A real close call

[Big Cliff]

Well, this weekend my son came down with his welder and gave me a hand repairing my marine railway and installing my dock. Took us most of the weekend but it is better than new.

 

So yesterday after noon I decided it was time to take the boat out for a test run. ( Yes, I did remember the plug LOL)

 

The lake was a little rough but I decide to swing by a friends place just to tease him a bit because I know his boat won't be in the water for a few weeks yet. I didn't pull right up to his dock because the water is quite low but sat just off shore and talked to him for about 5 minutes. As I started to leave I noticed that the boat felt sluggish, I thought perhaps I had picked up some weeds on the prop so I popped it into reverse and that's when I noticed all the water in the boat, it was up over the floor boards. Obviously I was taking on water at a very high rate. I turned on the bilge pump, and opened the throttle as the best I could and heaved a big sigh as the water started to receed. Fortunatly I have a marine railway and was able to get the boat into the cradle ( I might add that I probably set some sort of a record) and got the boat out of the water. Turns out that the water intake for my live well had broken (or come undone) I haven't had time to really assess what went wrong but suffice it to say I have a hole in my boat about 1.25" in Diameter).

 

Could have been much worse though, I could have just tied up at my friends dock and gone in for a visit, or I could have had no way to get my boat out of the water.

 

Fortunatly, all's well that ends well and I have a minor problem to fix. Now, I think I'll go buy a lottery ticket LOL!

[irishfield]

Always something Cliff and many here have livewells and the thru fittings that go with them....so your post will have guys taking a better look at their rigs before launching I bet.

[Smokey]

Good thing you got back or you cold of logged the first swim of the year as well. Good Luck with the repair.

[misfish]

Guess what I,ll be checking out before the weekend.

 

Glad yer safe and still good to go Cliff.

[easton13th]

Good thing you had a good state of mind and did not over react to the situation of on coming water, way to go...

Sorry to hear about the boat..Hope you have it back up in no time.

[Hookset]

Good thing for the marine railway or you'd have had to practice your boat beaching technique.

Glad all worked out o.k.

Heading outside now to check mine, so thanks

[Roy]

I just checked mine after reading your post, Cliff. Glad you're alright. You have a decent bankroll of good karma built up over your lifetime...glad it's paying off.

[GbayGiant]

Always something Cliff and many here have livewells and the thru fittings that go with them....so your post will have guys taking a better look at their rigs before launching I bet.

 

Yup, I never did like that hole.

 

Well it turned out O.K. for you anyway, good thing you didn't go in for a drink.

[Greencoachdog]

Been there done that too!!!... except mine froze with water in it and didn't fill my boat 'til I tried to fill the livewell.

[bpsbassman]

That sort of thing happened to my son (Ned Devine) and my buddy (SoloGill) one bass opening a few years ago. Luckily, bith times we noticed water on the floor as they were docked. Both had serious leaks with their livewells.

Interesting thing when I was getting the review of my new boat at BPS, we got to talking about winterizing and Jill, the lady dong the overview mentioned how they winterize the motor AND the livewell. hmmmmm, I made a mental note of that. Makes a ton of sense, but I never really thought of it before. You winterize the plumbing of a trailer when you store it, why wouldn't you also winterize the plunbing of your boat!

Glad to hear things worked out okay Cliff.

[tjsa]

Holy cow Cliff, I don't own anything that would put me in that situation, but I appreciate the heads up non-the-less. And I am glad you got it out in time.

[Joey]

Wow, that's scary stuff Cliff. Glad you had he boating experience behind you to figure out what to do.

 

Thanks for posting this. Something to think about.

 

Joey

[Clampet]

Now fer the news.

 

Livewell becomes deathwell.

 

A man today, intent on teasing his neighbours, took his "Pleasurecraft" out on it's annual Spring run.

 

As the hapless victim, shouted obsceneties from the deceving comfort of his "Craft", it slowly dawned on him, and his unfortunate occupant, that their ankles were getting that fresh all over feeling.

 

As the echo from his last expletive, failed to return to his ears in the customary, manner, he turned to give his sole occupant the "What the Hell?" look, only to make the horrifying discovery that " Buddy" was slowly but surely floating away towards the now distant horizon!!"

It was at this point, that he discovered with a shear look of horror on his face, that he had joined that neather world know as ... (are you sitting down?) ...THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE.

 

Now for the weather, traffic up next.

[Beans]

Geeeeze...good thing I wasn't there with you Cliff...with my added weight we would have sunk for sure... :rolleyes:

[Whopper]

Glad everything worked out for you Big Cliff.

I had a similar situation in my boat when it was brand new, had it back to the marina where I bought it three times and they never did find out where the leak was. It wasn't until I was cleaning out the engine compartment that I found it and to fix it I had to remove the livewell to get to the intake fitting.

 

Whopper

Edited April 24, 2007 by Whopper

[tonyb]

Yikes, good thing the engine didn't stall and you had an operational bilge pump. Time spent maintaining your craft = more enjoyable time on the water.

 

Should be an easy fix

 

Tony

[sologill]

BPSBassman talked about my episode with the same problem while the boat was docked. Fortunately somebody noticed and told me the boat was sinking. I was able to bilge then get the boat out of the water to find the livewell intake line had come off. Got that fixed but never trusted that hole in the boat from then on.

I've taken to plugging it while docked and removing the plug only when using the live well.

[marvin]

Wow!!! Good to see you handled it well. Water is mighty cold still. Good thing to keep in mind. I have a very fast hand pump as well as an extra pump hooked in case of emergincies just for that reason. I use the hand pump incase my livewells shut down. Always keep a few extra plugs that fit all the intakes of your boat. You never know when they will come in handy. To many people forget the simple things that can save lives in a crisis. I grew up next to the ocean and have seen first hand what a few non costly safety precautions could have done before it was to late.

[Entropy]

Cliff, at least you'll float another day. What lake were you on?

[Entropy]

Cliff, at least you'll float another day. What lake were you on?

[bpsbassman]

Good point SoloGill & Eastfisher,

Think I'll pick up a few extra plugs for all boat orifices.

Good thread Cliff, your bad experience could end up saving many of us.

Edited April 24, 2007 by BPSBASSMAN

[Entropy]

"extra plugs for all boat orifices"

 

not to mention your buddy that ate all your pickled eggs the night before.

[Guest mistyriver1]

Scary stuff. Glad you're OK Cliff.

[Kirk]

Hi Cliff,

 

Glad to hear there was a happy ending.

 

I guess in addition to NF the thread title should also include NB 'not-boating' LOL

[fishindevil]

Well cliff at least all is well,and im glad there was a happy outcome ...so i just went outside and put my spare boat plug into my livewell intake...thanks for the safety tip...in over 20yrs of owning boats ive never heard of that,but i have now...and i just made sure that it wont ever happen to me...thanks