Water...Good & Bad

Water is a very important aspect of life. Water covers 71% of the Earth and makes up 60-70% of the human body. If it weren't for water, there would be no boats and I wouldn't be living on the S/V Exposure in the middle of the Florida Keys. But a boat needs more than just the water it floats in...there's drinking water, dishes water, shower water, ice-making water, dog bathing water, toilet flushing water...and it all needs to get to the boat somehow. Some boats are equipped with water-makers or desalinators which take the sea water and filter the salt out of it to make it fit for human consumption. The S/V Exposure has a water-maker, but it is currently in it's "pickled" state keeping it preserved for future use when water is not as readily available. The filters are expensive and we would run through them pretty quickly in the silty water of the harbor. So we haul all of our water to the boat. The City Marina has a dinghy water dock where you can fill up your water receptacle for 5 cents a gallon...pretty cheap considering what has to be done to get running water here. All of our water comes from the mainland...there is NO fresh water available in the Keys that doesn't come through a pipe down US1. We do have emergency desalination plants in case of hurricane or being cut off from the mainland, but they have not proven to be cost-effective enough to run all the time. We used to haul our water in 6 gallon jugs, providing us with 12 gallons per trip but since the launching of the new dinghy, we have come up with a better plan.

Just last week, I invited my girlfriend, Megan, to drive with me to Tavernier to procur a 55-gallon barrel. I had called ahead of time and made sure the place was open and asked what had been in the barrels and would it be safe for the application of hauling water. The guy assured me that all of his barrels had held non-toxic substances ranging from concentrated fruit juice to ascorbic acid. Megan and I stopped along the way for a little water-front dining [Ah, ha! The importance of water again!] at Whale Harbor where she had the shrimp po' boy and I had the skirt steak quesadilla. Both of which were absolutely delicious and the view was magnificent. After lunch, we took a few minutes for a snap shot or 2 and then continued on up US1.
I found Glander Boats after passing it once and making a u-turn. Then a barrel was purchased and shoved into the backseat of my car and Megan and I headed for home.

The barrel got a good rinse upon it's arrival at the marina and then sat overnight to soak with a bit of bleach. The next day we were ready for our first big water run and loaded the barrel into the dinghy.
After a few minutes of filling, we were ready to go. Jeff had previously ordered a transfer pump to get the water from the barrel into the water tanks of the sailboat.

It worked like a charm.

We made one more trip the following day and put the barrel away for the time being. The plan will be to run a full load once a week and that should keep our tanks topped off with fresh water.
Water is good.

But water can be bad.
Too much water in the wrong place can sink a boat, and that's almost what happened to us yesterday.
It was Sunday morning and we were all prepared to spend a lazy day, reading books and lounging about. We were so set on it, that I didn't even get up when my phone rang at a little after 9am. Jeff didn't budge when his phone rang shortly after that...and again right after that. Then came a knock on the boat and Jeff got up to see who it was. It was Austin from the city marina and we had a problem. The 19ft. O-Day sailboat that Jeff had purchased over the winter was full of water and near close to sinking. We had had some rain lately, and knew the boat probably needed to be bailed out since it has no door and the cockpit drains are no longer working but Jeff had been by the tiny sailboat on Friday and all had seemed well. So we motored over in the dinghy with a battery and a bilge pump and set to getting the water out. The boat had so much water in it that we were afraid to step onto it and remained on the dinghy and tossed the pump in. I am sorry to say, I didn't take my camera, but the water was well over the kicker plate in the rear and up over the writing on the sides.
We pumped a lot of water for a very long time. So long in fact, we decided to leave it sit and go get a cooler full of ice so we could have a refreshing beverage while we waited for the water to recede. Several times while sitting there, we both smelled a dead fish...somewhere. Perhaps in the nearby mangroves? As we circled the boat to leave, I took a look inside and found the culprit. It was definitely a dead fish in the cabin and it looked big! So not only did we get a cooler of ice, but we grabbed a net and pokey pole and with much reluctance, headed back to address the dead fish.
Upon our return, the water had receded enough where it was safe for Jeff to step on to the boat. He tried getting the fish into the net but it was just too big and broke the net. Jeff had to resort to reaching in and grabbing the deceased beast by the tail and hauling it out. The thing was monstrous once you could see it all. It was a 45+ lb. tarpon and at least 3 feet long.
It must have jumped in the cockpit and in an attempt to escape made his way into the cabin. Tarpon are considered a sport-fish and although they are no good to eat, they are very popular to fish for because of the grand fight they put up when in the throes of capture. They are all bone, muscle, and fins.
This particular tarpon was no less the fighter and in his thrashing for freedom, he broke off 2 of the the thru-hull fittings inside the cabin creating 2 holes in the bottom of the boat which copious amounts of water where now pouring through.
That was why it seemed we were pumping out water for such a long time as it was coming in almost as fast.
Jeff went back for tools and a couple of wooden plugs and temporarily sealed the hole.

We were going to wait a little while before restoring the baby sailboat as we are still tired from our last restoration job but it looks as if we have no choice. We are pulling the boat out of the water today and after a bit of drying out, it will be the next project...so stay tuned for that one!

Thanks to everyone who called and were concerned about the sinking boat and thanks to Denise for providing the pictures of the tiny sailboat used on this blog.