Atlantic: Water Leak

On his way to St. Helena, Mike ran into a bit of problem. Here is his story. --TSCtv.

I was really worried when the "High Water" alarm went off. I hurried down the stairs to look in the bilge and when I saw the water up to the floorboards, I shouted "Oh my God, I'm sinking!!!!"

The first thing I did was shut off the engine, then I went around to close ALL the through-hull seacocks. I went back to the manual bilge pump and started pumping out the sea water, but it was too slow. I then got out my hand pump and buckets and pumped the bilge water into the buckets and threw the water overboard. With most of the water overboard I went around looking for leaks.

When I lifted the engine cover, there was dried salt all around the alternator area and a water stream coming up into the alternator from somewhere under it. I took down the stairs and laid them in the forward cabin, then took off the engine cover to get to the alternator. After removing the alternator, I found the leak.

A steady stream about the force of a kid peeing was coming up out of the salt water impeller pump. Not from the two hose connections on the pump, but from the curve of the metal casing of the pump itself.

Now what do I do, I have to stop the leak? I got out the Yanmar book and found the page where it shows the impeller pump connection into the intercooler. I unscrewed the drain plug from the intercooler to drain all the water from above the pump, that stopped the water flowing from the leak. How do I plug or fill the hole?

I thought of screwing a stainless self-taping screw into the hole, then surrounding the screw with 5200 sealant. That seemed to work. I rinsed off most of the salt from the exterior of the engine around the leak area and got out my reserve spare Balmar alternator I bought just for such emergencies.

I pulled out the old alternator and laid it out on the floor with all wires showing. I put the new alternator next to it, then started exchanging wire connections. I could see the salt covering the interior of the old alternator. I put the new alternator on with a new drive belt and tried to start the engine. It would turn over but would NOT start. I ran the battery down trying, so I went to start the Fischer-Panda generator, but the remote switch would not even light.

I was in trouble! No engine, no generator, no wind to sail and a leak in my boat in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean a thousand miles from any land, half-way between Brazil and Africa. The only civilization was the island of St. Helena, about 500 miles north of me. That is where the British interned Napoleon after he lost at Waterloo. That was the most distant place from any other land on earth they could find.

I got out the SAT phone and called Hunter Customer Service. Then I called you (Greg Emerson of Hunter Marine). You were terrific. You got me in a conference call with your specialist, Joe Kerr, then with the Yanmar distributor and finally Fischer-Panda. Somehow, with about 300 minutes of SAT phone time, Karl from Yanmar finally found a way for me to start the engine after other attempts failed.

With the engine running, there was no charge power from the Balmar alternator. A SAT phone call to Dale English of Balmar in Texas got the right man. He talked me through re-wiring the alternator to by-pass the regulator and, with 2 pieces of wire and some crimp connections, I was able to use the internal regulator.

After 2 days of drifting in the South Atlantic, I finally had the leak fixed and the engine running. At just above idle, not to overwork the alternator, I was able to bring back charge to my depleted battery bank of 900 amps, down to only 110 amps left. I had to use my Honda generator to keep the start batteries charged, but that worked fine.

After 3 days of slow motoring, I was able to drop anchor in Jamestown Bay, St. Helena on the day before Christmas. I was relieved. "Ann's Place" offered all the sailing cruisers a get-together Christmas dinner for free, just bring your own booze. I brought the gallon jug of aged Panamanian rum a guest had left aboard to the party. That was a hit! I e-mailed all the contacts you gave me but I only got replies back saying "Closed for the holidays, will be back in the office after Jan 2."

Because St. Helena does NOT have an airport to fly parts into, I left yesterday for the island of Ascension, about 700 miles distant. There is a small contingent of US and English military communication experts there, but not much else. But Ascension does have an airport. If I think I need to stop and get a replacement impeller pump and alternator-regulator flown in, I will. That could take days, if not weeks. Remember the 3 week wait for a new alternator in Galapagos?

If my alternator keeps charging and the impeller pump leak I repaired still holds, I think I will continue to Antigua where they have both a Yanmar and Fischer-Panda mechanic and get all three repairs done professionally. However, that is over 4000 miles with no working generator, an amateur repair job on the pump leak and a re-wired provisional repair to the alternator/regulator. It will be a risk!But I really want to get to Miami for the Boat Show. A delay in Ascension waiting for parts would put a Miami arrival in time for the boat show out of reach.

Mike Harker

s/v Wanderlust3

Tuesday Jan 1 - Happy New Year!

I am 170 miles from Ascension, and will arrive at daybreak tomorrow. My primitive repairs are holding and working well. I will leave Ascension after getting fuel. It is 3300 miles to English Harbor Antigua. When I arrive in 3-4 weeks, it will be my personal circumnavigation. From there it should be less than 2 weeks to Miami by way of Tortola BVI and above Nassau. I am on schedule for an arrival on Feb 12 into Miami. Let's hope everything runs as well as it is.