Have you ever taken on water?
Have you ever woken up at 2 a.m., onboard your sailing boat underway, and put your feet on the floor only to feel it wet? It’s a feeling you don’t easily forget, probably one of the worst you can experience at sea, especially if you’re on a passage and far from the coast. On one hand, it’s also better not to be close to rocks, but in those moments you have very little time to think and every second counts. It has happened to me three times, and each time I learned something new.
Engine bypass: using the engine as a pump
There is a solution that is as simple as it is effective: using the engine as an emergency pump. In practice, you create a bypass between the engine’s seawater intake and a hose that draws directly from the bilge; instead of pulling water from outside for cooling, the engine starts drawing the water inside the boat and expels it overboard. This is exactly what you see in some technical videos: you disconnect the seawater intake hose and connect it to a temporary hose with its end placed under the floorboards, and at that point, with the engine running in neutral, you start emptying the boat. The speed is surprising, because in just a few minutes you can remove a huge amount of water, depending on the engine’s cooling pump capacity.
Is it really possible?
Yes, it is possible, and it’s one of those things you should ideally have tried at least once before facing a real emergency. I learned it years ago, the hard way, when I had no alternatives and had to do it for real.
Night, storm, water up to the knees
I was on a passage between Savona and Alghero, in the middle of the Mediterranean, during a stormy night with rough seas and strong winds, about thirty miles off Corsica. They woke me at 2 a.m. with water up to my knees, and in those moments you don’t immediately ask where it’s coming from, but how to stop it. With me was Venanzio, known as Vena, my mentor: he was at the helm, I was below deck, while he shouted instructions over the noise of wind and waves. Half asleep and completely disoriented, I tried to understand what to do as the boat slammed into the waves. We set up the engine bypass with the engine already hot and in full emergency, and it actually worked, allowing us to empty the boat and probably saving our lives.
Where was the water coming from?
It wasn’t a structural failure, but something more subtle: water was entering through the porthole more precisely, the side window on the port side above the galley, which was on the leeward side and, with the heel of the boat and the pressure of the sea, it kept seeping in continuously through a dry or improperly fitted seal. First it flooded the fridge compartment, ruining everything inside, then it started flowing behind the galley, filled the bilge and eventually the entire boat. The bilge pump had failed and, being only two onboard and on watch shifts, we hadn’t checked below deck for a couple of hours. One steers and the other sleeps there’s no alternative in those conditions. I still remember Vena shaking me and shouting, while I, exhausted from the previous watch, could barely wake up; but as soon as I understood the situation, I started doing exactly what he told me, and it became one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned at sea.
The “Lupa”
This system, in nautical jargon, is called the “Lupa” and it’s simply a pre-installed bypass that allows the engine to draw water from the bilge instead of the sea. The smart approach is to prepare it in advance, with a hose already ready to use, possibly with multiple pickup points and filters at the ends to prevent debris from clogging the engine circuit. As long as the engine is running, you have a real chance to empty the boat even when electric pumps fail but it’s not enough to have it: you need to know how to use it, and most importantly, the crew must know where it is and how to activate it.
Doing it in an emergency is a nightmare
Setting up a bypass while underway, at night, with water up to your knees, a hot engine and the boat slamming into the waves is not easy at all. It takes experience, clarity of mind and a bit of luck, because the seawater intake hose is often stiff, corroded and difficult to remove. That’s why it’s essential to always have a spare hose ready to use, because those minutes you save can make the difference between a manageable situation and one that gets out of control.
Other advice
Experience teaches that redundancy is always better: an extra manual bilge pump, an electric backup pump already installed, and possibly a spare one ready to be fitted. It’s important to regularly check through-hull fittings and always know where to put your hands, even in the dark. There are also more extreme systems, such as emergency buoyancy bags, but simply being well prepared and having the right equipment onboard can completely change the outcome of a critical situation.
Conclusion
At sea, it’s not the most experienced who wins, but the most prepared: true seamanship. The Lupa is not an accessory, it’s an extra chance and when you find yourself with water up to your knees at night, you don’t need theory, you need something that actually works.
Very interesting video
In the video below you can find some techniques to avoid or prevent your boat from sinking.
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