Pitufa.at

It’s never great when the water alarm in the bilge goes off with a high-pitched BEEEEP, but it’s especially disconcerting when you’re out on the ocean with still 60 nm to go to land… The first step is to lift the floorboard, take out the alarm and silence the deafening noise to be able to think again. The next step is nasty: put a finger into the sloshing brew and taste it–fuck, saltwater!
That’s when simple unease turns into dread.
Fortunately a hasty search for the dripping culprit revealed it was just the watermaker, so we turned it off, got out our cherished Stanley (the wet/dry vacuum cleaner) and Christian quickly got the bilge dry, while I was comforting Smurfy in the aft cabin–Smurfy is terrified of noisy Stanley. And all that on a pitching, rolling boat in light winds and confused seas.
Once we were at anchor, Christian dismounted the feed pump (with the helping paws of Smurfy), changed the pump head and the watermaker’s running again without any leaks!