By a thread

That first year you own a boat, and she's in the water for the summer, you are a little nervous about what you may have overlooked in the survey that could bite you in the ass at the worst possible moment. As the years go by, and you get comfortable with your boat, you start to feel like you know her inside and out because you wash and wax, which reveals any imperfection topsides. You rig her, and can easily find things there, like fish hooks in the rigging, and rust, or cracks. You change her oil, filters, belts, so you notice hoses, rust, drips, DRIPS!?
Oh crap.
We installed a new alternator, and regulator recently, but never got the chance to fire up the engine to set it up and see what she puts out. So yesterday we did that, and all was well. After shutting down, and going to close the water intake seacock, I felt water running down my arm. The two hose clamps were in place, and the hose looked good, yet there was a steady stream of water. I took the hose off, nothing. I spun off the fitting, and I found the leak.

I imagine vibration would have caused a major failure at some point. Most likely when we're 20 miles offshore. This was an "oh shit" moment for me, and I will now do a much more thorough inspection of, "things that can bite you in the ass".







 Some days I dream of the old twenty five footer with one thru-hull, and an outboard. How simple and cramped frugal boating used to be.

I replaced the corroded fitting with a proper one. Sodus Point is not known for it's wide array of hardware and service parts, so I was incredibly lucky to find one of these shiny new fittings under glass in our ships store at Katlynn Marine, and at 1970's pricing too!

 No drips, no runs, but still some errors, there are always errors. Yes, those hose clamps should be set opposite to one another, and it does look a little green around those fittings.

Cheers!