Sorry Ebb,
The companionway sliding hatch cover was closed and all was dry below with the exception of the areas near the floor reached by the leak, and or water flowing from the 3/4 filled bilge. It is simply not possible that my bilge filled three quarters full with water coming through the companionway. I was very aware of what was transpiring.
Today I went sailing with crew on a pleasure sail, and we reefed the main after about a half hour out there since my guests were not dressed for, nor interested in a wet sail.
I was able to run some tests, although due to our reefed main were not heeled nearly so far as the day before yesterday. . I produced a leak, and you original inclination seems to have been a good hunch. The problem seems to be related to the cockpit drain on the starboard side.
Things remained mostly dry below today, but after we ran close hauled with the starboard rail down briefly, I found a small amount of water running toward the bilge from the base of the starboard cockpit drain. Now, the valves on these drains are the Groco style rubber plug seacocks mounted to the through-hull, which has a teak backing block. The water seems to be concentrated at the base of this block. The block was totally dry when we left the harbor today, but by the time that I discovered the leak, the block was wet. I found water in the general area of the mounting block and nowhere else. It had run both up the hull a little way, presumably while we were heeled and then down toward the bilge. This was a very small leak that did not add appreciable water to the bilge, but then again we were only sailing with the rail down for a couple of minutes. I could not ascertain whether the leak was coming from the valve, the through hull or from the tubing. I took everything out of the cockpit lockers while we were sailing and checked for leaks coming from the rail or the hull deck seam, but all was dry on the hull and in the vicinity of the hull deck seam the toe rail, and in the cockpit locker with the exception of the immediate location of the through hull and valve. So tomorrow I will have to crawl down there and take a closer, longer look. I assume that when the starboard rail is down, the top of the cockpit locker drainpipe and cockpit drain fitting are below water level. I will attempt to simulate this situation somehow, however I don't want to mess with the valve to do the simulations whle the boat is in the water. The nature of these Groco type rubber plug seacocks is that you loosen a locking handle before operating the seacock. My experience with this particular seacock is that after you use the locking handle, the valve will drip for awhile, even while the valve is closed, so that complicates the simulation. To see a drawing of one of these seacocks, see page 382 and 383 of Nigel Calder's Boat Owners Mechanical and Electrical Manual.
Alas, I needed to upgrade my bilge pump and related tubing anyway.
Please find below a photo of the starboard seacock as it looked a couple of years ago, when I took the photo.
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