I like our boat. In some ways our boat feels more like a horse than a house, because although we live in her and she is our home, she is temperamental and handles best when we talk sweetly to her. Which Is why I felt vaguely betrayed yesterday when I opened the engine compartment and found more than a few inches of water rolling back and forth as we sailed south. It felt like that moment your dog spits out their medicine, after you’ve so deftly wrapped it in cheese and kindly given it as a treat. How could you Tintas? Water in the engine compartment? That’s supposed to be OUTside the boat, not Inside.
Anytime I find water inside the boat there is a moment of concern. Where did this water come from- melted ice? Paul sweating in the galley? Have we sprung a leak? Because even though I’m no boat expert, I know that water is supposed to be in the ocean, and that in order to be afloat, we need it to stay that way.
When I noticed the water, Paul was on a work call. Sometimes that happens when we are sailing, and its usually hard to maintain the facade that we are responsible working adults sitting in offices with WiFi and not unbathed, barefoot water nomads hoping our data doesn’t fail us when we need her most. I tried to keep composure in my voice as I gently explained the water, but there didn’t seem to be much need to panic and he shushed me with an upheld finger. After all, it could have been there all morning, and it didn’t seem to be sinking us, or spilling out of the elevator doors like the blood in The Shining. But once he got off his call, I made sure to draw his attention to it, as it was actively streaming from the engine head.
Paul started by tasting the water. Fresh water or salt water is an indication of the source of the leak, although I felt fairly strongly that the origin of the water didn’t matter as much as some kind of way to “vacuum” it up and out and back to sea so we could continue our merry floaty way. While we were underway, Paul found the leak, disconnected the hose, chopped off the frayed end, and reattached it (feeling pretty manly, he wanted to add, having just fixed a marine engine while under sail and keeping all that he held near and dear safely afloat). This stopped the leak and continued to maintain our situation at the “not at all dire” level, aka Four Inches of Water in the Engine Compartment status.
It feels pertinent to add, and reasonable to deduce, that this problem was related to the Starboard bilge pump problem, whose auto cycle had been turning on and running continually, humming in the thru hull like a cell phone on vibrate. And although the boat makes a lot of noises, it is amazing how a new sound will cut through the quiet cacophony and raise alarm.
We had found a problem with our boat. The heartbreaking moment you scrape your new car on a pillar in the parking structure, or scuff a white shoe on the stairs. Your beautiful brand new prideful item has become like every other item in your life; worn and used. And for me, the feeling of, how dare those boat dealers sell us a defective new boat? When in reality, this is a used boat, that we’ve had in our possession for 8 months. Some wear and tear is not to be unexpected, but really, how dare they?
We reached our destination and do what people do when there is a mechanical problem they don’t quite understand. We popped the hatch to the engine compartment and stood staring down at it.
To Be Continued.
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TIBURON MARINO 