Leak

 5/31- Georgetown MD

  I have been chasing this leak in our boat since she was put in the water and maybe even some before. It is a salt water leak and that can only come from so many places. It turns out yesterday I was poking around while underway and I discovered where the leak was. The stuffing box to my rudder spit water while underway. Great I thought that’s an easy fix. Ha ha!!

   Well today I undertook that task and it did not go well. You must understand that the odds on anyone touching this stuffing box since it was installed 40 years ago is slim. So I tried to break the nut free and the whole rubber tube turned. This might not have been so bad except that now water was pouring in around the rubber tube. Of course the hose clamp broke the minute I tried to turn it. In a bit of good fortune they have a pretty good marine store right here so off I went while leaving Alayne to man the pump. I got back to the boat with a good T-type hose clamp but it turned out to be too big. Back to the store again and finally I got a pair of these really good hose clamps on it and the leak stopped. Talk about almost sinking your boat! That still didn’t solve the original problem but we’ll deal with that when we have to. 

    Other than that excitement it was just a regular old boat day. The wind decided to pick up again this evening and is bouncing us all around. We will stay here another night to make sure the leak stays dry. 

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