Getting them onto her was a challenge as she is moored several hundred yards away from the lock, on the other side of the canal so everything has to be dragged through a sheep field and the pump wasn't light.
After a couple of false starts I managed to get the pump pumping... quite a sight, a 1000 litres per minute pump shooting water into the canal:
The biggest problem with the pump is the pipe, as the pipe fills with water it puts a huge strain on the pump and even drags the pump across the deck or at one point nearly pushed the pump overboard!
While pumping out the rear I noticed something moving around, initially I thought it was just some debris, until I saw it was an eel, about 18 inches long. At that point I decided I wouldn't be fitting bilge pumps today, certainly not until I've caught it. While pumping out the front half I found another one in the front half.
There is the remains of a waterproof bulkhead dividing the front from the rear, the pump out of the rear took about 30 minutes, but in elapsed time it was more like an hour as I had some problems with the pump and it snapping one of the pipe connections.
I've installed mains power, including a pair of 400W floodlights, one for the rear cabin, the other for the front. The images below give you an idea of the debris that is floating around in her, I've started clearing the inside ready to fix the hull, but I need to come up with another method of pumping her out as it was a little hit and miss.
Looking at the hull it only really appears to be leaking from 2 places, its "weeping" at the rear, along a 4 foot length.by the chine, as its been repaired previously I'll more than likely patch that one from the outside. The good news is that a small submersible pump is sufficient to keep up with the water flow.
The front is a different kettle of fish, water is pouring in at a huge volume, well more than the 150 litre/min that the little electric pump can dish out, although its no match for the 1,000 litre/min of the petrol pump!
