Peter and Scott,
This thread was on my mind last when I noticed a full bilge in the midst of a storm on the Chesapeake bringing Ariel Spirit home to it's new owner. I was running from a ~ 40+ and noticed the floorboards were floating.
I remembered something about the bilge pump acting as a siphon. Now, I had looked at the bilge pump installation Keith had made (first-rate job, with a vented loop before the through-hull, which was installed in the lazarette.
After using the manual pump he had installed in the port cockpit locker (guzzler 400) to empty the bilge, I noticed a stream of water running forward from under the sink on the starboard side.
I removed the steps and saw the water was streaming in from somewhere well aft (not the cockpit drains, rudder shaft, or anything I could see with the flash light).
The lazarette was filled with water, which was coming in around the outboard. Ariel Spirit had come with an outboard plug, but there was no way I could lift the 9.9 electric start motor out of the well with the boat pitching about in the storm.
I had already taken down the reefed main, and now rolled the jib in till it was barely flying at all (just enough to keep steerage). The lazarette emptied of most of it's water and the leak subsided.
Later that evening, I was able to inspect the bulkhead in the lazarette and found it appeared to be in great shape. It had been reinforced with epoxy, and looked to have been repaired in a manner consistent with the rest of Keith's work (very well done).
Ariel Sprit’s lazarette only has a floor on one side, not all the way across like Faith. The holes for wires and the like were all pretty high up on the bulkhead so I doubt the water was coming in there.
I have only been able to duplicate the leak by running the outboard too fast (the 9.9 really has too much thrust for and Ariel IMHO.) I can make water come in by trying to push her past hull speed with the motor. I will have Brittany do the 'hose test' to see if we can track down the source of the leak.
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