De Brasem to Sleeuwijk 15 - 18 May Passing harbour in Dordrecht Our first couple of days cruising were a bit dramatic with leaks in the boat and the engine. On Thursday morning, there was quite a bit of water in the boat bilge. This had been a problem in the last couple of days. We weren't sure where it was coming from and were a little concerned. Howard thought it might be a leak above the water line, as water was only coming in some of the time, and maybe it was just when there were larger waves. Anyway, we left De Brasem as planned heading for Gouda. This was a route we had done before, and we had a lot more luck with bridges this time. We reached Gouda at around 2pm and at about 4pm Leona and Jean Marie arrived to spend a couple of days on the boat. Howard had cleared the bilge by then using our water vacuum cleaner. With J-M and Leona we went out for a pleasant meal in town. Passing Tim and Jo's boat Maria of Zaandam in Alphen aan den Rijn Back on the boat, Howard found a lot more water in the boat bilge. Luckily after looking around Jean-Marie identified the problem as a leaky "stern gland". For us this is under the bed, and we had never checked it. In fact we found that we had to saw out a section of wood under the bed to access it. Luckily J-M knew what to do and we tightened the gland which almost stopped the water, and allowed us to have a worry free night. Further tightening the next day seems to have rectified the problem completely, but we plan to replace the cord and repack it when we take the boat out of the water in two weeks time. So next morning, we set out from Gouda first thing, which meant leaving before 8am so that we were underway to catch the tide as it went out (towards Rotterdam). About two hours into our trip, the engine temperature suddenly jumped up, and we pulled over to investigate. Howard discovered a leaky a hose connection which had slowly drained the water from the engine. So after tightening that up and topping with water we were on our way again.
After lunch, with still the current against us, we headed for Dordrecht and the Bunker Station, where we took on 1000 litres of diesel. This took nearly an hour, and by the time we had finished, Howard noticed that the water level had gone down again in the engine, so we ferried a few more litres of water into the engine room and he tightened up a few more hoses (that had been replaced over the winter). Busy waterway (Oude Maas) near the bunker station where we picked up our fuel From there we headed to Riedijks Haven where we moored for the night. This is free mooring for large (>20m) boats, so we just qualify. After all the stops and delays it was 4pm and we'd had long and drama filled couple of days. I had a nap in the afternoon and went to bed soon after dinner. Saturday our trip was to Sleeuwijk and we decided we would go via the Wantij (river), a little longer but a more pleasant cruise, with at least some of the way on a smaller waterway. The sun came out too so we had a very pleasant trip, even trialling our new bimini. Trialing the new bimini Our final night with J-M and Leona this time was at Sleewuij, but we cycled to Woudrichem for a nice meal at the old town hall. Finally we are confident that the leaks are under control. Many thanks to J-M and Leona for sharing in the challenges and fun.
3 Comments
Dawn and Marcel
20/5/2019 07:39:06 pm
Oh sounds a bit scary all that water coming and going. We like to keep the water on the out side of our boat right?. Thanks for sharing anyway. Xxxx
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Richard Switzky
20/5/2019 08:36:30 pm
What adventures! Leaky boat sounds worrying but you take it all i n stride. Such beautiful scenery and so different than Australia. Keep on boating!
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Jm
1/7/2019 08:47:08 am
Always fun on the Moondance! 😎😎
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