Caught a Nice Tuna?..Then almost Sunk My Boat

[SDSeville]

It was perfectly clear and super glassy Saturday morning, so we went out a little ways and grabbed a nice yellowfin.

When the wind started to pick up a little we headed in to fish the kelp beds (kelp beds are less than ? mile from shore). We had a little user error when we switched from the bait tank pump to the water pick-up tube (used for when we are cruising for more than a few minutes) on my DIY bait tank. On the way in we pumped hundreds of gallons of water right into the boat. When we got to the kelp beds, the bilge was completely full and there was a couple inches of water on the deck near the engine compartment.

We quickly noticed the problem with the bait tank and fixed the tube. I checked the bilge pump and the fuse had blown for some reason. I put a new fuse in, but the bilge pump wasn?t even making a dent in the water level. Luckily, the pump I use to pump seawater into my bait tank is actually an 1100 GPH bilge pump with a 1? hose. I dropped the bait tank pump into the bilge and threw the other end of the hose over the side and we were dry in about 30 minutes. Pretty scary. Good thing we had reached our destination or who knows how much more water we would have pumped in without even noticing.

Besides re-plumbing the bait tank to make it idiot-proof, I plan to install a back-up bilge pump and a high water alarm. I will also start my search for a self-bailing fishing boat.

 

[gm280]

Interesting story, and a nice catch as well. Is that Charlie Tuna? :facepalm:

 

[jbcurt00]

Good news though, no pix, no boat full of water

Good thinking w bait

 

[SDSeville]

Interesting story, and a nice catch as well. Is that Charlie Tuna? :facepalm:

Thanks GM. Haha - I think Charlie was a bluefin.

 

[SDSeville]

Good news though, no pix, no boat full of water

Good thinking w bait

Thanks jbcurt and yes, great news. Now I will just hope I did everything right during my restore because everything under the deck was swamped. I included drain holes from the outside of the stringers to the center so everything could drain back to the bilge if water got in there. I never really thought that I might be introducing water to those areas from a flooded bilge.

 

[SDSeville]

I am not sure why the fuse blew on the bilge pump, but it is probably a good time to replace it. I have a 500 GPH and will be replacing it with an 1100 GPH. Can anyone recommend a high water alarm? ...or a DIY solution with a float switch?

 

[gm280]

I am not sure why the fuse blew on the bilge pump, but it is probably a good time to replace it. I have a 500 GPH and will be replacing it with an 1100 GPH. Can anyone recommend a high water alarm? ...or a DIY solution with a float switch?

SDSeville, I actually built my own water level circuit so I didn't have to use a float switch. I have read so many posts on these forums where a float switch either sticks up and drains the battery and fries the motor on the pump constantly running, or stuck down and the hull fills with water and sinks. So I built a little circuit that only uses current once it detects a raising water level. And while I have used this for decades, it is home built and therefore if you don't have the means or and/or the ability to build one yourself, I'm sure there are similar devices on the market and I would buy one of them and install. That way you can set it at whatever level you want for the pump(s) to turn on. I attached my circuit and if you want you can built it yourself if you like. :thumb:

 

[bruceb58]

Did the water go high enough to reach your starter?

 

[SDSeville]

Did the water go high enough to reach your starter?

I don't think it was submerged, but very likely water was sloshed around on it. I will take another look on my lunch break.

 

[Starcraft5834]

beautiful fish! enjoy that meal.... no damage to engine.. good deal... few weeks ago my bilge was not working (clogged hose). didn't notice it till hydro lock, whammm,, to a stop, had to be towed in...pulled plug on ramp poured steady for 10 minutes... got her home fine.. dried it out,, pulled plugs, turned it over, burped some water.. changed, plugs, oil, fluids,, started quick runs like a charm... no damage......... was sweating it,, thought my boat was toast...not yet

 

[Volphin]

Jealous of that tuna! Sushi time!

 

[SDSeville]

Yes, definitely sushi time! I hadn't even finished this one yet and my buddies have started coming by dropping off several pounds of their catches. The bite is so great around here right now.

Glad you dodged a bullet Imperial.

Bruce -- Just checked and the starter was not hit. It sits about 7" above the deck line so I don't even think it was even splashed.

 

[bruceb58]

Bruce -- Just checked and the starter was not hit. It sits about 7" above the deck line so I don't even think it was even splashed.

That's good. How about the pan?

I had a similar issue once when I was out fishing. I did not have a float switch at the time. Ruined my starter and caused my pan to rust out when one or two places on the pan got a coating of salt water and eventually started to leak. I would reccomend cleaning thoroughly with fresh water now.

Last time we had a good el nino fishing was pretty good. Wish I could get down there. I have only one arm for a few months so no fishing for me.

 

[SDSeville]

Sorry to hear about the arm Bruce. Hope you are back to normal soon.

Yes, the pan did get wet. I will get under there and clean as much as I can. Thanks for the advice.

 

[bruceb58]

Bondo turned me on to this stuff called Fluid Film. I would spray that around down there too.

http://www.amazon.com/Fluid-Film-Sp...TF8&qid=1440004071&sr=8-2&keywords=fluid+film

 

[SDSeville]

Thanks. I will pick some up at autozone today and spray all over down there. Looks like it will be good on the electrical connections too.