Sounds like a Darwin’s Guide for powerboaters. If we don’t want them making wakes across our bows or running into us, don’t show it to them and there will be fewer of them to worry about next season.
We had fun figuring out a leak a while back. We’d go out sailing and find water in the after bilge section, which is separate from the forward section because the icebox drain goes into it, and you don’t want melted ice water smells getting the whole bilge reeking. In any case, water there after sailing. No water there following periods moored or after rain. No leak in the prop shaft. Screwy. Where could it be coming from? Found out one evening, about an hour after the start of an overnight race, when our steering linkage parted. (It had gotten tightened earlier in the day and someone forgot to re-install the cotter pins...) Sticking my head down by the rudder quadrant to re-attach the cables as we reached along at about 8 knots, I realized that I was getting showered by water coming in by the rudderstock. The oakum in the packing gland had dried out and whenever a wave came up over the rudderstock, water squirted in like a fountain. Not knowing at that point exactly what the problem was, nor how much water was coming in, or if it might get worse, but realizing that it would be another 10-12 dark hours before finishing, we decided to retire. I repacked the gland the next morning and have had no problems since. Little things.
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