Sea Monsters Attack BlackDragon and Attempt to Sink Her!

[waterdog]

We were happily motor sailing along the other day (there wasn't enough wind to ensure we would get across the Straight of Georgia in time for Foster to make it to a birthday party) when we encountered a problem with the engine overheating.   I'll try not to make this a hideously long tale of troubleshooting, but let's just say that after having my head stuck in places I'd rather not stick it in for any length of time in a 4 foot slop, I was finally able to  figure out that I wasn't getting any raw water in.   

I stripped off the strainer assembly down to the bare seacock and there was nothing coming in with the valve wide open and nothing attached.   Gentle probing with various objects would not dislodge whatever stuck there.   A stiff raming with a screwdriver wouldn't go through.   I draw the line at anything involving a hammer and thru hull when I am two hours from land. 

We had been attacked by a sea monster and it had clogged the raw water intake!

So if we were going to make the birthday party on time, the key was good sail trim.  That and since I find power handy for getting in and out of the marina, I replumbed the raw water intake temporarily to the shower drain seacock.  Handy that they're all located together. 

We had other problems last week.   In the middle of the night I heard the bilge pump cycling on and off.  It turns out one of the two legged sea monsters had ignored the sign "TURN THIS LEVER TO THE DRY POSITION OR BOAT WILL SINK".  The same thing happened again the following night (only I confess I was the sea monster to blame - I was a little groggy checking the anchor hadn't dragged when I heard wind shrieking through the rigging at 2:00am).

Anyway I had a good reason to address all the plumbing issues in one shot:

  1) vented loop on the head intake because I don't like wet feet looking at an overflowing bowl
  2) sink and head intake on one thru hull so I can flush the system with fresh water when I leave the boat
  3) sea monster eviction from the raw water intake (one blast with the hose at the dock fixed this one)

I tidied it all up yesterday.   And last night I reviewed the old notes and wish of course that I followed Stu's wisdom about where to put the vented loop because really they don't like suction - that's their job.   So I'll go back and fix that again rather than convincing myself that pumping harder is a small price to pay for piece of mind.

But the real message in all of this was the horror I found when I was messing about.   Not one fitting below the waterline had a double hose clamp.   The T fitting for the shower drain  / head intake was a strange assortment of non-marine bits - loose fitting - three threaded pieces none of which were even finger tight - one straight bit of pipe with a hose clamped on it - no barbs.   It was scary.

So the message is, if you aren't intimately familiar with what's attached to your seacocks, you should be.   Go have a real close look.   Take things apart.  Be sure.   There are other sea monsters out there that will sink your boat - the previous owner, the sloppy yard worker, the factory.   You are responsible for making sure that they don't get you!

.   

[Stu Jackson]

Glad you're still afloat, that's a good sized trip across the Strait.  In my May secretary report in Mainsheet magazine I described the same situation and how we used a dinghy foot pump attached to the raw water hose at the raw water pump to blow whatever was clogging the intake clear.  Great idea to use the "optional"  thru hulls right next door.  Very clever.

[waterdog]

Sorry Stu.  I had a premature posting.   Was just typing away must have hit the wrong button and it was gone - you replied before I even had a chance to finish it.   I even mentioned you in the story, Stu.

[RV61]

The grass sea monsters have attacked several times here in Lake Erie. Learned about the dinghy pump to blow out the clogged thru hull here on this site after the first attack.
On the first attack I tried to use the sink drain sister seacock but the sizes of the nipples were different. Not anymore. I ended up using the water from the head faucets into a bucket and engine water intake into the bucket method as I did not have far to go until safely out of the rough seas. I now keep dinghy pump readily available and it has worked well on the other attacks .   

[Claygr1]

I read this posting last night after our first exciting experience with a water inlet obstruction.  Fortunately, we noticed the diminished exhaust output about two minutes away from the slip and immediately turned around.  A 5hp portable shop vac set on "blower" does a fantastic job of clearing an obstruction!  The only problem is the length of cord we'll need to make this useful out on the water. 

[Craig Illman]

Claygr1 - Sounds like an excuse to install an inverter. When you're not running the ShopVac, you can make popcorn in the microwave for the crew.

Craig

[Ron Hill]

Steve : Everything that you mentioned has been said/written about before. 
After having my intake clogged 3 time I install a strainer on the outside of the engine intake.  As I wrote  in that Mainsheet tech note article, I lightly caulked (rather than screwed) the round bronze strainer ($5) in place.  That way if it ever gets clogged inside the strainer, all I have to do is take a 3/8" wooden dowel and tap off that $5 strainer. 
I did that back in 1998? - and it's been there ever since!!  A thought

[waterdog]

Steve : Everything that you mentioned has been said/written about before.

You know Ron.  I'm well aware that just about anything I might have to say has been written about before.  But I feel strongly that we are not trying to create a place where we have the perfect archive of everything C34 related.   We ought to ask the same questions again.  We ought to answer them again.  And we ought to make sure that this is a place where new owners and members can come in and feel welcome and join a conversation about great boats and great times on the water without feeling that they have to search in to the bowels of C34 wisdom and be sure that they are addressing new content before they dare post a question.   Otherwise this all becomes static, lifeless, and stale.  A thought.

[Stu Jackson]

Steve, what we all owe each other for any question is, 'specially if it's been around before, is a link to the earlier answer, sometime even retyping the answer, or a way to go find it.  There's always something new.

[waterdog]

The wonderful thing about posting under this topic is that it is really hard to be off topic!

I do not mean to be critical.  I love the depth of information we have on this site and the cumulative wisdom that is here and readily available from long time owners like Stu and Ron.    It's one of the big reasons I own a C34.  But sometimes we are way too quick to tell people to go off and search archives.  Somebody like Bobg comes along and asks a question about how to mount his galley shelf to the roof - screws or through bolts - and we are quick to tell him how to search for it, but we don't answer a simple question in the five responses he gets.  Will Bobg ever ask another question?  I hope so, but we're sure not encouraging him to.  When I first bought my boat I was installing a forced air diesel heater and I had a PM from an owner who had all kinds of great questions and advice, but rarely reads this website or posts here because he feels that the folks here have "done it all perfectly before and there is no interest in diverse opinion."  Yikes!

So I understand that there is a great loss of efficiency if there are one hundred and eighty seven posts on how to rebed a stanchion, when in fact there is a right way to do it (perhaps with a couple of variants) that was perfectly documented 11 years ago.  It makes for a really sloppy search.   But for the person who is new to it, it's great to be able to ask the question and participate in the forum and feel that their issues are valid, relevant, and worthy of discussion and not feel that they are asking a stupid question about something already well addressed. 

Are we building a great database or a great community of owners?  Let's do both.

Now I shall go have another glass of wine...

[Stu Jackson]

1.  But sometimes we are way too quick to tell people to go off and search archives.  Somebody like Bobg comes along and asks a question about how to mount his galley shelf to the roof - screws or through bolts - and we are quick to tell him how to search for it, but we don't answer a simple question in the five responses he gets... 


2.  So I understand that there is a great loss of efficiency if there are one hundred and eighty seven posts on how to rebed a stanchion, when in fact there is a right way to do it (perhaps with a couple of variants) that was perfectly documented 11 years ago.  It makes for a really sloppy search.   But for the person who is new to it, it's great to be able to ask the question and participate in the forum and feel that their issues are valid, relevant, and worthy of discussion and not feel that they are asking a stupid question about something already well addressed. 

Steve,

1.  In some cases, it is necessary to recognize that the "librarian" may not have actually performed the work, but is simply attempting to steer the questioner in the right direction, and perhaps teach them how to find material on what is becoming a very diverse and content rich website.  I had a great opportunity to install one of those "shelves" in our galley (given a template and instructions from Capt. Al years ago) and we would no more install one of those shelves than we would hang curtains athwartships at the galley and behind the mast - we just feel that it cuts up the space too much, and we both decided that we like it open - we found other storage methods work best for us.  Point being:  I personally don't know how to screw the thing to the ceiling, but I do know where to look for the information, and am glad to share it with others.  I may remember where I saw it, but many times I don't, so I use the search engine and post the results, if I have the time.  Many times the folks who wrtoe the original info material are no longer around, and all we can do is point in the right direction.

2.  It may not be efficient either to recognize that there is usually no one right way to do things.  After all, it's a boat.   There have been many different opinions expressed over the years about materials and techniques, some of which we are all still learning about.  What the common issue becomes is sharing, which is what this is all about.  It's a lot like parenting, we ain't in it for the money!   

[Ron Hill]

Steve : Even though I pointed out that your query has been answered before, I did answer it again. 
Most important is that I spelled out how you could prevent it from happening in the future.  Also sometimes the foot pump to your inflatable dink can be used to "blow out" a clog.  A few thoughts   

[Steve S.]

Steve,  I empathize with your comments, and wrote a very similar note about 5 years ago or so.   Back then, the archive was just impossible to search and the projects page was alot thinner.   But I have to go with Stu and Ron on this one.  There is no one way to do anything (esp attach a galley shelf), all we have is some ideas and experience.   And one thing I have learned in many years of owning this boat, is that nothing is simple. 

Welcome to the club, and happy sailing.   

[Jon Schneider]

Are we building a great database or a great community of owners?  Let's do both.

Steve, that's such a great point to make.  It's part of the reason I encouraged you to post this topic under the subject heading that you did.  I think we should inject a little whimsy in the spirit of community and camaraderie.  That said, it seems a bit more difficult to do within the confines of a message board than it does, for instance, in an email thread.  I'm not exactly sure why that it is (or even if it is), but I think it might have something to do with the fact that email is instantaneous (thus dialogue-like) and ephemeral, while what we post to this board has a more substantial, lasting, and premeditated sense about it.  That's a bit of a shame, but OTOH, the focus that it brings to the threads on this board makes this a much richer practical experience (IMO).  

I do also think, however, that those of us who are pretty familiar with what already exists on the site intuitively know that it would be a shame for the questioner to have ignored the incredible archive of content and insights.  Of course, the problem is that as a site gets richer and larger, it becomes more and more difficult to search effectively, so there is probably a natural process of doing a quick search, not finding what one is looking for, and then defaulting to asking the question.  I'm hoping that as we evolve the overall site (and we're slowly working on that) that there will be many more opportunities for people to add more bricks to the community center in both pragmatic as well as personal and whimsical ways.   Nevertheless, I couldn't agree more with your point.  

[Rick Johnson]

Steve, I agree with you on this one.  Although I still come here everyday, I dropped my membership and rarely post anymore.  I would think that making other owners feel welcome would be an important part of any group and many times that does not seem to be the case here.  If I ask a question it's because I have not found what I'm looking for in my searches or I'm looking for more feedback from others...  Just my 2-cents.

Cheers,

Rick