From a bad captain of a good craft:
We departed home Thursday April 1, 2010 which will be referenced as Day 0 henceforth.
A conservative estimate of passengers and gear gave Lesismor a payload weight of 2600lbs which put the cockpit drain and lower pintle under water. Tightening lower pintle nuts stopped leakage there once discovered. The upper part of the cockpit drain where the hose joins the deck fitting leaked whenever the drain was pressurized with each wave that was above that line. The bow hauling eye leaked with submersion. These leaks produced an additional 1500lbs+ of water that was hidden because we were somewhat forward ballasted- it did not accumulate in the lazaret. These issues were assuaged with materials at hand as best possible and intruding water was pumped when found.
A mishap allowed more water intrusion. Midweek in rough seas I pulled a rear stanchion off so had a deck leak where the hardware had been. Day 7 homeward motoring into 6’ seas provided much deck water. The stanchion I wired into place- though not rigid it was strong enough to maintain the stanchion/lifeline function, and chewing gum slowed deck leaks through stanchion bolt holes. A cup was utilized to capture nuisance intrusion below deck, drained periodically.
My new West Marine VHF650 (Uniden manufactured) was defective and would not transmit reliably day 1. On day 1 crew hauled the main so tightly they pulled the eye out of the head- the sail fell and the halyard remained atop the mast. This was remedied day 2 by jury-rigging a pulley on the jib halyard to hold a rigged main halyard (attached through a new hole drilled in the main head with a knife) and sailing reefed. The bow light was smashed day 2 during arrival docking on Garden Key under windy conditions. The main halyard was recovered while docked at Fort Jefferson on day 3.
Fuel estimate was made for 190 miles continuous at 3/4ths throttle- more than for the entire trip distance by motor, more than ample for a return from any point. An EPIRB was aboard.
Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas is an estimated 70 miles but reality yields more, of course. Reasonably via sailboat it is a two day trip with Marquesas Key about 1/3 of the way from Key West to offer the best anchorage, and that is how we proceeded days 1-2.
Returning Day 7 we spotted Key West on the horizon with the sun behind us, setting. We had no reliable radio transmission, no navigation lights but were in cell phone range. We relied on a handheld GPS, depth-sounder and dead-reckoning to find our way with white light on the mast to light us to other navigators that may have been in the SW Key West lane.
We made the Garden Key to Key West trip in 14 hours when returning day 7 (arriving to dock at 2200). From 2200 dock we proceeded to step the mast, motor under two bridges to the Key West City Marina, where we unloaded the boat and were on the road at 0200 day 8. It would be 10 hours road time before I found home day 8, April 9 at noon.
Crew is never to blame for mishaps. An able seaman does not a captain make. It is best I single-hand.
We departed home Thursday April 1, 2010 which will be referenced as Day 0 henceforth.
A conservative estimate of passengers and gear gave Lesismor a payload weight of 2600lbs which put the cockpit drain and lower pintle under water. Tightening lower pintle nuts stopped leakage there once discovered. The upper part of the cockpit drain where the hose joins the deck fitting leaked whenever the drain was pressurized with each wave that was above that line. The bow hauling eye leaked with submersion. These leaks produced an additional 1500lbs+ of water that was hidden because we were somewhat forward ballasted- it did not accumulate in the lazaret. These issues were assuaged with materials at hand as best possible and intruding water was pumped when found.
A mishap allowed more water intrusion. Midweek in rough seas I pulled a rear stanchion off so had a deck leak where the hardware had been. Day 7 homeward motoring into 6’ seas provided much deck water. The stanchion I wired into place- though not rigid it was strong enough to maintain the stanchion/lifeline function, and chewing gum slowed deck leaks through stanchion bolt holes. A cup was utilized to capture nuisance intrusion below deck, drained periodically.
My new West Marine VHF650 (Uniden manufactured) was defective and would not transmit reliably day 1. On day 1 crew hauled the main so tightly they pulled the eye out of the head- the sail fell and the halyard remained atop the mast. This was remedied day 2 by jury-rigging a pulley on the jib halyard to hold a rigged main halyard (attached through a new hole drilled in the main head with a knife) and sailing reefed. The bow light was smashed day 2 during arrival docking on Garden Key under windy conditions. The main halyard was recovered while docked at Fort Jefferson on day 3.
Fuel estimate was made for 190 miles continuous at 3/4ths throttle- more than for the entire trip distance by motor, more than ample for a return from any point. An EPIRB was aboard.
Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas is an estimated 70 miles but reality yields more, of course. Reasonably via sailboat it is a two day trip with Marquesas Key about 1/3 of the way from Key West to offer the best anchorage, and that is how we proceeded days 1-2.
Returning Day 7 we spotted Key West on the horizon with the sun behind us, setting. We had no reliable radio transmission, no navigation lights but were in cell phone range. We relied on a handheld GPS, depth-sounder and dead-reckoning to find our way with white light on the mast to light us to other navigators that may have been in the SW Key West lane.
We made the Garden Key to Key West trip in 14 hours when returning day 7 (arriving to dock at 2200). From 2200 dock we proceeded to step the mast, motor under two bridges to the Key West City Marina, where we unloaded the boat and were on the road at 0200 day 8. It would be 10 hours road time before I found home day 8, April 9 at noon.
Crew is never to blame for mishaps. An able seaman does not a captain make. It is best I single-hand.
I'd bet you didn't have any toe rail leakage 
