Ground Hog day morning was beautiful in the Bahamas … no wind and flat calm
water ….. we knew it was going to be a motor day
motoring around Matt Lowe Cay and Sugar Loaf Cay, with my fishing line out .. everything was
perfect … we met a barge around Boat Harbour … Joe was below and all of a sudden
we heard an alarm going off .. I checked and it wasn't the engine oil alarm …
we decided to turn off the engine and drift for a bit, to have time to figure out what was
happening now
Joe started to remove stuff from our quarter berth to get to the engine compartment,
the next thing I heard was "we are taking on water"
I started the engine again, but this made it worse, with water flying everywhere
with the engine off again, Joe told me to start pumping on the manual bilge pump in
the cockpit
SandysWay was wondering what was going on .. and came along side, so we could talk
We called and called on the VHF to Marsh Harbour Boat Yard, but they didn't answer us.
Then Joe phoned them, he explained our immediate danger and they said they would get back to us.
We barely managed to keep the water at the floorboards level.
SandysWay towed us closer to the Boat Yard, about one mile. We made another call to Boat Yard and asked for a skiff to come out and tow us in, they said they don't have any boats available. We explained that we are taking on water and barely keeping up.
Finally a guy from a tug boat company heard of our distress and came from the Boat Yard and
side tied us and took us to the travel lift, all this time we are still manually pumping. (the automatic bilge pump was also working)
By the time we got into the travel lift the salt water was about 1 1/2 above the floor boards.. on land now the salt water poured for about 3/4 hour out of the prop shaft and the automatic bilge pump.
We asked the Boat Yard to send us a mechanic …. and they did about 3 hours later and he refused
to crawl into the area to check out what was our problem. He said there was another mechanic but he was too busy to come and have a look. Now this is Friday and they are closed Saturday and Sunday.
So Joe started to take the stuffing box apart, and he noticed that a clamp holding on the stuffing box
hose was broken. This added to the slump in the alignment of the shaft.
some of the water still leaking out of Modaki
we had all weekend to take this all apart and clean up everything
one part Joe took 6 hours to remove it, without breaking any pieces
some workmen on Saturday and Sunday fixing boats, they start at 7am here
the boat yard charged us $50/day on the hard and $10/day for hydro
there was only one washroom here and no other facilities available
the ground is very silty here and the next morning both of the stern jack stands were not
even holding the boat .. the front stands had sunk into the silt
after a short walk around the boat yard, we realized that this place is a disaster waiting to
happen … this beautiful sail boat is on a great lean and some of the port jack stands are not
holding the boat
the same boat
not too sure why this is here a NOAA Tsueami weather beacon
we got invited to supper on a 48 ft Leopard Cat … along with this couple that are on a 61.5
Cat, from the UK
Robin and John took pity on Joe and I and supplied supper
the next day Pippa and Andy had us over to their Cat for a tour and coffee
I think it was called England Rose … the beam is 30 ft … as long as Modaki is
we tested the manual bilge pump and found out it didn't work, even after we filled the bilge with fresh water …. it turned out that the hose down beside the prop shaft had about 5 slits in it .. there fore taking on air and not water
everything got a good cleaning
Joe still working on the shaft … starting to put it back together
we found out that the stuffing box hose was not the correct hose, and it was on the boat before we bought it ..
we called all over the Abacoes and no one had the correct size …
but a miracle happened .. MOW found a cut off piece in their scrap pile .
we had the ferry deliver it to Marsh Harbour and then got it delivered to the boat yard
the old wrong hose on the right
and the 6 walled correct hose on the left …. we only needed 3 3/4 inches of hose
$25 … better than waiting and ordering one from the states
Monday and Tuesday came and went with us still waiting on a mechanic .. Joe continued to
take a part, clean and put back together our shaft and stuffing box…
my patience with the boat yard finally had me in the office, to speak my mind … after this encounter
I told Joe I would not talk to them ever again …..
the next afternoon Wednesday the mechanic came to our boat … he inspected Joes work and
tweaked the alignment on the engine
We got launched later on Wednesday
we tied to the dock for the night and in the morning the mechanic
came by and checked out all systems
I did have to go into the office and settle up our bill and to double check on
the water depth in the channel .. we had to wait on mid tide to exit
We found out the guys name that towed us in here and we made up a
thank you card and enclosed $50.
finally by 11am we exited Marsh Harbour Boat Yard and hope we
never have to visit them again
Motoring to Elbow Cay for a few days and looking forward to seeing SandysWay again !!!
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