Tips on how to defeat the Redmaw

My buddy and I tried fighting the redmaw on a duo sloop, and it is stupid difficult. The entire fight my buddy was trying to damage the redmaw, but it kept swimming out of angle, and I was knee deep in water trying to bail. I spent the entire battle bailing and repairing and we lost because we ran out of wood. What are some tips on how to actually defeat this thing and manage ship damage without it becoming too overwhelming?