Heading Home

Log: 3965

Monday, March 17, 2008

Location: Riviera Beach, Florida

Distance Traveled Yesterday and Today: 42 Nautical Miles

Total Trip Distance:  1326 Nautical Miles

Well, just to prove that the yachting life is always glamorous, I had one final episode with the sewage system on the boat last night. Perfect Deckhand and I continued to notice the distinct odor of sewage at the bottom of the steps during our trip. I assured him that the venting system was not working well and that things were stirred up by our open ocean days. However, after he left and I was only cruising the Intracoastal Waterway, the odor continued. So last night I took up the floor above the black water tank to discover that sewage had filled the bilge and was almost up to the floorboards under the staterooms. I’m estimating that it was 200 gallons or more of sewage sloshing around under us.

Using the emergency bilge pump system, I emptied the bilge at sea and tried everything to see if I could find a leak. I flushed toilets, overfilled the black water tank with clean water, etc. But I cannot find a leak. I poured bilge cleaner into the area today, filled it with the water hose, and pumped it out again. Everything appears clean and smells good but i can’t figure out where the leak came from.

So I’m going home. I’m leaving the boat at a boat yard here to let them try to sniff out the problem. They’re also going to fix the bow thruster, replace all of my seven batteries, fix the spotlight, and have the watermaker serviced. Ahh, the glamorous life of a yachtsman. I’m going home to see my dogs and wait for my wife to get back in town and sleep in a great bed and not worry about batteries or inverters or sewage.

But I’ll be back. I have 366 nautical miles to travel back to Savannah. Despite the constant worries and repairs, I really do love this game.