After a solid breakfast we cast off the lines around 09:00 and topped off the fuel tanks before pointing the bow down the Chesapeake.
The wind was almost non-existent, so we ended up motoring the entire day. With the engine running solidly we noticed water above the floorboards about 2-3 hours into the trip. Looks like the float switch on the bilge pump wasn’t firing. First, we pumped out the water, then set to locate the ingress point. The anti-siphon valve on the engine water intake has failed and it was pumping a large amount of water into the bilge. After diagnosing and inspecting this, we determined that while running we could stay ahead of the water by manually running the bilge pump for ~10 minutes every ~30 minutes. We made it safely to Solomons Island and dropped the anchor shortly before sunset.
We were greeted by this fun little boat after setting the hook.
Last Updated on 2026-10-24 by Brisket