Stella Overboardvideo
Everything Broke at Sea… Engine, Toilet & Watermaker Failure
February 15, 2026 · 17 min · 18K views · Ton Sai, Thailand
Sailor scrapes barnacles off hull underwater
What this video covers
Sailing a 39-foot sailboat up the coast of Thailand from Malaysia with six people aboard, Camille and Jesse faced four mechanical failures in one month. The most serious: the engine cut out completely while rounding Chalong Bay in Phuket.2:01 With no power, they rolled out the sails, sailed into the anchorage, and anchored under sail alone in roughly 10 meters of water.1:23 Troubleshooting pointed to air in the fuel system; after checking primary and secondary fuel filters (both clean), they bled the entire system down to the injectors and restarted successfully on the third attempt.6:43 Days later, the manual toilet pump failed — a broken internal seal — and Camille replaced it with a spare Seaflow pump, working around heavily calcified discharge fittings and a rusted elbow she chose to leave in place rather than risk splitting the hose.7:48 The watermaker then began pushing air instead of water; adjusting a pressure valve at the back of the unit restored flow.16:16 Finally, barnacle growth inside the speedometer required a hull dive and scraping.16:36 The crew is now heading south along the Thai coast toward Malaysia for a haul-out.17:11 Carrying spares for critical components — pump, filters — kept each failure from becoming an emergency.
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