Cape May - Leak Repair

Now that's a proper hatch

Today was the wind day. We even had whitecaps in the anchorage although we were safely tucked into Utsch's Marina. We counted seven boats in the Coast Guard anchorage by the entrance and one other boat anchored in front of Utsch's. Nobody moved today. The wind is predicted to abate somewhat over the next few days but the tides (current actually) is not right for going up Delaware Bay. We'll watch the weather but moving day may not be until Tuesday of next week. We made great time coming south but now we wait.

Cape May has a fishing fleet and there are marine stores to support it. Everything looks about 10 times too well built with prices to support the extra sturdiness. This photo was at a nearby store, Sea Gear.

I leaned out over the bow with a long arm to get a shot of the underside of the bow puplit

Meanwhile, a forward leak had to be addressed. So Ann was down in the forward berth and I was on top with the hose. No leaks were apparent until I sprayed the hose directly on the bow. The pulpit hangs over the bow supporting the anchor and when sprayed with water, it permitted seepage into the forward bunk. This finding meshed with our experience of only seeing water after waves crashed over the bow. The oncoming seas evidently forced their way through whatever opening existed, however small. Finding that, I got some 3M 5200 fast cure adhesive and I will attempt a repair Friday. By the way, having a small camera on board is extremely valuable. The bow pulpit hangs over the bow so far that I could not get a good look at the potential leak path. However, reaching over with my camera as if I was taking a selfie and snapping multiple photos provided all the evidence I needed to find the leak, much better than trying to hang over the bow with a mirror to see under the pulpit! I'll wait a day to let everything dry out and do the repair on Friday.

With the boat washing also done today and the inspection of the bow, I've crossed off two of my 15 boat todo's, such is cruising.