I owe the yard guy at Shotley a bottle of decent single malt!

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Phone call at lunchtime..... "Hello... I think your boat is sinking!"

Eek....

Guy in the yard spotted that she looked a little bit stern down.. and took the time to have a quick peek through a porthole..

They immediately got on board and thankfully, water level had only made it to the sole boards.... engine almost completely submerged though..

So, they got a pump on board.... I rapidly cancel afternoon meetings and jump in the car....

By the time I get there 2 hours later, they've already pumped her dry, whipped the injectors out and emptied some water from the cylinders, flushed the starter and alternator with fresh water, and have her running happily....

They'll also do a couple of oil changes tomorrow, and also a precautionary change of the gearbox oil.... as well as let her run for long enough to dry out properly.

And the cause?... my fault really.... a pipe failed to the aft heads, and i'd failed to close the seacock.... normally something i'm fastidious about, but missed this one when doing my rounds upon leaving, instead closing a no longer used one by mistake.... whoops.

It appears that we've been very very very lucky.... due to the yard guys being observant, very deep bilges, and Shotley's quick and effective action.

We'll see how starter and alternator fair, but its not the end of the world to replace them if I need to over the winter... (viva la simple non electronic engine!)

By the time I left at 16:00 you'd have never known it had happened.

So that'll be a bottle of good stuff then!

 

[MoodySabre]

Blimey - I should think you need a bottle too after a scare like that!"

Top marks to Shotley. Good job you have a berth where they can see the boat.

I have a seacock left open because if feels like it might stop working and I don't want it to pack up shut. No I'm not going to worry about. No. Honest. Really. No. The pipe is only a year old. No I'm not. Damn.

 

[ChattingLil]

well that's a bit of a "good news/bad news" story. Good turnout.

 

[Koeketiene]

Oh - F-C-U-K

 

[CliveG]

Well done indead to the chaps at Shotley.

You nearly joined my club then Neil.
Very glad the you didn't.

A good bottle is defianatly needed for them and one for your self to calm the nerves.

 

[FullCircle]

The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban is very good value at the moment, and a fruitsome flavour, probably much beloved by observant yard guys.....



Amazing it didnt go while we were at sea....

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Amazing it didnt go while we were at sea....

My thoughts exactly... glad it didn't though!!!!!!

 

[FullCircle]

Oh - F-C-U-K

FC International if you please......

 

[pyrojames]

Don't you just love the challenge of a new boat! :/

 

[LittleSister]

I wondered what was going on as I passed to lock out about 4 this afternoon - your engine at full chat in gear while tied up.

Glad you've avoided catastrophe. Hope all gets sorted out OK.

 

[Sixpence]

Well done Shotley, lucky she was moored where she was though. They may not have noticed on the other mooring in time to do anything. Did you get them to turn her round for you while they were at it ?, reversing out of there looks like it could be fun

 

[Jomo]

Top smarty points to the guys at Shotley. Very impressive taking ownership of a problem. Be nice if I could get some of the people at work to do the same.

Definately a bottle owed

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I wondered what was going on as I passed to lock out about 4 this afternoon - your engine at full chat in gear while tied up.

Glad you've avoided catastrophe. Hope all gets sorted out OK.

Ah, that was you!

Did you notice that we knocked her into neutral for you so that you didnt get pushed about as you passed our stern?

 

[Leighb]

Well done Shotley.

Shows again that closing seacocks is a good idea, although from past threads on the forum there are lots of folk who think it is a waste of time.

A fellow club member a year or so ago had a similar experience, he happened to go on board to get something when he was at the club and found the floor awash. Another few hours and serious damage would have been done.

The cause in this case was open seacocks and siphoning from the heads, no anti siphon valve had been fitted. He said he had never closed the heads seacocks as they were difficult to access.

We always close all ours when leaving the boat and when at sea, except the cockpit drains of course.

 

[Elemental]

Phone call at lunchtime..... "Hello... I think your boat is sinking!"

Blimey! Glad I'm in there. Sounds like they really got to grips with it for you.

And the cause?... my fault really.... a pipe failed to the aft heads, and i'd failed to close the seacock....

There but for the grace of god...

One thing I often wonder about though. How/why does a pipe spontaneously fail? I mean, if the boat's moving there's vibration, flexing, pressure shocks etc. But when she's just lying in the marina, what can cause a pipe to just start leaking?

 

[davidfox]

She looked ok to me on Sunday, I had a bit of a nose around (not on board) on Saturday and she looked the same on Sunday, but i had not seen her before so if she was a bit low on her marks, i wouldnt have really known, she didnt appear to be down by the stern or I think i would have noticed, I am normally quite observant regarding these things.
Glad you got it when you did and no real harm done.

 

[Sixpence]

But when she's just lying in the marina, what can cause a pipe to just start leaking?

If you leave an old hose pipe in the garden with the tap turned on and a nozzle on the end which is closed you get a constant pressure inside the hose, not a problem usually for a good new pipe, but as the hose ages it gets weakened to the point where it can't hold the pressure any more and splits. Same in this scenario as the weight of the boat causes the water pressure inside to pipe to increase against a heads acting as a nozzle. Hence why Neil is normally very wary of this happening and this must be a first for him, don't think I've ever seen him leave his boat without isolating everything that should be isolated.
Once he's over the shock of this happening though, he's probably going to be ribbed about it as much as Roger does for running aground at the worst possible time

 

[CliveG]

If Once he's over the shock of this happening though, he's probably going to be ribbed about it as much as Roger does for running aground at the worst possible time

Yes I recognise that following our submarine adventure.

 

[LittleSister]

Ah, that was you!

Did you notice that we knocked her into neutral for you so that you didnt get pushed about as you passed our stern?

No, I'm afraid I didn't, though I did notice that I wasn't pushed to port as much as I feared. Thank you all the same - that was thoughtful of you.

 

[Amulet]

Coolant seacock on Amulet has much corrosion and made horrible graunching noises when I closed it at the weekend. I was seriously frightened the whole thing was going to fall to bits and flood the boat. Me stuck in Germany - after your story I'd be worrying myself sick. However, via email, I already got Kings at Pin Mill to take her out and look into it.

Boy am I glad that ignored what was going on at my meeting and typed that email instead.

As above, all praise to the Shotloids - and Kings didn't do me bad either.

Might even get a sail at the weekend.