Bilge Business

We're scurrying around Quijote like mice trying to figure out why the bilge keeps filling up with water. We had to pump it three times last night. Everything we check comes up dry. All the through hull points look fine. In the marina the bilge doesn't fill with water. Somehow rough water works its way into the boat and we haven't been able to figure out how. We reconfigured the shower sump as a bilge pump so we don't have to do manual pumping. Quijote has an automatic electric emergency bilge pump, but it only activates when the water gets deeper.

The water maker leaks copiously in operation, so the current working theory is that water is finding its way into the boat through it. It doesn't help that the water maker is below water line. Testing is underway. Unfortunately the sea state is mild, so we are not taking on water no matter what we do. Maybe that's a good thing.

It's a hot, sticky day on day two out of Oahu. I didn't get much sleep last night. The waves and the bilge water wouldn't let me. Tonight.

So far on this segment we've done a lot of motor sailing. Kauai Channel was a chaotic mess with swell coming in one direction, wind injecting from another, and current messing with both. It was unfun. Mark called it the maelstrom. The strategy was to put as much of it behind us as quickly as possible. To do that we employed sails and engine and powered through the night.

We woke (if you can call that sleep) to a much friendlier state of affairs. The sun is out, the seas are calm, and the bilge is staying dry. We hope.