I'd get the boat lifted and onto dry land. Immediately, too risky relying on a plastic bag and a shore pump.We did manage to get there, we had a great journey over, feeling quite intrepid with our first proper journey.
However it all went pear shaped very quickly. We manage to get tied onto a buoy, another first for us, just as the bilge alarms starting going off! I opened the engine cover to discover water coming in from the back of the engine somewhere, space is really tight down there and it was difficult to see exactly where it was coming in.
Quick call to the guy who looks after our boat and he suggested calling the local boats to see if anyone could help. That sounded like a good first step, so feeling hopeful we made the call, but radio silence from the other boats. As the bilges were keeping up with pumping the water out he tentatively suggested driving back to Portals whilst it was still light.
With the wife monitoring the engine bay, we untied ourselves and started to head out, just as we left the channel both alarms started going off continuously, our daughter was crying, It didn’t feel sensible to carry on so we turned around. The wife got on the paddle board and went to the cafe to ask for help. The locals who run the place beckoned me over to the Quay and I moored alongside in shallow water in case the worse happened. Couple of the local guys jumped on board to investigate. They were brilliant, very helpful in trying to diagnose what was going on.
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They spent about 3 hours trying to stop the water, but to no avail. They set up an electric pump, hooked up to an extension lead from the shore. This way our bilges weren’t over run and the alarms stopped, at least the other boats would have a peaceful night. It was a long night, I stayed up until 4am monitoring it and then my wife took over, whilst our 9 year old was safely sleeping.
I was woken at 7am to the alarm bilge blaring out, the shore power generator had failed, but luckily came back on again quite quickly. Being a Saturday and in Cabrera it was impossible to get an engineer to visit, although I did I get a couple of helpful video calls with captains/engineers on other boats. The water was coming in faster now, not dripping but about the flow of a tap!
The rangers on the park wanted us off the site as it’s a nature reserve, plus they don’t have any facilities to help. Mike, who looks after our boat organised a salvage boat from Palma to come and rescue us. At least we had a plan!
Two guys arrived on a small boat.
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Thomas jumped straight onboard, dived into the engine room, contorted himself and popped out again. He’d found a hole somewhere in the back of the engine, he couldn’t see whether a pipe had popped off, but went off to get a cork.
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And then a hammer
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Thomas was brilliant, I asked if he was brought up on a farm as he seemed so handy at fixing things. No, was his reply, my Dad built a home made boat and aged 5 he took me around the world on it. They sailed around the world for all of his childhood, never went to school, but learned solutions to problems. Literally a one in a million guy.
Anyway the cork and the hammer fixed it, the leaking stopped…… but the relief was short lived a leak appeared somewhere else. Thomas scratched his head for a minute and said coincidences like this don’t happen, the leak must be coming in from the outside. He quickly put a mask on and jumped in.
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He popped out and declared that the bellows that connect the leg drive to the engine had partly slipped off. The boat would need to be lifted in order to fix it. As a temporary measure he thought a plastic bag might do the trick! He’d smear it in grease and stuff it into the gap and tape it up.
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This guy was a real life action man and a genius to boot! Unbelievably it did the trick, the full running tap turned into a slow drip. Apparently we were very lucky as if it had come off anymore it would have sunk our boat. All very frustrating as the boat has recently been out of the water for a full service. We decided that they would escort us back to Portals on one engine. The hydraulic steering wasn’t working as the pick up must be on the other engine. Docking it which I find stressful at the best of time was going to be a challenge. But I was so relieved to arrive, I docked it like a boss and to be honest by that stage I didn’t care!
Anyway quite an adventure, the marina are going to hook up a big pump dockside in case the plastic bag fails!
Everybody was so helpful and the guys in Cabrera wouldn’t take any money no matter how insistent I was. All in all a very emotional and humbling experience. (I wish I was Thomas)
A full tank! I’m so jealous
Yours could be too - once that leak is fixed!
