Assisted in saving two sinking boats yesterday.

The first was a 20' CC (with a low transom engine cutout) that was just on
the verge of swamping.
The water was less than an inch from flowing over the cutout. The two
little self bailing scuppers were a foot or more below the waterline.

I didn't dare step in the boat as my weight would certainly put it under, so
I grabbed a bucket and a hand pump and started bailing, kneeling on the
dock. Fortunately, Kingman people showed up with a couple of large pumps
and a battery pac and we prevented a dockside sinking. It appears the
boat's installed bilge pump was bad or the fuse was blown or something and
the buckets of rain that we have due to thunderstorms lately had nowhere to
go.

Later that evening a large (50 something footer) Carver Motoryacht pulled
into a nearby slip, but never shut down.
I noticed stern hatches were opened and people were running around with
buckets and broom handles.

Seems a thru bolt somewhere in the hull came loose and fell out somehow and
water was rushing in like a geyser.
I think it was one of the bolts for the cutlass bearing mount. Attempts
were being made to stuff the hole with anything handy, but the broom handles
wouldn't fit. One guy was furiously trying to whittle a handle down.

I remembered that I had an assortment of tapered, wooden bungs on my boat
and ran back to grab a couple.
One size fit the hole perfectly and stopped the leak with one good rap with
a hammer.

Lots of handshaking going on after that with a very nervous boat owner.

Eisboch