the number of reefs required for the forecasted wind strength.

edit: I've just looked at those posts. Can i point out my Partner is much more highly educated than me, much further along a better career path than me and rarely turns in a less than sterling performance whatever she chooses to undertake. she liked boating when we had very stable and predictable Mobos. The move to sailpower she finds disconcerting because of my inexperience and sailing ineptitude, when as skipper I am meant to be clearly in control of our safety.
 
Last edited:
Daydream believer said:
Bash it in with something heavy ( it is tapered for a reason)& provided you have kept it reasonably dry & not let it float in the bilges the wood will swell a bit & it will grip
I cannot imagine what your "personal experience" was ( what were you doing playing with tapered bungs, the mind boggles!!) , but I am sure that the forum would appreciate a good laugh on this cold day, so come on - spill the beans :D
Click to expand...
At the time I was in the early stages of converting an old 60' wooden Scottish fishing boat. She was afloat in a non tidal dock. I had stripped out everything, and she was just a bare shell. Her propeller was off, and someone had offered to make me a new 3.5" stainless steel propeller shaft to replace the existing bronze one. I needed to get the shaft out to get its dimensions.

I made a long softwood plug of the correct size. Rigged up a set of rope blocks to manage the considerable weight of the shaft. Had a 7lb mash hammer to hand. Slackened off the gland, and took out the packing, and drew the shaft inboard. Even although there's not a great deal of pressure involved, it's amazing just how much water comes in through a 3.5" hole. After a brief delay, while an extra unexpected ring of packing was removed, I put in the wooden plug, and knocked in in with the hammer.
I didn't even have time to heave a sigh of relief, before the plug shot out (well, in really), and I had to chase after it. I finished up sitting in the water, holding the plug in place with my feet. Eventually,with the aid of a jack and some shoring, it was secure, and indeed was in place for some months. I was wet and embarrassed. I never got the offered stainless shaft, and I expect the bronze one is still in.
There, did that give you a good laugh?
 
penfold said:
Not having ever actually tried to do it that's fair enough, but I'm sure the industrial chemists could rustle up an aerosol foam that didn't need air and moisture; in extremis it would be possible to have two part foam in a canister, although that would obviously have cost implications.
Click to expand...

Never used the stuff but the aerosol used to pump up car tyres does a similar job does it not?

Ink
 
Dellquay13 said:
I wouldn't presume to imagine anything concerning anybody else's SWMBO. I was picturing the chaos that might be on board my boat, and how my SWMBO will happily tear around the countryside aboard 600kg of wilful equine muscle, but believes the numbers on the Beaufort scale to be the number of reefs required for the forecasted wind strength.

edit: I've just looked at those posts. Can i point out my Partner is much more highly educated than me, much further along a better career path than me and rarely turns in a less than sterling performance whatever she chooses to undertake. she liked boating when we had very stable and predictable Mobos. The move to sailpower she finds disconcerting because of my inexperience and sailing ineptitude, when as skipper I am meant to be clearly in control of our safety.
Click to expand...
Make her the skipper? ?
 
Dellquay13 said:
Deep down in the bilges I've got a bag of wooden bungs. they came free with the Foxhound 24, along with a sackful of questions and a full manifest of lessons yet to be learned.
Never having had a boat with openings below the waterline before ( mobos with foam filled hulls only) I always thought that the likelihood of suffering a perfectly round underwater puncture a bit farcical, but now I've heard that the tapered bungs are for seacocks or other round pre installed holes, not accidental ones.

my question is how do you decide which size you diligently store next to each seacock/ hole in the boat? The one that would plug up the barbed hose fitting, or one that would plug some kind of unknown disintegrating fitting disaster? Or one that would involve going overboard and knocking it into the outside of the skin fitting?

TIA...
Click to expand...
You may like to consider this stuff Dammit Putty | Leak Repair & Sealing Putty - BseenBsafe

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
I have a squishy foam cone bung about 3inches accros at base to 1 inch at tip. It is meant to squish into variable shaped holes, though i believe any bung that will fit its tip through the hole can be banged in with great big hammer in order to fill more or even all of said hole.

For splits you are stuffed however
 
prv said:
If you haven't already it's worth watching the Crash Test Boat video on hull damage. Their surprise conclusion was that for an initial "first aid" patch the best solution was to put a cushion over the hole and stand on it. They had a slight delay in filming, and to slow down the water one of the crew picked up a cushion that happened to be lying around - and it worked better than most of what they had planned.
Click to expand...

Does this mean that all the scatter cushions that SWMBO insists on in the saloon are now essential safety equipment...
 
Sandy said:
I carry a putty like material that can be molded into any shape.
Click to expand...
If that works as well as the Talamex putty I used to patch up some minor exterior hull damage then good luck ? 10 minutes moulding/mixing then trying to separate the bloody stuff from your fingers then trying to convince it to stick to the boat rather than your hand. 50% sets and you get to play again at the next low water. In case of emergency hit the red button, throw the bloody putty at the ship's cat and abandon ship ?
 
I have always thought those tapered wooden bungs utterly pointless. Why would a seacock break off inside the boat? Because is has rotted? But people fastidious (obsessive?) enough to attach bungs to seacocks with string are surely fastidious enough to ensure they maintain their seacocks?
As for putty/polybags to seal splits in the hull, having done the RN damage control course and seen how hard it is to staunch a leak in a nice rigid steel hull even with plenty of manpower and all the necessary equipment that is never found on a yacht I cannot imagine being successful in bunging a leak in floppy smashed fibreglass.
A cushion might work if the hole is small and not far below the waterline but how are you going to keep it there? With your legs? How long to you propose to keep that up? Who's driving the boat to safety then? But a bigger hole and a foot below the waterline - forget it.

Patching the outside is ideal but nothing sticks to the thinnest layer of slime...

I'm not at all convinced there is a viable solution to a plan for a holed GRP boat.
 
If you are going to have a wooden bung tied to each seacock with a bit of string, ought not you also have a knife attached to each seacock with which to cut the string? And a mallet to drive in the bung?
:rolleyes:
 
Little Dorrit said:
I have never understood how a wooden bung would work but managed to find this online Flooding Control Brochure

I have naively imagined an umbrella style contraption might work but have not got the funds or skills to develop such a piece of equipment.
Click to expand...
Wasn't there something of that description on the market, called a "subrella"? I've just had a quick search and nothing comes up, though.
 
Slowboat35 said:
As for putty/polybags to seal splits in the hull, having done the RN damage control course and seen how hard it is to staunch a leak in a nice rigid steel hull even with plenty of manpower and all the necessary equipment that is never found on a yacht I cannot imagine being successful in bunging a leak in floppy smashed fibreglass.
Click to expand...
The big wobbly box is fun, although the shouty men running it are a bit sadistic. My team sank I think, it was all a bit of a (damp) blur.
 
They made a mistake in putting a team of submariners in the wobbly box. They got very shouty as they didn’t understand our objective was to see how fast we could capsize or sink it!The funniest part was our shortest member (for some reason called stumpy) floating around helplessly unable to touch the bottom.
 
I wonder whether something like these soft rubber wall plugs would do, but on a much larger scale. Obviously only suitable for round holes such as left by a broken seacock or other skin fitting.


1635243607003.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top