We knew that our stuffing box was leaking excessively. During one sail with Noah and Jessica one of us discovered the trickling sound of water coming from in back of the engine. It was almost a pleasant sound that one might hear in a Japanese garden except that it was alarming to be hearing it inside our boat. We also knew that our aft chain plate was not to be trusted after it pulled up about 1/4″ while out for a sail in a decent wind. Matt’s wife Laurie had been sitting behind the tiller and I was not far from her when we heard a loud twang come from the rigging, particularly the aft stay. I quickly realized that we needed to take the tension off the back stay so we furled the jib and motored back to our mooring. This was just great! Now our boat was not even trustworthy under sail power. Continue reading →
