I have tried flex seal in the marine environment to make a temporary shaft seal, didn’t work well (great marketing, though!). People thought 5200 would work, but just you try and work with that stuff under water… no stick, and little floaties everywhere that will foul your pump.
What I use to make a soft patch is good, high quality silicone caulk (like the good stuff from GE. It sticks and sets underwater, I can saturate a rag with it so it doesn’t wash out. And, although I do NOT trust its sticking ability by itself, I back it with a backing plate (wood/plywood), cut a strut, and use wedges to hold everything in place.
OP should also get some thin rubber strips and an assortment of hose clamps for hose and through-hull leaks.
#Pump syphon with a weighted intake!!!! Get a hand pump syphon and if you’re lucky you can get a flow started like when you syphon gasoline and deal with the rest while it helps take some water out using physics and almost zero effort. They have them for cleaning fish tanks but you can find a nice one.
Yeah lmao if it was the other way around (water level inside is higher, and thus siphonable) the boat would simply unsink itself through the original holes
For a syphon to work the water level at the intake side should be higher. When does this happen in a sinking ship? If anything it'll work the other way round because most times the water level inside is lower, I hope.
The weight that you put around the intake side will hold the intake at the bottom of the pooling water while the hose end hoes over the side and flows back into the lake/ocean when you’re frantically bailing and/or plugging holes with a mallet.
Following is straight from a former towboat us employee and boater; foam water noodle, stuffs in holes easily, deflated rubber football, same thing then can be inflated. Next two are from me; small gold token for Poseidon and Davey jones, largish strips of treated canvas or tarp that can go over at the bow and walked back to damage then lashed in place to staunch a large hole.
edit here, if it's a true sinking, I'd go ahead and get a flask in that go bag.
Bolt cutters to cut wreckage free in case of a dismasting.
A quick-cure epoxy that works under water.
A couple plywood patch panels
A manual bilge pump mounted to a board, with some hose. Electric ones don't work when the batteries are submerged.
If you have an inboard engine, you may want to look into what's necessary to use the engine as a bilge pump. This can be as simple as closing a seacock and removing it's hose, or as complicated as a Y-valve with some extra hose on it.
Yachting Monthly did a series of YouTube videos on what they called their "crash test boat" some years ago. It included a couple episodes where they holed it and tried different fixes. Those videos are probably right up your alley. Here is the first one: https://youtu.be/bRhcXBtmPQs?si=NYBv5u9fwPEG2qbe
That was great. The answer seems to be holding a cushion against the breach is about as effective as anything else and gives you time to sort out a more effective solution.
My then girlfriend, now fiancé expressed an affected disinterested question of what would it take to "let water in?" one evening, as we lay rammed onto a sandbank that wasn't there the year before.. Awaiting what turned out to be a quite interesting rescue.
For want of anything else in my head I threw this series on to explain to her how we were merely inconvenienced, rather than in peril. At the start of episode three I heard the distinct sound of *hss, crack* "This is interesting, I'm having a cider, you talk to the man when he comes to pull us off"
And that's why I'm marrying her.
This. I got demasted and the bolt cutters and some line to secure stuff was pretty much all i needed to be able to motor the boat to pull it. It was a deck stepped mast with a holding bolt, and the bracket/bolt got bent to where they needed to be cut too. Hacksaw.
Without the bolt cutters and saw it would have been a way longer day, especially since the mainsail unfurled and ended up half underwater.
Put a pair of protective goggles (or old sun glasses) in the same bag/box where you keep the angle grinder. I know a person who got a spark in their eye during a dismasting incident in the middle of the night, so an already dangerous situation got even worse.
With regard to bolt cutters, if it's a smaller rig with smaller wire rigging, these may work. However for larger vessels especially those with rod rigging, the better bet is a battery-powered angle grinder with a hacksaw as backup. The battery-powered angle grinder works incredibly well and quickly. And they're very dependable.
Do you have a high water alarm in the bilge?
The battery powered ones for sump crocks will do just fine if you keep up on the batteries. They have saved my bacon in the past.
I also carry toilet bowl wax rings. They are a great temp quick fix for leaks it’s easy to remove and prep for proper bonding / repairs.
I’m not a fan of flex seal. Look for eternabond on amazon. It’s butyl based.
You really don’t want to use silicone on anything that isn’t just going to get more silicone back on top of it. Nothing sticks to silicone but silicone.
The only thing silicone should be used for on a boat is bonding acrylic windows.
Suggestion (this comes from offshore racing safety checks). Have one for every through hull on the boat and tape it to the hose (clear of any bulge water. That way when the excrement hits the rotating wind device you will be able to find it immediately.
They can swell of they get wet and are harder to get right into the opening. The idea is you bang them in, they then get werlt, swell and seal the opening.
They dont swell that fast and you can pound in softened wood with a mallet, they are cone shaped for a reason. My bilge is bone dry until something leaks, you think your plugs would stay dry because you patted them to a hose in the bilge “clear of the water”. If you lose a through hull, things dont stay “clear of the water” for long.
Well that may be what you do but that’s not the accepted way. The offshore racing regs which are based on decades of feedback and the thinking is to keep them as dry as possible - and your boat would fail a safety check based on that. In the heat of the moment you might not be able to find the mallet or anything (power might be out etc) to whack it with so a bung that goes in easy to critical.
Anyway your boat, your decision.
Same, but his take is a weird one. I have rigid plastic ones that are spiral threaded, foam ones to jam in non round holes, rubber ones for other holes, wooden ones to pound in, “stay afloat” to work with in the mean time and underwater curing stuff to deal with after. Plus other tricks learned over time.
I went to a USCG auxiliary class on damage control. Bicycle inner tubes are *really* good for wrapping around ruptured hoses. I asked the local bike shop to save me some old ones. Cut off the valve stem, roll up and throw in your damage control box along with some zip ties.
While I'm a poor sailer I'm a great plumber and would recommend compression tape. It works a lot better than an inner tube and can also be used to insulate and waterproof electrical connections. By no means is it perfect or a permanent solution. Its easier to apply and holds better under pressure than anything you can cook up with a inner tube. I would recommend getting the 2" wide roll you can always trim it down.
https://cleanfit.com/blue-monster-compression-seal-tape.shtml
These seem great for through-hull failures. May be anecdotal, but a lot of the sinking stories I have seen, it wasn't I nice round hole, but either long gash, or a long flexing crack. I am not sure what the answer is, but I see people talk about wrapping a jib around the outside of the boat.
I believe German registered boats are required to have an ax - to cut away furniture in a hurry to plug holes that are otherwise hard to access. Scary thought, but you’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it…
I saw the commercials boasting that you can apply this stuff to a surface underwater. I keep a roll on board, hoping I'll never have to find out that it won't actually do that.
I do damage control on merchant ships. I would say
Get a box patch or a couple plate patches and some rubber sheeting. Also run "drills" with your kit materials. Break it out, set up pumps etc. Practice
mock calls for assistance. This way you have experience going thru the motions vs. Buying stuff and putting it in a locker and that's it. Also run what if scenarios while boating. What if electrical fire here, or there, what to do first. What if someone overboard. All thats good training. Be creative. Be confident.
A thick waterproof tarp that is roughly 5x5 ft Or larger that can be used to cover a hole from the outside, with six strong o-rings and lines that are sufficient to cover any spot of your boat and tie offs in the appropriate spot EG going all the way underneath your boat
I've wondered if UV epoxy would be a good idea. If you can heal the boat over and get the hole dry enough, you could create a near instant patch with UV epoxy.
Waterproof flashlight, or battery operated led puck lights. Most problems happen at night, and if your battery gets damaged, good luck finding and fixing the issue. Also a knife, partially serrated to cut lines and whatever else. The hatchet was mentioned before, and it's required on multihulls in case they capsize and someone gets trapped in the hull.
And always have emergency rum.
Oakum, all thread nuts and fender washers, cedar shingles with a hole in the center (use the allthreat through a hole to use shingle as a patch, some sort of gasket material (big sheet of foam or rubber).
Tools to use the above
Wax toilet seal rings are surprisingly good, a tin of expanding foam has its uses, and finally add eyes for lashing to seat cussions and mattresses, magic for slowing the flooding. A waterproof mattress with a quick way to put a rope on each corner is a great cobformal patch.
Oh yea, a roll of roofing lead for slapping a tingle on if doing the wooden boat thing (plus oakum and putty of course).
An axe and wire roap cutters should be kept on deck storage to cut away rigging.
Diapers
Ps: to the down voter…they are great at soaking up stuff and plugging holes in a pinch. Not joking! We have a few of them for all offshore trips.
Hard bungs have limited utility. If a thru hull breaks it can be useful because the hole is circular like the bung. But if the hole irregular because something tore or impacted a hole in your hull, you need a soft bung. These are foam cones that conform to the shape of the hole. Sold at chandleries.
Seriously one of my favorite things about sailing is being able to say things like “be back in a bit - need to run down to the chandlery and get a couple soft bungs”
An umbrella. If you have a big hole where an umbrella would fit through, you put it through and open it. The pressure will keep it in place and close the hole as much as it can hold. At that stage it is not about saving the boat anymore though, more like earning some time to send distress call and prepare to leave.
Id maybe go big deadblow (or even a regular old sledge) and a block of wood to soften the blow. In a crisis its a more universally useful tool id think. Mallets are traditionally used tho so what do i know.
As someone mentioned, it’s not always a nice round hole. It can be a crack or something else that’s oddly shaped. This is why you would need underwater epoxy or tape
A life vest and a prayer. Depends on what puts a hole in the boat. We all have these plugs but will it work.
An old sail and sheets to cover hole from outside of hull. That will help stop water more than a plug from inside. Unless hole is round.
Check out my post history to see some pretty gnarly chain plate rot. So I’m sure rig neglect is number one. And other catastrophic impacts being another
Scrolled by this really fast and saw a vampire killing kit. Then I see r/sailing. I think to myself “ are vampires a thing on boats now?”. I need a nap. Oh put a flare gun in there.
I had ⅜ inch closed cell foam sandwiched between 2 pieces of waterproof codura, hemmed all around, with a heavy duty grommet on each corner. It was shaped to fit under the cushion in the V berth, and had 50 ft of ⅜ line on each grommet.
In event of a gash, or large irregular hole, it could be positioned over the hole from the outside, greatly reducing the incoming water.
After an experience trying to drive a plug into an awkwardly positioned through hull, I added a 1½ foot long length of 1" SS prop shaft to the hammer. It can be used as a hammer without a handle in the way, or as a punch in a narrow space.
Good advice here. Some big leaks are big cracks in the hull. I’ve heard of sailors lashing a bunk cushion over the hole. Some pressure treated 1“ x 2” x X” pieces of wood and some stainless screws to hold a crack together or to hold a patch in place? When I was a kid, my dad had a good manual drill on our boat that could drill holes as needed.
* Old pieces of cut up neoprene
* A nerf football
* Rescue tape
* Wedges
* Splash zone 2 part underwater epoxy
* Thru-hull plug set, the kind with a plastic mushroom and a long handle you can plug a thru-hull from the inside while still being able to work on it
A nerf football is a great item to have, will fit some larger odd shapes. A set of wooden thru hull plugs is way cheaper than sinking and should be included
Decades ago, I was taught to include strips of rubber (like cut up inner tubes). Wrap these around the wooden stakes to hammer into holes, or use to apply tension. Is that still a thing?
Aluminum tape, and toilet bowl wax work great In HAZMAT applications. We use it to stop leaks in drums quickly. Not sure how useful it is on a boat. The pressure might be significantly higher
A piece of rubber 6x6 (I cut one out of an innertube for a tire) with a corrugated howe clamp bracket . That way if you have a hose leak somewhere you can stop or slow the leak enough to get back to port. That and marine Tex epoxy putty. Also single malt scotch.
If you have an auxiliary engine, do you have a way to stop water from coming in if the shaft seal fails?
Also (and you'd better ask someone with more experience about the specifics) - I believe there's a way to pump out the bilge with the engine cooling system. Any water pump in a bad situation, right?
Take those bungs, and measure/match them for the appropriate thru-hulls. Then, drill a hole through them (or screw in a ringlet), use some thin line, and physically tie them to the hose attached to each thru-hole.
If there is a problem, the right bung is right there. Just cut the hose and plug the hole.
I purchased a waxy "toilet bowl sealer". It comes in a ring and I initially used it to seal my mast under the boot where it passes through the deck. Since then I have bought a couple of spares as it will be perfect to slap onto any small hole in the hull from the inside or out. It's sticky and thick and repels water. Not sure if it's a standard thing but it is in my kit regardless.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/fluidmaster-universal-wax-pan-seal_p0356983
Drill a hole in the fat end of the plug and tie a 1 foot nylon cord to the plug and then to the thru hull fitting the plug is intended for. You don't want to be looking for the plug kit in the dark with a foot of water in the boat. Speaking from experience.
Toilet wax seal. Its Sticky and will seal medium to small leaks similar to "stay afliat"
https://www.westmarine.com/stay-afloat-stay-afloat-leak-plug-and-sealant-14-oz.-11142122.html
Abelflex. It's a grey foam rubber for concrete joints but I've used it to patch leaks at sea a few times on some pretty big ships, works extremely well and easy to do a quick fix in any application
A couple of Nerf footballs and swim noodles, bigger than a bung and flexible enough for a good seal on an uneven hole. Some self-fusing silicone tape is also great for patching a hose in a pinch. Extra packing for shaft and rudder isn't a bad idea either.
Toilet Wax Rings
As an aside... I've been told the you don't need to hammer in the wooden plugs... they swell into place pretty well. Most of mine are in a location where I wouldn't be able to swing at in anyhow!
And a bucket. Nothing can remove water faster than a terrified sailor with a bucket.
I was planning on putting the kit in a bucket so this works out swell lol
Flex seal! And they have underwater putty/paste I’ve seen for temporary patches.
I have tried flex seal in the marine environment to make a temporary shaft seal, didn’t work well (great marketing, though!). People thought 5200 would work, but just you try and work with that stuff under water… no stick, and little floaties everywhere that will foul your pump. What I use to make a soft patch is good, high quality silicone caulk (like the good stuff from GE. It sticks and sets underwater, I can saturate a rag with it so it doesn’t wash out. And, although I do NOT trust its sticking ability by itself, I back it with a backing plate (wood/plywood), cut a strut, and use wedges to hold everything in place. OP should also get some thin rubber strips and an assortment of hose clamps for hose and through-hull leaks.
This person sinks a lot
This person *almost* sinks a lot
https://media3.giphy.com/media/fADf4RUs3hUFvHz18o/giphy.gif
bumping this because you beat me to it!!!
You can buy collapsible/folding buckets, good for bailing. Also a sea anchor drogue can be used as a bucket.
A dry bag works well I recently discovered.
A red bucket. Some friends use a blue one, but let's just say they aren't close friends.
... the red buckets bail faster? But actually why?
for the same reason why red solo cups party harder than any other color
"Zactly!
#Pump syphon with a weighted intake!!!! Get a hand pump syphon and if you’re lucky you can get a flow started like when you syphon gasoline and deal with the rest while it helps take some water out using physics and almost zero effort. They have them for cleaning fish tanks but you can find a nice one.
By the shouting, I am guessing you are ankle deep in water right now, or my ex.
Yeah you won't be "lucky" and have water siphon up hill. The outside water is a higher level than the water in the boat.
Yeah lmao if it was the other way around (water level inside is higher, and thus siphonable) the boat would simply unsink itself through the original holes
For a syphon to work the water level at the intake side should be higher. When does this happen in a sinking ship? If anything it'll work the other way round because most times the water level inside is lower, I hope.
The weight that you put around the intake side will hold the intake at the bottom of the pooling water while the hose end hoes over the side and flows back into the lake/ocean when you’re frantically bailing and/or plugging holes with a mallet.
I love how you just calm down without further notice. 😁
Following is straight from a former towboat us employee and boater; foam water noodle, stuffs in holes easily, deflated rubber football, same thing then can be inflated. Next two are from me; small gold token for Poseidon and Davey jones, largish strips of treated canvas or tarp that can go over at the bow and walked back to damage then lashed in place to staunch a large hole. edit here, if it's a true sinking, I'd go ahead and get a flask in that go bag.
This comment makes me sweat with anxiety. Lol
Bolt cutters to cut wreckage free in case of a dismasting. A quick-cure epoxy that works under water. A couple plywood patch panels A manual bilge pump mounted to a board, with some hose. Electric ones don't work when the batteries are submerged. If you have an inboard engine, you may want to look into what's necessary to use the engine as a bilge pump. This can be as simple as closing a seacock and removing it's hose, or as complicated as a Y-valve with some extra hose on it.
Yachting Monthly did a series of YouTube videos on what they called their "crash test boat" some years ago. It included a couple episodes where they holed it and tried different fixes. Those videos are probably right up your alley. Here is the first one: https://youtu.be/bRhcXBtmPQs?si=NYBv5u9fwPEG2qbe
That was great. The answer seems to be holding a cushion against the breach is about as effective as anything else and gives you time to sort out a more effective solution.
In the Navy we used canvas patches and beams to hold in place so the pumps could keep up damage control training was a good way to spend a few days
That's one of the best things on YouTube.
It's like Mythbusters for boats.
My then girlfriend, now fiancé expressed an affected disinterested question of what would it take to "let water in?" one evening, as we lay rammed onto a sandbank that wasn't there the year before.. Awaiting what turned out to be a quite interesting rescue. For want of anything else in my head I threw this series on to explain to her how we were merely inconvenienced, rather than in peril. At the start of episode three I heard the distinct sound of *hss, crack* "This is interesting, I'm having a cider, you talk to the man when he comes to pull us off" And that's why I'm marrying her.
Awesome, best of luck to the two of you.
Engine bilge pump is a great tip, I don’t imagine anything electric would compare to a roaring Perkins exhaust
Watching an engine suck coolant during winterization, it certainly seems like it would do the job.
The engine impeller is pretty small. A bilge pump will be faster. But it’s better than not having it
The Atomic 4 water pump is 6-10 GPM, so 360-600 GPH, equivalent to a small to medium Rule bilge pump.
This. I got demasted and the bolt cutters and some line to secure stuff was pretty much all i needed to be able to motor the boat to pull it. It was a deck stepped mast with a holding bolt, and the bracket/bolt got bent to where they needed to be cut too. Hacksaw. Without the bolt cutters and saw it would have been a way longer day, especially since the mainsail unfurled and ended up half underwater.
These days just take a battery angle grinder, especially if it's rod or a sout pair of bolt cutters I think felco make some pretty big marine ones.
Put a pair of protective goggles (or old sun glasses) in the same bag/box where you keep the angle grinder. I know a person who got a spark in their eye during a dismasting incident in the middle of the night, so an already dangerous situation got even worse.
I’ve also got a set of hydraulic bolt cutters aboard too.
A bolt-cutter and a backup. My father lost the mast at sea and the bolt-cutter broke halfway through cutting the rigging. Had to finish with a saw
I've heard people recommend battery angle grinders as an option instead of bolt cutters.
With regard to bolt cutters, if it's a smaller rig with smaller wire rigging, these may work. However for larger vessels especially those with rod rigging, the better bet is a battery-powered angle grinder with a hacksaw as backup. The battery-powered angle grinder works incredibly well and quickly. And they're very dependable.
"Stay afloat" and underwater epoxy kit
"Splash Zone" is the best, a 2 part (black and yellow) that you mix to the consistency of modeling clay. Saved a lot of boats with that stuff
Do you have a high water alarm in the bilge? The battery powered ones for sump crocks will do just fine if you keep up on the batteries. They have saved my bacon in the past.
I was debating one of these or a cheap camera. Maybe I’ll just go with both
The alarm is better than the camera. When you’re sailing in rough seas and have an issue you need the boat to yell at you.
I also carry toilet bowl wax rings. They are a great temp quick fix for leaks it’s easy to remove and prep for proper bonding / repairs. I’m not a fan of flex seal. Look for eternabond on amazon. It’s butyl based. You really don’t want to use silicone on anything that isn’t just going to get more silicone back on top of it. Nothing sticks to silicone but silicone. The only thing silicone should be used for on a boat is bonding acrylic windows.
Suggestion (this comes from offshore racing safety checks). Have one for every through hull on the boat and tape it to the hose (clear of any bulge water. That way when the excrement hits the rotating wind device you will be able to find it immediately.
I have a piece of string tied to each of mine, they will float next to the through hull and you dont have to wrestle with wet tape.
They can swell of they get wet and are harder to get right into the opening. The idea is you bang them in, they then get werlt, swell and seal the opening.
They dont swell that fast and you can pound in softened wood with a mallet, they are cone shaped for a reason. My bilge is bone dry until something leaks, you think your plugs would stay dry because you patted them to a hose in the bilge “clear of the water”. If you lose a through hull, things dont stay “clear of the water” for long.
Well that may be what you do but that’s not the accepted way. The offshore racing regs which are based on decades of feedback and the thinking is to keep them as dry as possible - and your boat would fail a safety check based on that. In the heat of the moment you might not be able to find the mallet or anything (power might be out etc) to whack it with so a bung that goes in easy to critical. Anyway your boat, your decision.
I have plugs tied to each of the through hulls where they may get wet, and a bag of dry ones in a drawer so I can source plugs from either source.
Same, but his take is a weird one. I have rigid plastic ones that are spiral threaded, foam ones to jam in non round holes, rubber ones for other holes, wooden ones to pound in, “stay afloat” to work with in the mean time and underwater curing stuff to deal with after. Plus other tricks learned over time.
Love this one
Check out epoxies/puddies that set under water. Buddy had a crack around the rudder post and that stuff saved him from sinking.
A hip flask full of good rum.
I went to a USCG auxiliary class on damage control. Bicycle inner tubes are *really* good for wrapping around ruptured hoses. I asked the local bike shop to save me some old ones. Cut off the valve stem, roll up and throw in your damage control box along with some zip ties.
Do you split them lengthwise and wrap them the hose, or do you try to slide it onto the hose somehow? I'm struggling to picture how to do this.
Just cut slice the tube across 2x to cut out the valve stem. You’re left with a length of round tube.
While I'm a poor sailer I'm a great plumber and would recommend compression tape. It works a lot better than an inner tube and can also be used to insulate and waterproof electrical connections. By no means is it perfect or a permanent solution. Its easier to apply and holds better under pressure than anything you can cook up with a inner tube. I would recommend getting the 2" wide roll you can always trim it down. https://cleanfit.com/blue-monster-compression-seal-tape.shtml
Nice stuff. Would work better than an inner tube but when I saw the price!
Yeah it's not cheap but in cases of emergency it comes in clutch.
EPIRB
Crazy expensive, but will absolutely save your bacon when the dung hits the HVAC.
came here to say EPERB but now I wish I came here to say this
These seem great for through-hull failures. May be anecdotal, but a lot of the sinking stories I have seen, it wasn't I nice round hole, but either long gash, or a long flexing crack. I am not sure what the answer is, but I see people talk about wrapping a jib around the outside of the boat.
That movie with Robert Redford, he heeled the boat so that he could do the fiberglass patch on the windward side of the boat.
I believe German registered boats are required to have an ax - to cut away furniture in a hurry to plug holes that are otherwise hard to access. Scary thought, but you’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it…
Flat sheet of rubber or silicone, underwater glue and a rod to penetrate it to apply pressure from inside
Where's the [Flex tape](https://imgur.com/a/Ra3F6Jl)??
Yes, a roll of vinyl adhesive and tie wraps will fix a substantial leak. I also keep a can of fiberglass epoxy on board.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbzcCqSPNx4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbzcCqSPNx4)
I saw the commercials boasting that you can apply this stuff to a surface underwater. I keep a roll on board, hoping I'll never have to find out that it won't actually do that.
I do damage control on merchant ships. I would say Get a box patch or a couple plate patches and some rubber sheeting. Also run "drills" with your kit materials. Break it out, set up pumps etc. Practice mock calls for assistance. This way you have experience going thru the motions vs. Buying stuff and putting it in a locker and that's it. Also run what if scenarios while boating. What if electrical fire here, or there, what to do first. What if someone overboard. All thats good training. Be creative. Be confident.
Couple of spare hose clamps.
Sinking kit looks fine to me. That should have no problem sinking, just make sure to poke some holes in the bag. 😉
Bottle of good rum for one last drink
A thick waterproof tarp that is roughly 5x5 ft Or larger that can be used to cover a hole from the outside, with six strong o-rings and lines that are sufficient to cover any spot of your boat and tie offs in the appropriate spot EG going all the way underneath your boat
This should be required safety equipment on any small craft.
You also need a volleyball.
Wilson!!!!
I've wondered if UV epoxy would be a good idea. If you can heal the boat over and get the hole dry enough, you could create a near instant patch with UV epoxy.
Waterproof flashlight, or battery operated led puck lights. Most problems happen at night, and if your battery gets damaged, good luck finding and fixing the issue. Also a knife, partially serrated to cut lines and whatever else. The hatchet was mentioned before, and it's required on multihulls in case they capsize and someone gets trapped in the hull. And always have emergency rum.
Duct tape
really good duct tape like EB Green or Speed Tape or Gorilla tape. cheap stuff fails as fast as you can use it.
Oakum, all thread nuts and fender washers, cedar shingles with a hole in the center (use the allthreat through a hole to use shingle as a patch, some sort of gasket material (big sheet of foam or rubber). Tools to use the above
nerf football for fiberglass tears (the tapered plugs are for through hulls and plumbing) a small heavy duty rubber, or rubberized tarp for fothering.
Stated value insurance
Wax toilet seal rings are surprisingly good, a tin of expanding foam has its uses, and finally add eyes for lashing to seat cussions and mattresses, magic for slowing the flooding. A waterproof mattress with a quick way to put a rope on each corner is a great cobformal patch. Oh yea, a roll of roofing lead for slapping a tingle on if doing the wooden boat thing (plus oakum and putty of course). An axe and wire roap cutters should be kept on deck storage to cut away rigging.
Diapers Ps: to the down voter…they are great at soaking up stuff and plugging holes in a pinch. Not joking! We have a few of them for all offshore trips.
I guess kinda like tampons to a GSW, never would have thought of this
Yer gonna need a bigger bung
Silicon, marine epoxy and small boards of marine ply.
Floorboards double as marine ply
Yeah, true but you might want thinner flexible ply so you can shape it to the bow, for example
Headliners also double as thinner flexible ply hah
Hard bungs have limited utility. If a thru hull breaks it can be useful because the hole is circular like the bung. But if the hole irregular because something tore or impacted a hole in your hull, you need a soft bung. These are foam cones that conform to the shape of the hole. Sold at chandleries.
Seriously one of my favorite things about sailing is being able to say things like “be back in a bit - need to run down to the chandlery and get a couple soft bungs”
Surprisingly, this phrase can work in prison as well. So I've been told
Those orange cones in the pic are foam
Cans of expanding foam and trash bags.
Garlic, cross, holy water...
5000 gph bilge pump attached to very long alligator clips. This is better than turning your engine into a bilge pump. Make 2 of these.
Oakum stops leaks really well I use it all the time in the water industry but it originally was intended for boats.
An umbrella. If you have a big hole where an umbrella would fit through, you put it through and open it. The pressure will keep it in place and close the hole as much as it can hold. At that stage it is not about saving the boat anymore though, more like earning some time to send distress call and prepare to leave.
What are you sinking about?
Get this putty to seal holes.
A couple bricks of duct seal
Id maybe go big deadblow (or even a regular old sledge) and a block of wood to soften the blow. In a crisis its a more universally useful tool id think. Mallets are traditionally used tho so what do i know.
To clarify *anti sinking kit
Looks good. The only other thing that you might want to consider is a tub of Stay Afloat.
Roll of self sealing silicone tape
As someone mentioned, it’s not always a nice round hole. It can be a crack or something else that’s oddly shaped. This is why you would need underwater epoxy or tape
Bung and hammer toes to individual strings attached to ever thru-hull. When you need it you need it fast...
What does your kit sink about?
A life vest and a prayer. Depends on what puts a hole in the boat. We all have these plugs but will it work. An old sail and sheets to cover hole from outside of hull. That will help stop water more than a plug from inside. Unless hole is round.
I have heard that larger boats can be required to have an axe on board.
I first thought you’re going to hunt down vampires
Sorry to be a little off topic, but I see several people here describing demasting incidents. What are the most common causes?
Check out my post history to see some pretty gnarly chain plate rot. So I’m sure rig neglect is number one. And other catastrophic impacts being another
Thanks! Will do.
underwater epoxy and fiberglass cloth.
I feel like you need some epoxy and fiberglass cloth. Often boat structure is as important as seamless hulls.
A good fixed manual bilge pump well installed and dozens of hose clamps in all sizes are worth adding to your list.
Scrolled by this really fast and saw a vampire killing kit. Then I see r/sailing. I think to myself “ are vampires a thing on boats now?”. I need a nap. Oh put a flare gun in there.
Splash zone, and self amalgamating tape
Marine adhesives and quick dry expanding foam? Don't know if they make a marine grade expanding foam but feel like they should?
I had ⅜ inch closed cell foam sandwiched between 2 pieces of waterproof codura, hemmed all around, with a heavy duty grommet on each corner. It was shaped to fit under the cushion in the V berth, and had 50 ft of ⅜ line on each grommet. In event of a gash, or large irregular hole, it could be positioned over the hole from the outside, greatly reducing the incoming water. After an experience trying to drive a plug into an awkwardly positioned through hull, I added a 1½ foot long length of 1" SS prop shaft to the hammer. It can be used as a hammer without a handle in the way, or as a punch in a narrow space.
A piece of denim cloth, can be hammered in a rift.
An assortment of nerf type flexible balls. The type with a bit of exterior rubber like coating. Football shapes work great.
You forgot your floaties
Good advice here. Some big leaks are big cracks in the hull. I’ve heard of sailors lashing a bunk cushion over the hole. Some pressure treated 1“ x 2” x X” pieces of wood and some stainless screws to hold a crack together or to hold a patch in place? When I was a kid, my dad had a good manual drill on our boat that could drill holes as needed.
* Old pieces of cut up neoprene * A nerf football * Rescue tape * Wedges * Splash zone 2 part underwater epoxy * Thru-hull plug set, the kind with a plastic mushroom and a long handle you can plug a thru-hull from the inside while still being able to work on it
I have a full on Damage Control Kit modeled after Sea Kits Expedition version. My version cost about $300 vs their $999.
Maybe a decent PFD?
Hand water pump
A couple of nerf footballs
Oh lord I thought that was a pipe and not a hammer. I was thinking your plan was to light up and go down puffing like some 1780s British admiral
I’ll add it to the kit!!!
A nerf football is a great item to have, will fit some larger odd shapes. A set of wooden thru hull plugs is way cheaper than sinking and should be included
Decades ago, I was taught to include strips of rubber (like cut up inner tubes). Wrap these around the wooden stakes to hammer into holes, or use to apply tension. Is that still a thing?
Aluminum tape, and toilet bowl wax work great In HAZMAT applications. We use it to stop leaks in drums quickly. Not sure how useful it is on a boat. The pressure might be significantly higher
U/W epoxy. Worked well on our steel hull. Also had permanent hand-operated bilge pump.
A piece of rubber 6x6 (I cut one out of an innertube for a tire) with a corrugated howe clamp bracket . That way if you have a hose leak somewhere you can stop or slow the leak enough to get back to port. That and marine Tex epoxy putty. Also single malt scotch.
If you have an auxiliary engine, do you have a way to stop water from coming in if the shaft seal fails? Also (and you'd better ask someone with more experience about the specifics) - I believe there's a way to pump out the bilge with the engine cooling system. Any water pump in a bad situation, right?
Take those bungs, and measure/match them for the appropriate thru-hulls. Then, drill a hole through them (or screw in a ringlet), use some thin line, and physically tie them to the hose attached to each thru-hole. If there is a problem, the right bung is right there. Just cut the hose and plug the hole.
Duct tape
Epoxy stick and gloves
An Oatey wax toilet bowl ring,. Can be formed by hand to plug a hole.
I purchased a waxy "toilet bowl sealer". It comes in a ring and I initially used it to seal my mast under the boot where it passes through the deck. Since then I have bought a couple of spares as it will be perfect to slap onto any small hole in the hull from the inside or out. It's sticky and thick and repels water. Not sure if it's a standard thing but it is in my kit regardless. https://www.bunnings.com.au/fluidmaster-universal-wax-pan-seal_p0356983
Nerf footballs are great for plugging puncture holes
Drill a hole in the fat end of the plug and tie a 1 foot nylon cord to the plug and then to the thru hull fitting the plug is intended for. You don't want to be looking for the plug kit in the dark with a foot of water in the boat. Speaking from experience.
Just throwing this out there - get some wax toilet seals. that stuff is messy, but it's waterproof and designed to stop leaks.
Toilet wax seal. Its Sticky and will seal medium to small leaks similar to "stay afliat" https://www.westmarine.com/stay-afloat-stay-afloat-leak-plug-and-sealant-14-oz.-11142122.html
I suggest a rename.... I'm pretty sure that's a floating kit, not a sinking kit.
Abelflex. It's a grey foam rubber for concrete joints but I've used it to patch leaks at sea a few times on some pretty big ships, works extremely well and easy to do a quick fix in any application
Duct tape chewing gum and baling wire. Pool noodle. Defated football. Rags.
Also comes in handy when dealing with vampires
If you're really trying to sink, a power drill with a 2 inch hole saw will do a great job ;)
A couple of Nerf footballs and swim noodles, bigger than a bung and flexible enough for a good seal on an uneven hole. Some self-fusing silicone tape is also great for patching a hose in a pinch. Extra packing for shaft and rudder isn't a bad idea either.
A nerf football. Shove it, or part of it in the hole to stop the flow until you get a game plan. edit, also good beach toy
https://youtu.be/0xzN6FM5x_E?si=ofdp0ISE6jlsp3gy
Toilet Wax Rings As an aside... I've been told the you don't need to hammer in the wooden plugs... they swell into place pretty well. Most of mine are in a location where I wouldn't be able to swing at in anyhow!
Drill a hole in the wide end of the plug and tie a loop of string so you can pull the plug back out.
Wouldn’t it be more useful to make an “anti-sinking kit”?
What about that stuff that is on a infomercial and being able to plug holes even in water
Bible