| Day 815 Flood in Motor Room |
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| Thursday, 16 July 2009 | |
 Day 815 - July 16, 2009 Wind SW, 10 knots, Course NW, Speed 1.5, Position 10*15n by 18*18w Flood in Motor Room As I sat down to breakfast the other day, the bilge alarm went off. That is no problem, because it is set to go off when very little water comes in. When I looked in the motor room, water was above the floorboards!! I quickly jumped in, stepping through the water and looked under the motor to see if the starter motor had gotten wet. It was dry, so I was relieved and started the motor. I then engaged our big pump driven by a fan belt from the motor. In a few minutes the water was out of the bilge. I figured the water came in through the stuffing box where the propeller shaft goes out through the back of the boat. I lifted up the floorboard beside my bed and sure enough, water was squirting in. I reached down with my big stuffing box wrench and tightened it up a little and water stopped coming in. I decided I would replace the stuffing which I had put in about three years ago when we hauled the schooner out. I had run the motor in gear awhile the day before and when I finished, I checked the stuffing box and tightened it down because it was leaking. That must have loosened up the stuffing enough so that it started leaking through the night. I went to the bilge alarm to find out why it didn't go off in time and found the adjusting screw on the lever arm and spring had unscrewed itself. Luckily the alarm went off. I reset the screw and tested it again and again. I then changed the stuffing, which is a dicey thing to do at sea alone because once the stuffing box is apart, water gushes in and it is important to do a good job with the stuffing and thank goodness the threads matched up and I got it back together and tightened down. I took this opportunity to go through all my electrical bags and find the parts and pieces and I installed a second bilge alarm, which I had been wanting to do, but had too many other projects. Then I spent a whole day cleaning in the motor room and checking things. While I was in an electrical mood, I took parts and pieces from broken antennas and built a new one for the VHF radio. I had my handheld radio ready to use for the last year. Coincidentally a ship passed and I checked the new antenna and it worked. So now we are back to normal and better off than before. |
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