FinnFisher
Active Member
A lesson I learned this weekend.
Deadheads are a real thing. This is a warning to all other boaters on the Fraser. To start with there’s one at MacDonald ramp just inside the entrance. It’s visible. A short while later I hit a submerged one going down the North Arm.
I took my wife out this weekend, who is a white knuckle boater to say the least, trying to help her feel comfortable on the water in our 21.5 ft Campion Victoria(1995).
Needless to say this incident did not help my cause one bit.
A tug was towing a log boom up river as I was going down river. Obviously I had to keep to one side to go by him. I thought I picked the safe option, between him and the sandbar. I was doing about 25 mph in about 12 ft of water (near low slack tide) when there was a great bang and my stern abruptly rose up out of the water and slammed back down.
I dropped the revs and noticed my motor vibrating badly. Immediately I knew the prop was damaged and possibly more…but no noise of rushing water was evident.
We limped in behind the log barriers on the North side of the river and threw out the anchor. I jumped into armpit-deep water and went to work to change out my 4-blade prop that was now a 3-blade prop, with the spare I carry with me always. Got ‘er done and after multiple checks for further damage we continued on for a great day out by Bowen and Gibsons, enjoying the nice conditions while catching a few undersized Springs.
It could easily have been a lot worse…it could have hit the bow area or taken off the lower leg or even the transom. I feel fortunate and thankful for my wife’s wellbeing too. Kudos to her, she got over the shock soon, to my surprise and relief.
Upon returning home I noticed paint that was scraped clean from the stern area of the hull just to the right of the motor and scratch marks on the right side of the recently installed stainless steel skeg guard.
I did not see this deadhead since it was under the murky surface by a few inches. Be warned and please be careful out there.
Deadheads are a real thing. This is a warning to all other boaters on the Fraser. To start with there’s one at MacDonald ramp just inside the entrance. It’s visible. A short while later I hit a submerged one going down the North Arm.
I took my wife out this weekend, who is a white knuckle boater to say the least, trying to help her feel comfortable on the water in our 21.5 ft Campion Victoria(1995).
Needless to say this incident did not help my cause one bit.
A tug was towing a log boom up river as I was going down river. Obviously I had to keep to one side to go by him. I thought I picked the safe option, between him and the sandbar. I was doing about 25 mph in about 12 ft of water (near low slack tide) when there was a great bang and my stern abruptly rose up out of the water and slammed back down.
I dropped the revs and noticed my motor vibrating badly. Immediately I knew the prop was damaged and possibly more…but no noise of rushing water was evident.
We limped in behind the log barriers on the North side of the river and threw out the anchor. I jumped into armpit-deep water and went to work to change out my 4-blade prop that was now a 3-blade prop, with the spare I carry with me always. Got ‘er done and after multiple checks for further damage we continued on for a great day out by Bowen and Gibsons, enjoying the nice conditions while catching a few undersized Springs.
It could easily have been a lot worse…it could have hit the bow area or taken off the lower leg or even the transom. I feel fortunate and thankful for my wife’s wellbeing too. Kudos to her, she got over the shock soon, to my surprise and relief.
Upon returning home I noticed paint that was scraped clean from the stern area of the hull just to the right of the motor and scratch marks on the right side of the recently installed stainless steel skeg guard.
I did not see this deadhead since it was under the murky surface by a few inches. Be warned and please be careful out there.
