Tracing a pesky leak

When Alan England's Moody 376 developed an unexplainable leak, he used detective work to find the source... but it wasn't easy

- Alan England

Boats have many problems and my Moody 376 Linga Linga was not going to miss Dout. Many of these occur in the bilges, which are out of sight but should never be out of mind!

It was early in 2020 that I had my first indication I had such a bilge problem, when my lower level bilge alarm went off in the middle of the day, though fortunately while the boat was safely alongside its berth in Malta.

Bilge alarms normally go off in the middle of the night or when sailing (if you have an emergency) so I had much to be thankful for.

My first action was to switch off the alarm and then inspect the main

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bilge, where ! discovered the appearance of water. This immediately set off the brain's panic alarm, for I'm allergic to finding water inside my boat. The immediate problem was initially solved by the removal of about two litres of water.

Normally when you have a problem leak to solve on a boat it's raining the proverbial cats and dogs. However, in my case Murphy's Law was activated and I had to wait a few weeks before we enjoyed a torrential downpour to enable me to carry out further investigations.

Linga Linga at anchor in Rinella Bay, Malta

Analyse the evidence

I then 'scientifically' ascertained whether it was freshwater or seawater by tasting it, something not normally recommended.

This confirmed that the problem was freshwater - not as serious as the salty kind, but still a problem.

So, the source had to be found and then eliminated. Sounds easy? Wrong!

Finding the source of a water leak on a boat is like finding the source of the river Amazon, something that I believe is still under dispute.

I decided to follow the approach of that great detective, Sherlock Holmes, and be methodical.