£6.98 tube of glue saved sinking yacht
Stephen Spencer panicked when water started filling his £50,000 (€58,700) ketch and the pumps were not enough to stop it sinking in Poole Harbour, Dorset.
The 44-year-old marine engineer then went to a hardware store and bought a £6.98 tube of adhesive to patch up the five-inch hole at the end of June.
Spencer, from London, said: “It is quite an eerie feeling stepping on board a boat that is filling with water.
“I admit I was sceptical. When I got back to my boat, I found some cork and some plywood and, with an enormous amount of cynicism, stuck it down with Wet Grab.
“To my astonishment, it didn’t get washed away but stuck like a barnacle to your worn out anti-fowling. I squeezed the remainder of the tube into the gaps and, without even having to wait for it to dry, the leak stopped. I was able to pump out the water and after 48 hours, I took the boat out to sea and sailed to Fox’s Marina in Ipswich without taking on a single drop of water.”
He added: “If I’d got the hole when I’d been at sea, the boat would definitely have gone under, possibly taking me with it.”
