Hey all,

out on a cruise for a week and had the pleasure of developing a pinhole leak (high pressure hair thin stream of coolant) from the hose that goes into the front of main coolant manifold/reservoir (the hose that attaches just in from and below the coolant filling cap).  We have the universal m35bc 

I was able to get control with direct pressure -- I used flex seal tape to apply a pressure dressing around the hose-- used a bunch so there's a big bulky dressing and then I put a hose clamp around that for some added direct pressure.  

Held for the 30 minutes i ran it after.  

30 mile trip back home tomorrow so hopefully it holds.  Forecasted favorable breeze so hopefully can sail most of it.  

Not sure of exact brand of the flex seal tape I used since no label,  but from what I can find online most of that stuff has fairly decent temp tolerance up to 200F so hopefully it won't melt. 

Question:  This is the small segment of hose that makes a tight angle into the front of the reservoir just under the filler cap.  It's painted so I can't tell if it's regular hose or not.  Anyone know if this is a hose that I can just purchase at West Marine or another supply store or does it have to be a pre-shaped shaped OEM part?  Seems like tight angle for a short segment and wondering if I'll be able to do that with standard hose?

As long as it doesn't have to be OEM I'll get back, drain the system enough to get that hose off and try to replace locally

what a bummer.  Cutting the trip short.  There's nothing around where I am so I just want to get back to the dock to be able to sort it... hopefully the pressure dressing holds and no tow of shame in our immediate future!

to add to the fun: because if a pesky small coolant leak that I haven't been able to visually diagnose (I don't think this was it.. no way that was just a drip before) I put fluorescing dye into the coolant (the stuff designed for car coolant systems to find radiator leaks).  The good news is I did easily see where the chronic drip was (hose attachment at heat exchange loose).. but bad news is now I have coolant that when sprayed out of a pinhole hose leak needs to be immediately cleaned up before it permanently stains stuff... what a mess..  

Thanks for any insight/advice. 

Brad