Trophy underwater this morning

[Englishman]

Yep that is Jim's boat Reel Extreme and Derek's biege Bayliner , Southern Cross, in the background.
FA , did you know Jim's boat used to be called "Fish Assassin" but he changed it partly because when Tom Thompson used to do local fish reports on CKNW radio and Jim gave him reports, Tom apparently refused to say Jim's boat name on the radio !!!!

The Kara J is back afloat and in her moorage now . I assume the motor was dried out and run. The kicker I think stayed above water. The problem was confirmed as clogged scuppers and the rubber flap ( not ping pong style) was not functioning properly. The boat seems to sit very low to stern .....in fact I took a closer look today and the scuppers ,despite being cleaned/fixed , are about half below the water line !

Being curious , I walked around the docks looking for self bailing boats and checked several scupper positions. Not only were there several 20-22 boats with scuppers about 1-2" off the water line( with no people on board too) but even a 208 Grady White adventure with 175 hp and no kicker had scuppers way too close to water line in my opinion.

Notwithstanding all the witicisms about Bayliners, as Peahead has observed practically all self bailing boats are designed with only 1-2 inches of free board reletive to the scuppers. I can't believe all boat designers, including Grady White are making huge marine design errors. I assume the flaps or ping pong ball valves are supposed to stop back flow, which they will IF they are clean. And they will be clean if you take your boat out on a trailer after every trip. If you leave it in the ocean all season, then all bets are off, given how fast marine growth takes place and the badly dis-coloured boats below the waterline I see moored in various places.

 

[Aces]

It's also important to be prudent how you set your boat up with your weight distribution keeping as much weight up front as you can.

Oh yeah and regular cleaning when doing a service plus i replace those ping pong ball ones every 2 years because the rubber seat that the ball sits against gets hard after a while and doesn't seal as well.

 

[Tailspin]

**** happens, have seen a few gradys in the same situation. My Osprey has the depth in the keel to keep the floor up high enough to have the scuppers and deck, 5-6 inches above the water line. Problem I have, is keeping stray toothpicks and dog hair from clogging them, not allowing watr to drain. A shot with the garden hose is required every once in a while.

My trophy was a newer model, and did have the scuppers up a bit above the waterline. It was real close on the kickerside with the fishwells full of rainwater though. Knock em all you want, I sure enjoyed mine.

 

[Shepnoir]

Agreed Tailspin,

I fished the $hit out of mine for 7 years and never had problems. It enabled me to be able to fish as much as I wanted with very little investment. Yes I have upgraded but that is due to a particular situiation that I came into and had nothing to do with the Trophy that I owned. Funny thing is you hear lots of people bashing them, but the people who actually own them, love them. hmmmm....makes you wonder.

 

[Last Chance]

Actually, when you look at how many Bayliners are out there, compared to other brands in teh same price range, I think they are not all that bad. Just about EVERY production boat has your standard issue 1/4" hull with plywood stringers whacked together with a nailer. I think the Trophys are actually a lot of boat for the money, and although they tend to cut a few corners (riveting deck together), I think they are a good layout. The early 20 footers were a bad design I think, but the newer ones don't "squat" like they used to.