Great post Fishyboy. EVERYONE please read it.
Originally Posted by Fishtofino
"If you're trying to go for tuna on the cheap you are just asking for trouble. The ocean is a mean bitch that wants to kill you. My 2 cents worth."
Thanks Rob for clarification. I called over and tried to over assistance but must of been too far away to get my radio to reach theirs. Glad everyone is safe...freak accident like I said, \Mikey has a billion years experience on the ocean too (he's actually that old...)
A bottom-bound boat is some scary stuff, for sure. As tragic as it is losing a major expense such as a boat, it becomes a mute point when you know that everyone aboard stayed high and dry and were able to return to their families.
Good on everyone involved for willing and wanting to assist.
This should be a wake-up call to everyone to go over your boats from stem to stern, inside and outside. Don't just look at it-- look for problems. Inspect it. And, since you are there, check all safety gear, fire stopping devices, too. If it looks fallible, replace it.
Safety is everyone's job- not just the boat owner's.
So, what could fail to allow a newer, 26' boat (not necessarily this particular one) to take on water so quickly, in calm conditions?Originally Posted by fishyboy99
- a sterndrive bellows failure?
- a thru-hull fitting failure?
- collision with a dead-head or grounding?
(In actual tests, a 3/4" hole near the water line allows 368 gph to flow, while a 1-1/2" hole allows 978 and 2" hole allows 1353 gph to flow. 8 US gallons is about 1 cu.ft. and weighs 62-1/2 pounds. So, in 10 minutes a small hole could easily allow one ton of water onboard.)
What other failures could result in a sinking?
"Save wild salmon - can the D.F.O." - tee shirt from Pacific Net and Twine
Foxsea-your math on the 3 holes you gave is suspect-It would take a larger hole than what you specified to do that. Anyone of my 3 bilge pumps would have handled the 3 holes you specified. The boat was able to run therefore his bilge pumps were workable-this had to be more than a through hull failure-it was an aluminum boat-perhaps Sculpin might have some comment on seam or weld failure. 368 gals an hour =46 cu ft divided by10/60 =roughly 71/2 cuft times 621/2 =roughly 350 lbs- in 10 min.-carrying on even the 2 inch hole won't put 1 ton of water on board in 10 min. My point is this-have a look at all the thru hulls you have and especially the sizes as foxsea noted{his statistics on holes is correct) then get the bilge pumps to handle the failure of any or all of them with redundency of at least one pump. They may buy you some time. No my friends this was not a mere thru hull failure-the math doesn't support the hypothesis!!!
"So many fish-So little time"
Huge congrats to your guide for keeping a cool head and thinking things through logically. As the Master of the vessel it is so important to stay in control regardless of the situation. Great response to some of the somewhat negative posts. We all know it's easy to jump on the negative band wagon!!
Good luck the rest of the season.
Yes -congrats on a job well done! I don't know BH- I didn't see much for negative comments-more a somber reflection of what we(personally) could do to prevent this happening to ourselves. Its a bad day when you can't learn something from an accident like this. The best thing we can learn from all of this is if it is all going pear shaped- make a solid quick decision and act in the manner that gets the people off. Doing nthing or hoping is not a decision -it's a wish. This guide( i don't know him) made all the right leadership choices-his clients were lucky to have him.
Just in the process of having a through hull redone which is why we are not fishing.
Also considering having a hose splitter and added length of hose and additional valve added to the raw saltwater wash down pump intake high up above the boats waterline as the washdown pump is mounted high. This would allow the valve to the wash down pump through hull to be closed and the new one opened to the new hose which could be placed in the bilge. The idea would be to add additional pump out capability to the two regular electric bilge pumps in an emergency. Has anyone done this or foresee any problem in doing it?
Anyone have a recommendation for a small hand powered manual bilge pump for additional backup? I don’t have one yet but that also may be a good idea and I see Scotty makes one. Do they work any better than the buckets we have now?
I almost sank a smaller boat one time on a lake. Had something to do with forgetting to put the plug in.
Sounds like it may work Rockfish-however most washdown pumps are only 3.5 to 4 gpm- the extra money may be better spent in double clamping all thru hulls and putting a manuel gulper pump on board. If you have mascerators on board-depending on where they are pumping from you may be able to make them pump the bilge-on my boat cutting 2 hoses would would pump the bilge overboard-but your idea of the valve has me thinking and I may be able to incorporate that. Thank you.
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