juandesooka
Active Member
Had a little drama Sat in the hali derby, with a whole bunch of water aboard. Worked out fine, but it could have gone bad pretty quick. Curious if anyone else has experienced similar with Campion 542 or similar -- boats that have a low transom. I think Trophy 1802 is similar.
I find the stern sits too low in the water, under the weight of the motor, kicker, gear, anglers, etc. The edge of the motor well sits just at water level and the entrance way for hoses, etc, gets washed with waves. A little water gets in the boat with each wave. If something goes wrong with bilge pump, and you don't check for a while, all of a sudden you have a full bilge and potentially some big problems. The water weighs the stern down quick, bringing hose entrance way to sea level, and then, no matter how good the diaphraghm, in comes the sea.
It happened once before, both times hali fishing. The prior time was back trolling, into the wind -- so wind waves hitting the stern.
I think the design flaw is the stern rides too low with weight of motors, and also that the entrance way for hoses should be higher.
Anyone have any experience with this?
After the first time, I had a plate put on the stern, to effectively raise motor well a few inches, to stop wave action coming in. But yesterday wind was at our bow at anchor, so no waves hitting directly....just sloshing water from the boat rocking. The other intention of the stern plate was to better seal the connection between upper and lower hulls at the motor well ... I think that's the other weak point in design, with the motor well at sea level, 1 bead of caulk is all that is keeping your boat afloat.
Suggestions? One key I think is to better seal the hose entrance way, surely there's a better way. Could take heavy stuff out of stern area (spare downrigger balls, etc) and move to cuddy for storage. Run with less fuel? (that has other problems ;-)
[BTW, the failure of bilge pump was due to clogged screen ... still had power, but not sucking water. I carry an auxiliary pump with a standalone battery (one of those cdn tire portable battery jumpers). That redundancy saved the day, can't recommend those battery units highly enough ... has saved the bacon numerous times.]
I find the stern sits too low in the water, under the weight of the motor, kicker, gear, anglers, etc. The edge of the motor well sits just at water level and the entrance way for hoses, etc, gets washed with waves. A little water gets in the boat with each wave. If something goes wrong with bilge pump, and you don't check for a while, all of a sudden you have a full bilge and potentially some big problems. The water weighs the stern down quick, bringing hose entrance way to sea level, and then, no matter how good the diaphraghm, in comes the sea.
It happened once before, both times hali fishing. The prior time was back trolling, into the wind -- so wind waves hitting the stern.
I think the design flaw is the stern rides too low with weight of motors, and also that the entrance way for hoses should be higher.
Anyone have any experience with this?
After the first time, I had a plate put on the stern, to effectively raise motor well a few inches, to stop wave action coming in. But yesterday wind was at our bow at anchor, so no waves hitting directly....just sloshing water from the boat rocking. The other intention of the stern plate was to better seal the connection between upper and lower hulls at the motor well ... I think that's the other weak point in design, with the motor well at sea level, 1 bead of caulk is all that is keeping your boat afloat.
Suggestions? One key I think is to better seal the hose entrance way, surely there's a better way. Could take heavy stuff out of stern area (spare downrigger balls, etc) and move to cuddy for storage. Run with less fuel? (that has other problems ;-)
[BTW, the failure of bilge pump was due to clogged screen ... still had power, but not sucking water. I carry an auxiliary pump with a standalone battery (one of those cdn tire portable battery jumpers). That redundancy saved the day, can't recommend those battery units highly enough ... has saved the bacon numerous times.]
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