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 Stop
The Water Before You Pump It Out by
Mark King
Anywhere
boaters gather there are stories about the boat that sank because
the pumps failed to keep up. The story usually begins with an accidental
grounding or a boat hitting something in the water.
The
Skipper hits the bilge pump switch, gets the crew busy with buckets
and cranks up the power to head for the nearest dock. Within a minute
the engine dies as the water reaches its critical electronics, the
crew is tired and the boat is left wallowing with an inadequate
bilge pump sputtering as the battery is drowned.
...
Check any navy in the world and one thing you will notice is they
have developed damage repair and control to such a fine art that
ships remain floating and fighting even when they look like Swiss
cheese. The secret ... they stop the water coming in. So how do
we do this? It begins with preparation.
...
You
should have a plan in place to reach any area of your hull. A little
destroyed interior is cheaper in the long run than re-floating your
boat.
...
The
lesson is simple. Stopping the water, once you find the source of
the leak, is easy. It is frightening to see gallons of water leaking
into your boat. But preparation will help you deal with the problem
calmly and efficiently.
While
you are searching for and repairing the leak, the pumps can be turned
on, the crew can bail, and when you arrive back at the marina you
will have a great story to tell about how your pumps never had a
chance to fail because you are too good a seaman to have to rely
on them.
Lifeline
is produced through the Safe Boater Training Program, a certification
program for recreational boaters.
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