That was the worst night we can remember, though we do tend to have short memories; that’s why we’re still living on a boat.

This morning we were running the refrigerator when Ali told me she didn’t think it was working. So we lifted up the engine hatch to have a look. Water water everywhere.

The water was not as high as the engine, but was as high as the belt running the refrigerator compressor, so water was being flung everywhere. Automatic bilge pump obviously not working, flip on the manual—nothing there either. Funny, they were working yesterday. Honest.

We had been about to go to town anyway, so I dropped Ali and the kids off and then went back to get us mobile again. I fiddled with the two non-functioning pumps for an hour before giving up and disconnecting the shower pump to use instead. Ten minutes I had a dry bilge.

Now I had to find the source of the leak. My initial thought was that the water pump must be failing. I’ve got a replacement but haven’t gotten it installed yet. The current one was leaking slowly, so I thought maybe it crapped out completely. But when I started the engine there was no water there.

Then I checked the propeller shaft. Seemed like another obvious choice, but that wasn’t it either. While looking at that I noticed water flowing through that compartment though, so I worked my way backwards, where I found the problem.

The rudder. It was wiggling ever so slightly side to side in the swell allowing water in each time it moved. To be honest I don’t really know anything about how these rudders are installed, so don’t have any guesses on what the cause of the problem is or how to fix it. All I do know is that it’d be pretty difficult to repair a rudder shaft while in the water. I’m afraid this one is going to require a haul-out.

So between the horrible anchorage and the sinking boat we decided to get a move on and head to La Cruz marina to figure out our next step. Well, next step is to get a properly functioning bilge pump going again. But the step after that…who knows.