I No Want More Fixy Fixy!?

When all else fails, rainbows always make me feel better.

Swell’s bilge wasn’t dry for long. After a month or so afloat, a constant trickle of water coming from below the fuel tank could not be ignored. The galley sink drain had broken two weeks priors, sending seawater spilling in, but I fixed it right away and all the spillage would have long since dried?

There was virtually no access to the area from where the water could be seen leaking in. The fuel tank sat in the long lateral beam of fiberglass, and the water was trickling out from under the right corner. This butted up to bulkheads on either end, making for another fun go of detective work. My brain capacity and patience for another mysterious leak was at dangerously low levels. Between good byes and departure planning that little trickle was going…drip…drip…drip…like Chinese water torture on my mind…was this some kind of sick joke?!?!

On an interisland passage, I looked in the bilge to find it nearly full?! So it HAD to be figured out before I made a bigger trip…I’d seen that the head pump was leaking a little, but I could see no logical route for the water to take from there 7 feet aft to where I was seeing the water, plus it was ‘below’ that spot. Gravity is trustworthy right?

“Well, fix the toilet leak and then go from there. I can’t imagine it would be a fissure in the fiberglass, but I guess it’s possible?” Jimmy said. I felt a visceral surge through my spine at the thought of the latter part of his comment. I’d met Jimmy and Kent on ‘Sea Level’ the day before. They were more than fantastic—caring, generous, fun and ready to help. Not more than 2 minutes into a tour of Swell, Jimmy was down on the floor, analyzing the leak possibilities…