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Great Lakes Skipper has amazing closeout prices on beautiful stainless steel boat sinks by companies like Opella, Elkay, and Scandvik. We also have great deals on boat sinks with Corian tops, sink consoles, round boat sinks, double sinks, and more boat and RV sinks, perfect for your boat, RV, or tiny house. Enjoy browsing our inventory of boat sinks!

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Boat Plumbing

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Boat plumbing is a lot easier for the do-it yourselfer than plumbing at home, mainly because it doesn't involve rigid pipes running inside solid walls.

Here is an overview of a typical on-board water system.

Because water is heavy, tanks should be mounted low in the boat. Where space is available, it is a relatively simple matter to add extra tanks. Rigid polyethylene tanks are available in hundreds of shapes and sizes, or you might use a flexible bladder tank--essentially a water bag.

Water tanks typically have three threaded ports, one for the outlet and one for the vent hose, both 1/2-inch, and one for the fill hose, usually 1 1/2-inch. Threaded hose barbs allow for hose connections. The inlet is connected to an on-deck fill. (Be sure the deck-fill has an O-ring to seal out seawater when it is closed.) The vent line leads to a vent fitting high in the boat — above the tank at every expected angle of heel. Be aware that if the vent is not also higher than the fill, it will overflow when you are filling the tank. The outlet connection leads directly to a pump or, in a multi-tank installation, to a manifold or Y-valve.

Use Teflon tape or thread sealant on all threaded fittings, and don't overtighten fittings in plastic tanks. Secure hoses with stainless steel hose clamps.

Supply piping for a boat water system must be non-toxic, non-contaminating, taste-free, and FDA approved for drinking water. If the system is pressurized or will carry hot water, the piping needs to be suitable. The traditional choice for water system plumbing has long been clear PVC reinforced with polyester braid. This same type hose can be used for tank fill and vent connections.

In recent years semi-rigid polyethylene (PE) tubing, long used in RV plumbing, has surged in popularity for boat plumbing. It has much to recommend it. With quick-connect fittings, a PE tubing water delivery system assembles with the simplicity of Tinkertoys. The opaque or at least semitranslucent nature of the PE tubing discourages algae growth that can be a problem with clear hose. PE tubing also comes in colors — typically red for hot water and blue for cold — which looks nice and might make plumbing failures easier to trace. Because the tubing is less flexible than PVC hose and it must be cut to the correct lengths, a PE plumbing system will be slightly more demanding to install. However, the primary negative to PE plumbing is the cost of the fittings, which at this writing run $4 to $8 each. On the positive side, the tubing is actually cheaper than reinforced clear PVC hose.

Drain hoses connected to through-hull fittings should be stronger than clear vinyl hose. For this use, select reinforced rubber hose, sometimes called heater hose. This is the same type of hose used on engine plumbing, and it typically has about three times the burst strength of reinforced vinyl hose. Double clamp all hoses connected to through-hull fittings.

Water pumps on a boat can be either electric or manual. An electric pump pressurizes the entire water system. Most electric pumps have a pressure switch that activates when the pressure drops below a set value--usually around 30 or 40 PSI. Opening any tap on the boat releases pressure and causes the pump to kick on and run until it rebuilds the pressure to the cut-out setting. The pump cycles on and off until the tap is closed. The inlet of an electric pump connects directly to the tank outlet (or multitank valve), and the outlet supplies water to all faucets and appliances.

Manual pumps — hand or foot operated — supply a single spigot connected directly to the outlet side of the pump. A regulating valve is not required; water flow is controlled by the operation of the pump. The primary advantage of manual pumps is that they dramatically reduce water waste, a major concern for boats that spend long periods away from water supplies.

Accumulator

Some water systems include an accumulator. Large accumulators have pressurized bladders in them, but most small ones are just empty tanks teed into the line downstream of the pump. When the pump runs, it tries to fill the tank from the bottom, compressing the air trapped inside the tank. The pressure from the tank allows small amounts of water to be drawn without the necessity of the pump running, thus reducing pump cycling.

A marine water heater is simply a small, insulated tank downstream of the pump. You must have a pressurized water system to operate a water heater. The pump draws water from the storage tank(s) and fills the water heater tank. Inside the water heater is an electrical heating element and usually a coiled tube called a heat exchanger. When AC power is available, the electrical element (controlled by a thermostat) heats the water. Away from the dock, the hot engine coolant is routed through the coiled tube to heat the water in the tank when the engine is running.

Water heaters have four threaded ports. The tank inlet connects via a tee-connector to the outlet hose from the pump. A check valve is required in this line or in the heater to prevent hot water from migrating back toward the pump. The outlet connection supplies heated water to the hot side of all faucets, also using tee-connectors. The other two ports are for the heat exchanger connection, which varies depending on engine installation. Use only metal fittings to plumb a water heater, never plastic. If a pressure-release valve isn't integral, the heater will have a fifth port for this essential component.

Faucets are the ultimate terminus for water system lines. Manual pumps require simple spigots, but in a pressure water system, boat faucets differ from those found ashore only in styling and that they may be fitted with hose barbs. Mixer faucets require two connections, one from the cold side to the supply line from the pump and the other from the hot side to the water-heater outlet.

Shower connections are identical to faucet connections. The only difference is that rather than delivering the water through a spigot, the water is delivered through a pipe or hose to the shower head.

A nice owner addition to almost any boat is a deck shower, easily installed by simply teeing into cold- and hot-water supply lines.

Sink drains typically connect with reinforced rubber hose to a through-hull fitting. On a sailboat, sinks are best located near the centerline of the boat so heeling doesn't put them below the waterline. Because head sinks are often well outboard, they may be plumbed to drain into the bowl of the toilet to avoid the risk of flooding. There are collateral benefits of running fresh water through the head.

Shower pans too often drain into the bilge to be pumped overboard by the bilge pump. However, this arrangement eventually leads to unpleasant bilge odors, and it risks jamming the bilge pump with hair. Shower pans should be isolated from the bilge and include a discharge pump, either automatic or connected to a switch. The through-hull discharge outlet must always remain above the water.

Since few boats carry sufficient fresh water to allow washing the decks with it, washdown pumps are not connected into the freshwater system. Nevertheless, a washdown pump is a great convenience for hosing the deck and knocking mud off the anchor chain.

The inlet fitting of a washdown pump is connected to a submerged through-hull fitting, and the outlet side is connected to a deck-mounted faucet or male hose connector. A dedicated through-hull is not required; if you are installing a deckwash pump; use a Y- or tee-connector to tie into an existing inlet line. Use heavy-duty rubber suction hose, wire reinforced to keep the hose from collapsing. Debris will damage or destroy a washdown pump, so it is essential to have a strainer in the intake line.

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Contributor, BoatUS Magazine

Don Casey has been one of the most consulted experts on boat care and upgrades for 30 years, and is one of the BoatUS Magazine's panel of experts. He and his wife cruise aboard their 30-footer part of the year in the eastern Caribbean. His books include Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual, and the recently updated This Old Boat, the bible for do-it-yourself boaters.

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30 Ways To Sink a Boat { …and 29 to prevent it }

• By Daniel W. Long
• Updated: September 20, 2017

Boating Writers International 11th Annual Writing Contest – Daniel W. Long’s “30 Ways to Sink A Boat” won 1st place in the Boat/Engine Care Maintenance Category.

Remember the time you were running through the bay and heard a thump from below? Wasn’t that fun? No? Did it stir up that dreaded boating moment-the fear of sinking? No one likes to imagine such a thing happening. Yet every year thousands of us unwittingly experience that shiver of fright-and hundreds of us take it a step further by actually sinking.

• Billions of dollars worth of fiberglass sits on the ocean floor, mostly because it’s so easy to stop a boat from floating. You don’t even have to meet and greet a rock to get a one-way ticket down. In fact, you don’t have to do anything. Just let your boat sit awhile, and eventually it will find the bottom. According to BoatUS, the largest insurer of pleasureboats in the country, for every boat that sinks at sea, four go down in their slips.

30 Ways To Sink a Boat

• To find out why, we asked around the docks, checked insurance records, and talked to boatyard owners. Here are the top 30 preventable disasters. Not interested? Okay. But know that the cost of repairing a boat that’s done an underwater disappearing act is usually 40 percent of its total value. Now that we have your wallet’s attention, read on.

1. Stern Drive Bellows

What Happened: The rubber dried and cracked. Water seeped past the gimbal bearing and poured into the boat because the bottom of the gearcase cutout was well below the waterline.

What You Should Have Done: Store your stern drive in the down position when out of the water to avoid the bends and creases that stress rubber. Inspect the bellows two or three times a year and replace it annually.

2. Scuppers in the Fall

What Happened: The scuppers got clogged with leaves. Although this won’t seal the drains, it can greatly slow the release of water. In a heavy rain the cockpit can fill enough to weigh down the boat so it floods or accumulates enough water to reach non-waterproof openings in the deck and fill the bilge.

What You Should Have Done: Keep the cockpit covered, or have wide-mesh external screens made to protect the scuppers.

3. Scuppers in the Winter

What Happened: White stuff fell and ice built up around the scuppers, filling them in. Since this occurs under the snow, you can’t see it. The good news is that once the boat sinks, the ice will melt.

What You Should Have Done: Haul out for the winter, or have a waterproof, reinforced cover that can take the weight of accumulated snow. Don’t treat your boat like your mother-in-law: Visit it often.

4. Scuppers Anytime

What Happened: A piece of plumbing corroded, cracked, or just gave up. The weakest link is the hose that can crack, most often around the stress points created by the clamps.

What You Should Have Done: While the boat is on land, check the hoses by flexing them back and forth. If there are any cracks, replace the hoses.

5. Hose Clamp Failed

What Happened: A hose attached to a seacock below the waterline, or a through-hull just above it, came off its fitting because the hose clamps gave way.

What You Should Have Done: Secure each hose with two clamps where it passes over the fitting’s nipple. Check that the clamps are all stainless steel (a magnet won’t attract stainless). Often, the tightening gear and its case are mild steel, which rusts away.

6. Trapped Under a Dock

What Happened: You tied up the boat at low tide. The wind pushed part of the boat under the dock, the tide came up, and the boat became trapped beneath the dock, then sank.

What You Should Have Done: This can happen when the pilings supporting the dock are too far apart to keep the boat parallel to the dock and out from under it. No matter how many docklines you rig, this will be a problem. If you can’t dock somewhere else, set anchors out from the bow and stern so the boat won’t swing.

7. Tied Down, Tide Up

What Happened: At low tide, your bow and stern lines were tight. When the tide came up, the lines stayed that way-firmly holding the boat down as the water rose.

What You Should Have Done: Long spring lines attached at acute angles to the boat adjust as the boat rises and falls. Bow and stern lines may have to be tended as the tide goes through its cycle.

8. Stuffing Box

What Happened: The packing gland surrounding the propshaft loosened. Or perhaps it rotted away as it hadn’t been replaced for many seasons.

What You Should Have Done: Dripless shaft seals that require minimal maintenance are used by 90 percent of today’s boatbuilders. But many boaters still use old-fashioned stuffing boxes on the rudder shafts. Check stuffing boxes often, and beware.

9. Damage From Dock

What Happened: The wind started to blow, pounding the boat against the dock until a hole appeared.

What You Should Have Done: Tie up on the downwind side of the dock so the wind holds you away from the structure. Fenders would help. Use the round-ball type when up against a flat surface such as a concrete seawall. Use fender boards, a heavy board suspended between two fenders, when you’re against pilings.

10. Dockside Water Pressure

What Happened: An internal freshwater hose burst from the pressure of dockside municipal water.

What You Should Have Done: Shut off the water at the dock when you leave the boat.

11. Freshwater Flooding

What Happened: A fitting fails in the freshwater system. Thinking a tap has been opened, the pump senses a reduction in hose pressure and turns on the supply water-bad news if you’re hooked up to dockside water, which will keep pumping into the bilge.

What You Should Have Done: Never leave the boat without shutting off the water at the dock. This way, if a fitting or hose fails, you’ll pump only the water in your tank into the bilge. Better yet, disconnect the hose from your boat. Any moron walking down the dock could turn on the hose if it’s connected.

12. Generator Cooling Intake

What Happened: The hose cracked, water flooded, boat sank. I hope you’re picking up a pattern here about hoses.

What You Should Have Done: Use series 135 heavy-duty water hose-no exceptions. It resists chafe, is reinforced to prevent collapsing, and has a working pressure of up to 200 psi. Wiggle the hose where it meets fittings to look for cracks. Rub a damp cloth along it. If there are black marks on the rag, the hose is deteriorating.

13. Head Intake

What Happened: An unprotected head-intake hose running through the engine room bulkhead chafed, then failed.

What You Should Have Done: Do your hoses make as few bends and turns as possible? They should be secured tightly and padded where appropriate.

14. Head Intake II

What Happened: The water-fill hose connecting the outside of the hull to the head crapped out. The head, being below the waterline, filled and so did the boat.

What You Should Have Done: Besides maintaining the hoses and clamps, make sure the boatbuilder has left easy access to the inlet’s seacock. Make it a policy that when you leave the boat, you shut all the seacocks. Then, if a hose fails, it’s no big deal.

15. Head Discharge

What Happened: The one-way joker valve on the head’s discharge got something in it. You were smart enough to run the discharge hose above the waterline to keep water out but not smart enough to remember how a siphon works. Trying to siphon the full contents of the Atlantic Ocean, your boat soon sinks.

What You Should Have Done: To prevent a reverse flow, when you run any hose above the waterline, remember to install a vented loop fitting at the top of the loop. This lets air in to prevent a siphon. Use fittings that let you disassemble the valve each season to make sure it’s clear and working.

16. Check-Valve Backflow

What Happened: Since the through-hull is mounted so low to the waterline, a clever mechanic put a one-way check valve on your bilge pump’s exhaust hose to keep the sea out. Too bad it didn’t.

What You Should Have Done: Check valves are unreliable and can get stuck open. Route the pump’s exhaust hose as high as possible to a through-hull near the rubrail. If it must go to a low outlet, run the hose up inside the boat as high as possible, install an anti-siphon valve at the top of the loop, and run it to a seacock that you can close.

17. Ice in Sea Strainer

What Happened: When it was time to winterize, you put antifreeze everywhere except in the strainer at the raw-water intake. Then you left the boat with the seacocks open. The water in the strainer froze, expanded, and cracked the strainer. Water came in and the boat went down.

What You Should Have Done: Close the seacock and open the strainer’s drain plug to empty it of water. Then fill the hose and strainer with anti-freeze, because you never get all the water out and it’s better to be safe.

18. Plastic Through-Hulls I

What Happened: The cheap ones that came with the boat got brittle from ultraviolet light and gave way from the weight of the hose. Or maybe the hose barb cracked when you overtightened the hose clamps.

What You Should Have Done: We prefer stainless-steel or bronze fittings below the waterline.

19. Plastic Through-Hulls II

What Happened: The mechanic was in the bilge repairing the engine. While trying to get better leverage to force a rusted bolt free, he wedged his foot against a through-hull. He pushed and it cracked.

What You Should Have Done: Stick with stainless steel or bronze below the waterline. And use a better mechanic.

20. Transom-Mount Transducers

What Happened: You were smart to use bolts instead of screws to mount the transducer to the transom. But over the years the transducer has gotten nudged, hit, and smacked so often that the bedding compound loosened and enlarged the boltholes enough for water to seep in.

What You Should Have Done: Caulking and bedding compounds don’t last forever. Check every year and rebed every four years.

21. Through-Hull Transducers

What Happened: When hauling, the straps from the sling put pressure on the transducer, which disturbed the bedding and widened the hole.

What You Should Have Done: Properly installed transducers have large backing plates to distribute the stress of an impact. This one didn’t. Or you can mount the transducer within the hull so there are no exposed parts.

22. Corrosion

What Happened: Over the years, the dissimilar metals below the waterline have been eating each other-giving them an internal structure that’s similar to Swiss cheese. Eventually, a slight nudge caused one to fail.

What You Should Have Done: Again, we prefer that stainless steel or bronze be used below the waterline. But no matter what, all metals must be protected. If your bronze seacock is turning pink, it’s falling apart. All underwater fittings should be bonded to each other with a number 10-gauge green wire, and sacrificial zincs should be used. Check annually.

23. Speedometer Plug

What Happened: Good move pulling the Pitot tube for a cleaning. Too bad you forgot to plug the hole.

What You Should Have Done: Vitamin E supposedly helps the memory. Even with a plug, you can get a leak. Rubber O-rings can deform or come loose from their tracks. Put some grease on the rings to ensure long life and a good seal.

24. Stern Drive Mounting Bolt

What Happened: The holes on the engine-mounting bracket below the waterline leaked due to weeping. The stainless-steel bolts inside the transom corroded due to sitting in stagnant water. This is called crevice corrosion.

What You Should Have Done: Check the drive bolts often. Double-check the seal.

25. Hose Slips Off Seacock Nipple

What Happened: After a day of wave bashing, the shakes and vibrations worked a hose off an open seacock.

What You Should Have Done: If there’s room to put two hose clamps on each fitting, do it. Have the excess ring material exit in a different direction on each.

26. Rubrails

What Happened: From too many bangs against pilings, the screws, bolts, rivets, or adhesive that holds the rubrail in place has come loose. Plow into too many head seas or sit through a rainstorm and water will get below.

What You Should Have Done: At the end of each season, walk around the boat blasting the hull-to-deck joint with a hose. Have someone inside to watch for leaks.

27. Muffler Rot

What Happened: Water sat in a low point and rotted the muffler. Waves at the dock came in the transom exhaust ports and went directly into the boat.

What You Should Have Done: Feel under the mufflers or risers for moisture. They will ooze dampness months before giving way.

28. Frozen Muffler

What Happened: The drain plug on the bottom of the muffler or riser was removed but not replaced. Or you didn’t drain them and the ice did its worst.

What You Should Have Done: Drain the water, but don’t unscrew the plug and then go for drinks while it drains. You’ll forget to put it back in.

29. Drain Plug

What Happened: You forgot to put in the transom drain plug when launching. Join the club. You’re an idiot like the rest of us.

What You Should Have Done: Don’t be an idiot-install a high-water alarm.

30. Hit By Another Boat

What Happened: The guy in the slip next to you hit your bow while tying to a dock. This forced the bolted-on swim platform on your boat to bang the bulkhead and loosen the bolts, which started to weep enough so that by the next morning all you saw was the VHF radio antenna.

What You Should Have Done: Do a Jackie Chan on the clown who smacked your boat. Then string him up by his nose hairs. There are some sinkings that just can’t be prevented.

• More: Boating Safety , How-To , Preventative Care

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Related Items & Information

Q. "What does slip joint mean?" A. It refers to 1/2" female pipe threads that are not tapered. They are designed to work on faucet shanks and some angle stop threads that have male non-tapered pipe threads. Please note though, that SJ flexes might not work well on male threaded PVC fittings, as the wall of the PVC fittings might be too thick for the flex to properly seal on the inside of the PVC fitting.

Q. "What do the different types of stainless steel (304, 316, etc) mean?" A. The term "stainless steel" refers to specific grades of steel that contain more than 10% chromium. Stainless steel may also include a variety of other elements (such as nickel, titanium, molybdenum, etc); it resists corrosion and is generally a stronger, more reliable steel. The most common grades of stainless steel are: Type 304: Aside from having a higher content of chromium than most other types of stainless steel, type 304 also contains nickel; this enables it to withstand most ordinary corrosion in architecture, is durable in typical food processing environments, and resists most chemicals. Type 316: Similar to type 304, but also contains a small amount of molybdenum, which is an alloy element #304 does not contain (but one that provides even stronger resistance to some deterioration). Types 304 and 316 are grades of stainless steel that are most often used in plumbing, as well as in the manufacturing of kitchen utensils and sinks. Type 409: Does not contain virtually any nickel at all, but also is the stainless steel that contains the least amount of chromium. Type 409 is more suitable for high temperature applications, which is why it's often used in automotive trim and exhaust systems, or hot water tanks. Type 410: Also does not contain any significant nickel; its primary difference to type 409 stainless is characterized by the use of heat treatment for hardening and strengthening. Type 410 is not appropriate for severely corrosive applications, but used instead in environments that require high strength; this is why it's the type of stainless steel that's often used in surgical equipment. Type 430: Another plain-chromium stainless steel, similar to type 409, but is usually used in decorative applications.

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Sailboat crew rescued in Pacific after abandoning ship sunk by whale

Four people aboard the Raindancer were stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 10 hours

His circumstances sounded straight out of “Moby-Dick,” but Rick Rodriguez wasn’t kidding. In his first text messages from the life raft, he said he was in serious trouble.

“Tommy this is no joke,” he typed to his friend and fellow sailor Tommy Joyce. “We hit a whale and the ship went down.”

“Tell as many boats as you can,” Rodriguez also urged. “Battery is dangerously low.”

On March 13, Rodriguez and three friends were 13 days into what was expected to be a three-week crossing from the Galápagos to French Polynesia on his 44-foot sailboat, Raindancer. Rodriguez was on watch, and he and the others were eating a vegetarian pizza for lunch around 1:30 p.m. In an interview with The Washington Post later conducted via satellite phone, Rodriguez said the ship had good winds and was sailing at about 6 knots when he heard a terrific BANG!

“The second pizza had just come out of the oven, and I was dipping a slice into some ranch dressing,” he said. “The back half of the boat lifted violently upward and to starboard.”

The sinking itself took just 15 minutes, Rodriguez said. He and his friends managed to escape onto a life raft and a dinghy. The crew spent just 10 hours adrift, floating about nine miles before a civilian ship plucked them from the Pacific Ocean in a seamless predawn maneuver. A combination of experience, technology and luck contributed to a speedy rescue that separates the Raindancer from similar catastrophes .

“There was never really much fear that we were in danger,” Rodriguez said. “Everything was in control as much as it could be for a boat sinking.”

It wasn’t lost on Rodriguez that the story that inspired Herman Melville happened in the same region. The ship Essex was also heading west from the Galápagos when it was rammed by a sperm whale in 1820, leaving the captain and some crew to endure for roughly three months and to resort to cannibalism before being rescued.

Coast Guard saves overboard cruise passenger in ‘Thanksgiving miracle’

There have been about 1,200 reports of whales and boats colliding since a worldwide database launched in 2007, said Kate Wilson, a spokeswoman for the International Whaling Commission. Collisions that cause significant damage are rare, the U.S. Coast Guard said, noting that the last rescue attributed to damage from a whale was the sinking of a 40-foot J-Boat in 2009 off Baja California, with that crew rescued by Coast Guard helicopter.

Alana Litz was the first to see what she now thinks was a Bryde’s whale as long as the boat. “I saw a massive whale off the port aft side with its side fin up in the air,” Litz said.

Rodriguez looked to see it bleeding from the upper third of its body as it slipped below the water.

Bianca Brateanu was below cooking and got thrown in the collision. She rushed up to the deck while looking to the starboard and saw a whale with a small dorsal fin 30 to 40 feet off that side, leading the group to wonder whether at least two whales were present.

Within five seconds of impact, an alarm went off indicating the bottom of the boat was filling with water, and Rodriguez could see it rushing in from the stern.

Water was already above the floor within minutes. Rodriguez made a mayday call on the VHF radio and set off the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). The distress signal was picked up by officials in Peru, who alerted the U.S. Coast Guard District 11 in Alameda, Calif., which is in charge of U.S. vessels in the Pacific.

The crew launched the inflatable life raft, as well as the dinghy, then realized they needed to drop the sails, so that line attaching the life raft didn’t snap as it got dragged behind the still-moving Raindancer.

Rodriguez grabbed his snorkel gear and a tarp and jumped into the water to see whether he could plug the holes, but it was futile. The area near the propeller shaft was badly punched in, he said.

Meanwhile, the others had gathered safety equipment, emergency gear and food. In addition to bottled water, they filled “water bottles, tea kettles and pots” before the salt water rose above the sink, Rodriguez said.

“There was no emotion,” Rodriguez recalled. “While we were getting things done, we all had that feeling, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ but it didn’t keep us from doing what we needed to do and prepare ourselves to abandon ship.”

Rodriguez and Simon Fischer handed the items down to the women in the dinghy, but in the turmoil, they left a bag with their passports behind. They stepped into the water themselves just as the deck went under.

Rodriguez swam to the life raft, climbed in and looked back to see the last 10 feet of the mast sinking “at an unbelievable speed,” he said. As the Raindancer slipped away, he pulled a Leatherman from his pocket and cut the line that tethered the life raft to the boat after Litz noticed it was being pulled taut.

They escaped with enough water for about a week and with a device for catching rain, Rodriguez said. They had roughly three weeks worth of food, and a fishing pole.

The Raindancer “was well-equipped with safety equipment and multiple communication devices and had a trained crew to handle this open-ocean emergency until a rescue vessel arrived,” said Douglas Samp, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific area search and rescue program manager. He cautioned that new technology should not replace the use of an EPIRB, which has its own batteries.

Indeed, the one issue the crew faced was battery power. Their Iridium Go, a satellite WiFi hotspot, was charged to only 32 percent (dropping to 18 percent before the rescue). The phone that pairs with it was at 40 percent, and the external power bank was at 25 percent.

Rodriguez sent his first message to Joyce, who was sailing a boat on the same route about 180 miles behind. His second was to his brother, Roger, in Miami. He repeated most of what he had messaged to Joyce, adding: “Tell mom it’s going to be okay.”

Rodriguez’s confidence was earned. A 31-year-old from Tavernier, Fla., he had spent about 10 years working as a professional yacht captain, mate and engineer. He bought the Raindancer in 2021 and lived on her, putting sweat equity into getting the boat, built in 1976, ready for his dream trip.

Both he and Brateanu, 25, from Newcastle, England, have mariner survival training. Litz, 32, from Comox, British Columbia, was formerly a firefighter in the Canadian military. Fischer, 25, of Marsberg, Germany, had the least experience, but “is a very levelheaded guy,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez gave detailed information on their location and asked his brother to send a message via WhatsApp to Joyce, who has a Starlink internet connection that he checks more frequently than his Iridium Go. Because of his low battery, he told his brother that he was turning the unit off and would check it in two hours.

Rodriguez also activated a Globalstar SPOT tracker, which transmitted the position of the life raft every few minutes, and he broadcast a mayday call every hour using his VHF radio.

When he turned the Iridium Go back on at the scheduled time, there was a reply from Joyce: “We got you bud.”

As luck would have it, the Raindancer was sailing the same route as about two dozen boats participating in a round-the-world yachting rally called the World ARC. BoatWatch, a network of amateur radio operators that searches for people lost at sea, was also notified. And the urgent broadcast issued by the Coast Guard was answered by a commercial ship, Dong-A Maia, which said it was 90 miles to the south of Raindancer and was changing course.

“We have a bunch of boats coming. We got you brother,” Joyce typed.

“Can’t wait to see you guys,” Rodriguez replied.

Joyce told Rodriguez that the closest boat was “one day maximum.”

In fact, the closest boat was a 45-foot catamaran not in the rally. The Rolling Stones was only about 35 miles away. The captain, Geoff Stone, 42, of Muskego, Wis., had the mayday relayed to him by a friend sailing about 500 miles away. He communicated with Joyce via WhatsApp and with the Peruvian coast guard using a satellite phone to say they were heading to the last known coordinates.

In the nine hours it took to reach the life raft, Stone told The Post, he and the other three men on his boat were apprehensive about how the rescue was going to work.

“The seas weren’t terrible, but we’ve never done a search and rescue,” he said. He wasn’t sure whether they would be able to find the life raft without traveling back and forth.

He was surprised when Fischer spotted the Rolling Stones’ lights from about five miles away and made contact on the VHF radio.

Once it got closer, Rodriguez set off a parachute flare, then activated a personal beacon that transmits both GPS location and AIS (Automatic Identification System) to assist in the approach. Although the 820-foot Dong-A Maia, a Panamanian-flagged tanker, was standing by, it made more sense to be rescued by the smaller ship.

To board the Rolling Stones, the crew from the Raindancer transferred to the dinghy with a few essentials, then detached the life raft so it wouldn’t get caught in the boat’s propeller.

“We were 30 or 40 feet away when we started to make out each other’s figures. There was dead silence,” Rodriguez said. “They were curious what kind of emotional state we were in. We were curious who they were.”

“I yelled out howdy” to break the ice, he explained.

One by one, they jumped onto the transom. “All of a sudden, us four were sitting in this new boat with four strangers,” Rodriguez said.

The hungry sailors were given fresh bread, then were offered showers. The Rolling Stones crew gave their guests toothbrushes, deodorant and clothes. None even had shoes.

Rodriguez said he had tried not to think about losing his boat while the crisis was at hand. But, the first morning he woke up on Rolling Stones, it hit him. Not only had he lost his home and belongings, but he also felt as if he’d lost “a good friend.”

“I’ve worked so hard to be here, and have been dreaming of making landfall at the Bay of Virgins in the Marquesas on my own boat for about 10 years. And 1,000 nautical miles short, my boat sinks,” Rodriguez said.

The Rolling Stones is expected to arrive in French Polynesia on Wednesday, and Rodriguez is glad that he’s onboard.

“I feel very lucky and grateful that we were rescued so quickly,” he said. “We were in the right place at the right time to go down.”

Karen Schwartz is a writer based in Fort Collins, Colo. Follow her on Twitter @WanderWomanIsMe .

A previous version of this article misstated the size of the J-boat that sank in 2009. It was 40 feet.

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Sailing crew rescued after giant whale sank 44ft boat in Pacific Ocean

Whale collided with sailboat 13 days into group’s three-week sailing trip from Galápagos Islands to French Polynesia

A giant whale sank a sailing crew’s boat in the Pacific Ocean before the group was rescued at the end of an ordeal that could have come out of a novel.

Rick Rodriguez of Tavernier, Florida, and three friends spent 10 hours on a lifeboat and dinghy after a whale sank the crew’s 44ft sailboat Raindancer, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

The group had planned a three-week sailing trip from the Galápagos Islands to French Polynesia, about 3,500 miles away in the south Pacific . But on 13 March, only 13 days into the crossing, disaster struck. At about 1.30pm, Rodriguez was enjoying a vegetarian pizza for lunch with the others when he heard a loud noise.

“The second pizza had just come out of the oven, and I was dipping a slice into some ranch dressing,” Rodriguez said to the Post during an interview over a satellite phone. “The back half of the boat lifted violently upward and to starboard.”

Other members of the crew were thrown by the large impact, but each saw from different angles that a whale had smashed into the boat.

“I saw a massive whale off the port aft side with its side fin up in the air,” Alana Litz said.

Five seconds after the whale’s collision, an alarm sounded, warning that the boat was filling with water. Rodriguez said the crew members, who each have experience boating, quickly sprang into action.

Rodriguez placed a mayday call on a VHF radio and dispatched the emergency position indicating radio beacon, a distress signal that is connected to a worldwide rescue network.

The Peruvian coast guard later picked up Rodriguez’s distress beacon and notified a US Coast Guard station in California that oversees American ships in the Pacific Ocean.

While saltwater spilled into the vessel, others in the boat gathered food, emergency equipment and other gear, as well as fresh water.

The crew launched their lifeboat and a dinghy. They had grabbed their safety supplies but didn’t have enough time to get their passports.

On the lifeboat, the group had sufficient water for about a week. The crew also had a device that catches rainwater as well as food for three weeks.

Now stranded, Rodriguez and the crew had a phone, satellite wifi hotspot and an external battery that were all minimally charged.

Rodriguez first messaged his friend and fellow sailor Tommy Joyce about the situation. Joyce was sailing the same route as Rodriguez about 180 miles behind.

“Tommy this is no joke,” Rodriguez typed. “We hit a whale and the ship went down.”

Rodriguez sent a similar message to his brother, Roger, adding: “Tell mom it’s going to be OK.”

Rodriguez then asked his brother to send a message to Joyce on WhatsApp because he checked the social messaging app more frequently. After turning off the wifi hotspot for two hours to save battery power, Rodriguez received a reassuring message from Joyce: “We got you bud.”

Hours later, Rodriguez and his crew joined the Rolling Stones, a 45ft boat captained by Geoff Stone.

Stone had received one of Rodriguez’s mayday calls from a friend and coordinated a rescue of Rodriguez’s group with Joyce and the Peruvian officials.

The crew should land in French Polynesia on Wednesday. Rodriguez told the Post he is grateful to be safely onboard the Rolling Stones but misses the Raindancer, a boat he was living on and had retrofitted for the trip.

“I feel very lucky, and grateful, that we were rescued so quickly,” said Rodriguez. “We were in the right place at the right time to go down.”

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They were almost in the middle of the Pacific with no other boats in sight. But a successful rescue was coordinated through the power of social media and modern communications, including new kid on the block Starlink.

We contacted Paul Tetlow, managing director of World Cruising Club, who is operating as “rally control” for the World ARC cruising rally. He told us that upon learning of Raindancer ‘s demise and the position of the crew, he contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) who then assigned MRCC Peru to coordinate the rescue. But before the official rescue had been executed, a network of communications had quickly arisen, much of it via Starlink, and around eight ARC vessels diverted their course to assist Raindancer ‘s crew. Along the way, ARC participants aboard S/V Far were able to keep up the communications with the lifeboat using Iridium and Starlink.

Here’s what we understand about the incident. Raindancer was “13 days into a 20-22-day, 3000nm ocean crossing,” Vinny Mattiola wrote on Facebook, when the vessel was struck by a whale, which “damaged the skeg and prop strut, and the boat was completely underwater in <15mins, forcing all four crew to abandon into the life raft.” They were approximately midway between the Galápagos and French Polynesia.

Fortunately the crew were cool-headed and quickly loaded the raft with water, provisions, and emergency communications and survival equipment, and secured Raindancer ‘s dinghy alongside. Mattiola believes the crew’s Iridium GO! device, which they carried along with their SPOT tracker, was instrumental in their rescue.

Within 10 hours of Raindancer going under, her four crew were rescued and taken aboard the sailing vessel Rolling Stones . “A very quick response time,” Tetlow said. “A good achievement.” Tetlow believes Starlink adds “another layer of ability to solve problems quickly,” and that the Starlink communications probably did add to the expedience of the rescue.

According to reports, the boat’s EPIRB hadn’t worked as intended, but the US Coast Guard later confirmed that it had indeed worked, the crew just “didn’t know it.”  When we learned of Raindancer ‘s distress, we contacted Douglas Samp, USCG Search and Rescue Program Manager for the Pacific, and Kevin Cooper, Search and Rescue Program Manager, Hawaii, who were already coordinating rescue with MRCC Peru. Samp later explained, “There is no country in the world that has SAR resources able to respond 2400 miles offshore, so we rely upon other vessels to assist. RCC Alameda assisted MRCC Peru with a satellite broadcast to GMDSS-equipped vessels and diverted an AMVER (Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue) vessel, M/V DONG-A MAIA , to assist, but the Rolling Stones got there first. BZ to your sailing community for rescuing your own.”

Mattiola concluded his post: “All crew are safe and even sent me a voice message thanking everyone involved.”

We hope to share more about this story in the next issue of Latitude 38 .

*Editor’s note: Upon learning the full details of this story, the headline was changed from Sailboat Sinks After Being Rammed By Whale in South Pacific to Sailboat Sinks After Collision with Whale in South Pacific.

29 Comments

Seems the whales are trying to get even.

So glad everybody is safe! Kudos to the rescue team

It would be an interesting study to determine if there’s a correlation between whale strikes and the color of bottom paint.

A bit over the top on the title. “Rammed”? Really. Rammed implies the whale was trying to damage the boat. Do we even know if the boat hit the whale rather than the whale hitting the boat?

Exactly what I was thinking

The boat hit the whale. To say the opposite is just incorrect. Bad reporting.

The whale struck the boat. Scientists believe they associate boats in that area with whaling. Same thing happened around that area about a year ago.

This may have to go to litigation. Some say the whale was double-parked with one taillight out when the Pacific highway was busy with the World ARC Rally, PPJ Rally and other westward-bound cruisers.

It is roughly where the whaling ship Essex, which sailed from Nantucket, was sunk in November of 1820 when it was rammed/attacked by a vengeful sperm whale. The story laid the foundation for Herman Melville’s book ‘Moby Dick.’ The actual story of the sinking of the Essex is told in a great book by Nathaniel Philbrick in his book, “The Heart of the Sea.” Once again the whale didn’t get to tell their side of the story but it certainly might have included the fact that the whaling ship was out there trying to kill it. In 1820 whaling ships were starting to hunt for whales to the west of the Galapagos after major populations of whales in the Atlantic had been depleted. Moby Dick and The Heart of the Sea are both worth a read. Have a look in the Latitude 38 bookstore: https://bookshop.org/shop/latitude38

Hi John, Even if the whale did hit the boat (which is a really hard thing to determine at sea), using the word ‘rammed’ implies intent. And, except for the orca problems off of Gibraltar, and Moby Dick, I don’t think we can attribute intention to the whale. It just sounds sensational.

As for whales associating boats in that area with whaling… that’s a hard one to believe. Many thousands of boats have sailed safely through that area since whaling was banned.

Cheers, Bruce

Oh, and by the way, I thought the movie THE HEART OF THE SEA was excellent. One of the few sailing films that treated the sailing parts realistically. They were never turning the wheel to port and the ship would go starboard!

I was also thinking ? the same thing. Striking a whale that was “perhaps” (I don’t know) resting or sleeping, is completely different than rammed. That infers they were attacked.

As an aside. In their posts the crew have used the terminology that their boat hit the whale. Not that the whale hit them, or attacked them. This is verbiage used by other sailors.

It’s always heartwarming to hear that all survived. And yes, let’s not Moby Dick the whale, before we hear the whole story.

They said the whale hit the”skeg and prop strut” like they didn’t hit the whale, read the !@#$%^& message, I’m curious as to what species it was; the Galapagos islands area has a history of Orcas attacks.

The book “Survive the Savage Sea” by Dougal Robertson comes to mind. Similar situation and location aboard 43ft schooner “Lucette” in the year 1972.

I think it was reported other way round, the boat hit the whale who was sleeping on surface and crew didnt spot him.

Hope the whale is unhurt.

I hope so also??as stated above they maybe trying to get even,if so they got a long way to go

Regarding the incident and life-saving equipment referenced , can anyone remark about range instruments (existing or future planned) that can monitor/detect massive underwater objects (e.g. our beloved whales) ? I’ve crossed the seas, racing and deliveries; and such an event never occurred to me. Thanks

Everyone is so concerned about who hit who but do we know what kind of whale? Is it ok? Was it properly called in to authorities to try and see if it’s a tagged whale they might be able to check up on?

Good point! The collision must have done a number on the whale too.

One crew member saw the whale immediately after the collision, and believed it to be a Bryde’s whale. This would make sense as the species is highly sensitive to disturbances. She reported that the whale appeared to be bleeding. KP44’s are strong hulls and the area around the skeg/rudder post was caved in, which caused the vessel to sink in 15 minutes.

A sad business all the way around .

CLICKBAIT !!! The whale didn’t “ram” the boat… FFS !!

Sounds to me like the whale was surfacing from a dive and hit the propeller, which in turn, caused the damage to the fibergass where the shaft exited the hull. Using the word rammed is for publicity, and distorts the facts.

For those who wish to help the Captain and the crew in these tragic events https://gofund.me/c576a554

No insurance?

Shocking headline to catch readers but untrue. Read the skippers report- the boat collided with the whale which was seen swimming off in a trail of blood.

There is also the Theory that “Herd Bull” whales will protect their group by challenging intruders, just as large mammals on land will do.

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Sailing for Your Ears Good Jibes #82: Andy Schwenk on Surviving a Scare Andy is a longtime Express 37 sailor, Bay Area marine surveyor, and Richmond Yacht Club port captain who has truly seen it all.

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Whale sinks sailboat stranding 4 on the open ocean

Whale sinks sailboat FILE PHOTO: A weeks-long voyage by sailboat was cut short when the vessel was sunk by a whale. (valio84sl/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Four friends embarked on an epic sailing adventure and now have a whale-sized tale to tell.

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Rick Rodriguez and his three friends were on a weekslong trip to French Polynesia from the Galapagos by sailboat, The Washington Post reported.

They were having a quick pizza lunch when they heard a bang on March 13, 13 days into their three-week trip.

“It just happened in an instant. It was just a very violent impact with some crazy-sounding noises and the whole boat shook,” Rodriguez told the “ Today ” show.

The bang ended up being a large whale that hit Rodriguez’s sailboat, the Raindancer.

“The back half of the boat lifted violently upward and to starboard,” the sailor told the Post .

The impact broke the propeller and the fiberglass around the boat.

The whale didn’t go away unscathed either.

“It sounded like something broke and we immediately looked to the side and we saw a really big whale bleeding,” Rodriguez told “ Today .”

One of Rodriguez’s companions believed it was a Bryde’s whale that was about as long as the boat.

“I saw a massive whale off the port aft side with its side fin up in the air,” Alana Litz told the Post .

Another member of the group thought she saw a smaller dorsal fin of a whale another 30 to 40 feet from the craft, leading the group to believe there were two whales near their boat.

The 44-foot sailboat sank in about 15 minutes, but not before the four friends were able to get on a life raft in the middle of the Pacific.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rick Rodriguez (@ricki_rod)

The Post reported that Rodriguez was able to text a friend, writing, “Tommy this is no joke. We hit a whale and the ship went down,” adding, “Tell as many boats as you can. Battery is dangerously low.”

The water flowing into the ship activated an alarm. Rodriguez also sent out a mayday call and the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. Officials in Peru alerted the U.S. Coast Guard in California about the sinking.

Rodriguez also put on his snorkel and grabbed a tarp to see if he could repair the damage, but it was too bad. Meanwhile, the rest of his crew grabbed emergency gear, food, safety equipment and water, filling whatever they could from the boat’s kitchen sink before the saltwater rose too high, the Post reported. They had enough food for about three weeks, water for about a week and a fishing pole.

But they didn’t need all of what they were able to grab.

About 10 hours later, and floating about nine miles from where the sailboat went down, a civilian ship spotted them and pulled them from the Pacific Ocean.

Geoff Stone, captain of the ship Rolling Stones, saw on a Facebook group about the sailboat sinking and realized he was about 60 miles away. He found their exact location and headed toward them, eventually meeting the life raft and lifting the four friends to safety, “ Today ” reported.

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Orcas sank three boats off the coast of Portugal, but don't call them 'killer' just yet

Three recent incidents of orcas seemingly attacking and sinking boats off the southwestern tip of Europe are drawing intense scrutiny over whether the animals deliberately swarmed the vessels and if they are learning the aggressive behavior from one another.

Encounters between orcas, or killer whales, and boats have been increasing since 2020, though no human injuries or deaths have been reported. In most cases, the whales have not sunk the boats.

The string of incidents since 2020 prompted one scientist in Portugal to say the attacks may indicate that the whales are intending to cause damage to sailing vessels. Others, however, are more skeptical, saying that while the behavior may be coordinated, it’s not necessarily coordinated aggression.

“I think it gets taken as aggression because it’s causing damage, but I don’t think we can say that the motivation is aggressive necessarily,” said Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington state.

At least 15 interactions between orcas and boats off the Iberian coast were reported in 2020, according to a study published last June in the journal Marine Mammal Science .

In November 2020, Portugal’s National Maritime Authority issued a statement alerting sailors about “curious behavior” among juvenile killer whales. The statement said the whales may be attracted to rudders and propellers and may try to approach boats.

The subsequent sinkings have caused more alarm.

The most recent encounter occurred on May 4 off the coast of Spain. Three orcas struck the rudder and side of a sailing yacht, causing it to eventually sink, as was reported earlier this month in a German publication called Yacht .

One theory put forward by Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, suggested that the aggression started from a female orca that was perhaps struck by a boat — a traumatic experience that caused her to start ramming sailing vessels. López Fernandez, who co-authored the June 2022 study published in Marine Mammal Science, told Live Science that other orcas may have then picked up that behavior through social learning, which whales have been known to exhibit.

But Shields said orcas have not historically been known to be aggressive toward humans, even when they were being hunted and placed in captivity.

“They’ve certainly had reason to engage in that kind of behavior,” she said. “There are places where they are shot at by fishermen, they’ve watched family members be taken from their groups into captivity in the ‘60s and ‘70s. And if something was going to motivate direct aggression, I would think something like that would have done it.”

Shields added that there are no clear instances of killer whales exhibiting what could be thought of as revenge behavior against humans.

She said the recent attacks on boats are likely more consistent with what’s known as “fad” behavior, which describes novel but temporary conduct from one whale that can be mimicked by others.

“It’s kind of a new behavior or game that one whale seems to come up with, and it seems to spread throughout the population — sometimes for a matter of weeks or months, or in some cases years — but then in a lot of cases it just goes away,” she said.

In the Pacific Northwest, for instance, Shields and her colleagues have observed fad behavior among Southern Resident killer whales who started carrying dead salmon around on their heads for a time before the behavior suddenly stopped.

Shields said the behavior of orcas off the Iberian coast may also be temporary.

“This feels like the same type of thing, where one whale played with a rudder and said: ‘Hey, this is a fun game. Do you want to try it?’ And it’s the current fad for that population of orcas,” she said.

While Shields did not dismiss the trauma response theory out of hand, she said it would be difficult to confirm without more direct evidence.

“We know their brains are wired to have really complex emotions, and so I think they could be capable of something like anger or revenge,” she said. “But again, it’s just not something that we’ve seen any examples of, and we’ve given them plenty of opportunities throughout the world to want to take revenge on us for various things. And they just choose not to.”

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

Couple sells everything for sailboat. It sinks on day 2

A Colorado couple said they sold everything they owned to buy a sailboat and set out for the open seas together.

Within two days, their dream became a nautical nightmare.

On their way to Key West, Tanner Broadwell and Nikki Walsh's voyage abruptly ended in John’s Pass off Madeira Beach, Fla., when their 28-foot sailboat struck something underwater Wednesday night.

"We hit something in about 8 or 9 feet of water and it stopped the boat completely," Broadwell told TV station WFTS .

Water flooded into the cabin, starting to sink their fantasy life. The couple grabbed social security cards, cash, IDs and their pug Remy as they called for rescue.

A ship arrived about an hour later, the  Tampa Bay Times  reported, but the water was too shallow for it to approach. 

So the couple and Remy jumped in, leaving their dream vessel behind to capsize.

"Everything I've worked for, everything I've owned since I was a child, I brought with me. It's just floating away and there's nothing I can do," Walsh told WFTS. 

Broadwell and Walsh left Colorado last year after selling off all their belongings, including a car, to buy Lagniappe for $5,000. It took a year and another $5,000 to get the boat ready to sail, Tampa Bay Times reported.

Now, it could cost thousands to remove Lagniappe  from the channel. 

Even with no savings and no place to live, the couple said they're not giving up on sailing again one day.

"The boat sank," Walsh told WFTS, "but our dreams didn't sink with the boat."

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