Well, we had two firsts this past week. Thirteen years of cruising and had our first grounding and first tow.
The grounding was 100% my fault. We were coming through a very narrow channel – there’s 15 feet of water in the channel, but less than 3 outside it. We’ve been through it three times before with no problems, but this time we came through right at low tide. Wind was on the nose, so we were motoring.
Overwhelmed with all there is to learn as you're starting to cruise? Help is here: Overcoming the First-Year Learning Curve (a free mini-course from The Boat Galley).
I lost concentration for just a second and dragged our centerboard and rudders in the mud. We quickly popped them up and I was able to back off. Whew.
Just then, our engine temperature shot up to its max reading. Dave dropped the anchor and I shut the engine down.
The three most likely causes of sudden, severe overheating are an engine water intake blockage, breaking the alternator belt (which also turns the raw water pump), and a broken pump impeller.
A quick check showed the alternator belt was fine.
We’d motored through some floating grass mats, so we next checked to see if the sea strainer was plugged. There was a little grass in it but not enough to stop the water flow. Dave then discovered that absolutely no water was flowing through the seacock. He tried to dislodge the blockage from inside the boat but couldn’t.
I wanted to jump in and try to clear the blockage from the outside. However, the current was ripping through the narrow channel. I thought I’d be safe holding a line from the bow and tying it around my waist in case I lost my grip. Dave simply wasn’t comfortable with me getting in the water. He wanted a tow.*
We have a rule that when we disagree on a course of action, we go with the safer or more conservative alternative. That meant getting a tow.
The next question was where to get towed. The nearest safe anchorage or back to our mooring ball? Dave was afraid that we’d damaged the engine and would need help even after clearing it, and so preferred to go all the way back to our mooring ball. Again, that rule of going with the more conservative choice dictated we go back to Boot Key Harbor.
The next morning, back on our mooring ball, I found a huge wad of grass in the engine water intake and got it out. Dave and his best friend, a mechanic, checked to see that we hadn’t burned up the impeller when the engine overheated and it was fine. However, they did discover that the high temperature had thinned the engine oil and allowed it to leak from the rocker arm cover, so did a quick repair with some gasket maker. And they topped up the coolant since we’d lost some with the extreme heat. Started up the engine and she ran perfectly with no overheating.
If you’re in an area with towing services, having towing insurance really pays off. Both Sea Tow and BoatUS have good plans in the US — which is better depends on where you are. Our choice is BoatUS; an unlimited gold membership costs $151 a year. Our tow would have cost $1625 without insurance.
*We talked about trying to side-tie our dinghy, but with the speed of the current and the narrowness of the channel we both thought it could cause more problems.
Be sure to subscribe to The Boat Galley newsletter to keep up with what we’re up to and get helpful tips and encouragement from the water.
Could you use more help in making the transition to living aboard? Take my free mini-course:
Dennis Davidson says
I enjoyed your story and totally understand the reasons for your decision to call for a tow! I had a similar experience with a plugged raw-water intake: We were in a narrow channel near Roach Harbor at the North end of San Juan Island, Washington. The tide was ebbing and we were aboard our 37ft Puget Trawler cruising at low speed into the current. I went through a large clump of eelgrass and started monitoring the engine temp gauge. Sure enough, the temperature started climbing. I slowed the engine to just hold our position in the center of the channel an had Nancy take the wheel to hold our position into the current. Then, I quickly went to the bow and dropped the plow anchor and signaled to slow the boat and shift into neutral. When the anchor took hold the temperature was up toward the top of the gauge…I let out some additional chain and Nancy turned off the engine.
When we agreed that we were firmly anchored, I went down into the engine room and saw that there was some eelgrass in the strainer, but not enough to plug it. I closed the intake valve and cleaned the strainer, then re-opened the valve, only to see a small trickle of water flow into the strainer. I then knew the inlet was plugged. I considered going into the water like you did, but we had the same problem…the current was running dangerously fast, so that option was out. The next option was to try to clear it from inside the boat. The boat had not moved, and we felt safe anchored for awhile, so back down I went. I shut the valve again and removed the hose clamps holding the inlet hose to the inlet valve and tried to remove the hose. No dice! The only way to remove it was to cut it off. There was enough hose to easily shorten it by a several inches, so I cut it off and Walla!, I had also cut through a mess of eelgrass. Then I cut the old end-part of the hose off of the valve. I decided to open the valve a little to see if water would flow at all…there was only a trickle as before, even with the valve fully open. Using a needle-nosed plier, I pulled out as much of the eelgrass as possible to no avail…Dang!, I closed the valve again.
The next thing I had to find was a rod of some kind to try to push the blockage back out, (of course the valve has to be opened to do this). I decided to try using a large phillips screwdriver, so I opened the valve and began trying to push the eelgrass out. I was able push the screwdriver down one side of the opening and it started moving inward a little at a time. I removed the screwdriver, moved to another area and pushed it in. I went around and around, each time pushing in a little more. Water was starting to flow more, so I decided to go for it and stabbed the screwdriver in and out quickly…that started things moving faster, so I shut off the valve. Then, I opened the valve Quickly!, and Whoosh!, out came a bunch of eelgrass and a geyser of water!!!…I quickly closed the valve. To make shure the inlet was fully clear, I quickly opened the valve again and the geyser was still apparent, so I closed the valve, re-attached the hose, re-opened the valve and seawater completely filled the strainer.
When I re-started the engine, the temperature quickly returned to its normal 180 degrees and stayed there. We then upped-anchor and continued on our merry way, thankful that we didn’t have to call for a tow, (which, by the way, was our next option!).
Cheers,
Dennis