Question on fixing hull damage whilst underway.

[Gitane]

I am in the process of assembling the various tools, lotions and potions required to keep afloat and moving whilst underway to Baltimore and hopefully the Azores.

I do have a question.


Should my hull get holed below the water line, say I dumped into something at sea, what would be the best stuff to use to fix the hole and make the hull water tight again?

I am not talking about a very large hole, which will probably be pretty catastrophic, but a smallish puncture hole from say a log or floating piece of metal.

I have wooden plugs to plug the hole as well as floatation cushions which I can use to quickly place over the whole and then a broom handle broken to the right length to keep it in place. This should hopefully reduce the rate of water coming in to give me time to affect a repair.

But, does anyone know what I should carry to fill such a below the water line hole whilst at sea and working from within the hull? I would want to avoid having to dive overboard to do the fix if I can.

 

[GraemeS]

Two part epoxy putties will go off under water as they use chemical reaction. Products like CT1 will also go off under water. If you saturate some cloth in CT1 and wedge it over a hole as you described above using a wooden plug or a piece ply it should go off and stick very well. I would then drive a few self tapers in as well to be sure.

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Miliput seems to be the one to get. Good tip about CT1 over a cloth from Graeme as well.

 

[zoidberg]

The 'CT1 + dishtowel' has merits. Back that with a suitable piece of 6mm 'bendy ply', then a slightly smaller piece of 6mm ordinary plywood, then a wedge-prop such as a broom handle to hold it in place until back in port. Self-tapper screws would also help - you/we'd need to grind back the hull/gelcoat for permanent repair anyway.

 

[Gargleblaster]

I suggest you don't watch the movie 'All is Lost' with Robert Redford. Although I thought his attempt to fix his leak was very credible.

I have hit a lot of things in the water and not yet holed my boat. Lots of things go bump in the night. In 2018 I hit something while sitting on the heads that I later discovered stripped half the antifouling from my hull on the port side. Also got rid of a few gooseneck barnacles.

To wake up sleeping whales keep your echo sounder on. The problem is I can't remember whether it is the ones that broadcast at 150 Mhz or the ones that broadcast at 250Mhz that match one of the frequencies that whales receive.

 

[zoidberg]

To wake up sleeping whales keep your echo sounder on.

....Or you could play Led Zeppelin on-a-loop via a speaker taped against the lower hull. That'd quieten even the clicking shrimps.....

 

[PilotWolf]

Worst case scenario if joke isn’t too big an immediate emergency fix Is put a life jacket in the hole taking care of sharp edges and inflate.

I don’t do sailing boats but I believe healing the boat to get the hole out of the water is an option.

W

 

[Sandy]

I always have a tub of this onboard

Force 4 Stay Afloat Emergency Sealant 0.4kg | Force 4 Chandlery

Buys me a bit of time.

 

[RJJ]

In 2018 I hit something while sitting on the heads that I later discovered stripped half the antifouling from my hull on the port side.

That's quite a curry! How many Scovilles?

 

[Gargleblaster]

That's quite a curry! How many Scovilles?

I don't like to go above Naga Viper, otherwise it would stri[p the antifouling.

 

[john_morris_uk]

To wake up sleeping whales keep your echo sounder on. The problem is I can't remember whether it is the ones that broadcast at 150 Mhz or the ones that broadcast at 250Mhz that match one of the frequencies that whales receive.

I think you mean Khz unless whales like listening to the chat on channel 16 etc?

Ignoring my facile pedantry, is there any evidence whales really are deterred/affected by echo sounders?

 

[Gary Fox]

I think you mean Khz unless whales like listening to the chat on channel 16 etc?

Ignoring my facile pedantry, is there any evidence whales really are deterred/affected by echo sounders?

Greenpeace activists etc claim sonar decimates them , the US Navy says no it's not an issue, as you might expect!
I don't think anyone knows why they beach themselves..and any discussion escalates quickly..
We have all heard recordings of whale sounds, but playing them under way could backfire if the particular moans and squeaks don't mean, 'good morning', but instead mean, ' come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' in Whalish..
I would say, it can't do any harm to leave the sounder switched on, if you have enough electricities to do so.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Greenpeace activists etc claim sonar decimates them , the US Navy says no it's not an issue, as you might expect!
I don't think anyone knows why they beach themselves..and any discussion escalates quickly..
We have all heard recordings of whale sounds, but playing them under way could backfire if the particular moans and squeaks don't mean, 'good morning', but instead mean, ' come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' in Whalish..
I would say, it can't do any harm to leave the sounder switched on, if you have enough electricities to do so.

I agree and I think the juries out. I can't imagine the whales enjoying high power sonar, but the military rarely use such things as it's a bit of a give away as to where you are and makes you an easy target...
I've certainly heard rumblings from the Green lobby about noise pollution in the seas, but I thought that was from ship's propulsion systems as much as anything.
I haven't got the ability to turn our echo sounder off so it's a bit of a non question for us. I was asking out of interest.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Ignoring my facile pedantry, is there any evidence whales really are deterred/affected by echo sounders?

Some years ago at Angra in the Azores I was invited for drinks on board a German Electronics Engineers boat. He claimed that the echo sounder was enough to wake whales up as you approached them. I have seen no evidence either way but the little power an echo sounder uses seems to be to be worth it on the off chance. The only other electronics I run are a handheld GPS and my trilight at night. My solar panel has every thing charged up nicely by midday generally.

As for harming whales in 2018 on returning from the US I had a humpback playing around my boat for 3 hours an d 10 minutes, passing within 6cms of the hull. He didn't seem to be overly concerned about the pinging of my echo sounder. Maybe Sperm whales with their more sensitive receptors may be more affected but I have had them with me on many occassions intermitently for several hours ubt never closer than 50 metres. Maybe they like the ocmpany of the pinging.

 

[pandos]

Instead of selftappers I carry a fist of tecscrews usually used for roofing.

They have an 8mm hex head that go into magnetic holders they drill their own pilot hole and are very strong so would probably be very useful, in fixing a piece of plywood into place.

They come in many lengths so could allow a gradual closure of even a large hole.

Obviously sods law dictates that any hole will probably be in-accessable....

 

[Gary Fox]

Instead of selftappers I carry a fist of tecscrews usually used for roofing.

They have an 8mm hex head that go into magnetic holders they drill their own pilot hole and are very strong so would probably be very useful, in fixing a piece of plywood into place.

They come in many lengths so could allow a gradual closure of even a large hole.

Obviously sods law dictates that any hole will probably be in-accessable....

Inaccessible areas of the inside of the hull make me uneasy. Most yachts have them, but there is a wide range, from a sparsely fitted-out old Colchester smack, to the floating yuppie apartment type of a gin-palace.
Might I suggest that the forward parts of the hull are more likely to hit a floating treetrunk, or an awash shipping container, therefore they should be a higher priority for access than the ass end?
I like the sound of those screws.

 

[michael_w]

My father used to carry a fireman's axe on board just in case he needed to clear internal furniture to get at the hull. It was handy for beach barbecues too.

 

[zoidberg]

Instead of selftappers I carry a fist of tecscrews usually used for roofing.
They have an 8mm hex head that go into magnetic holders they drill their own pilot hole and are very strong so would probably be very useful, in fixing a piece of plywood into place.

I'm thinking that such 'self-drilling' screws could also be very useful for fastening in place emergency stormboards to close a smashed -in portlight in the aftermath of a knockdown.
They are available in stainless, apparently, so a selection could be kept in the 'bosunry box'.

 

[pandos]

Those screws are very strong and generally galvanised or passivated. They would survive fine in the bottom of a press in a plastic tub. .in use they would only be temporary so not likely to rot away.

Would be useful for a temporary rudder made from plywood and spinaker pole.

I have a few of them around the house and have used them even into old brick partitions...I have yet to shear off a head or break a screw...

 

[Gitane]

Inaccessible areas of the inside of the hull make me uneasy. Most yachts have them, but there is a wide range, from a sparsely fitted-out old Colchester smack, to the floating yuppie apartment type of a gin-palace.
Might I suggest that the forward parts of the hull are more likely to hit a floating treetrunk, or an awash shipping container, therefore they should be a higher priority for access than the ass end?
I like the sound of those screws.

Just behind and inside the forward hull and bow is a V berth bed which has two lockers underneath the bed. I have made these lockers water proof in that any water that gets in them can’t go anywhere. Although the lockers still have lids and these are not water tight.

I was kind of hoping that if the bow hull gets holed, one of the two lockers would partially fill but not to the top of the locker because that is way above the waterline, but the boat would stay afloat.

No idea if this would work in practice though.