durablity of an aristocraft

[ziggy]

went out yesterday for a nice day at the lake. nice and calm and sunny. sweet. beached it at my favorite beach to camp at. SE corner of the local 2k sq. acre lake after night fell. this was a bad idea. winds came up in the middle of the night. high nw winds even. 15-40mph i guess. what a bummer. the wind pushed me into the beach, then spun me sideways to the lake and the wind and waves pinned me to the beach. so my poor aristocraft got beat sideways on the beach for about 8 hrs i think. i tried to get off myself to no avail. i ended up calling a couple of friends that i now owe big time. they came out to the lake. and us 4 adults were able to get her off the beach and pointed into the wind. waves crashing over the bow. i was able to get it out deep enough to get going. had the gf. start the stone cold engine with the trim to high. no choice. the drive down was bottoming on the lake bottom as ea. trough came thru. had to put it in fwd. while i was still in the water trying to push it into the waves. the wind almost blew us back on the beach, but didn't as i regained control of the helm just in time. stuffed the bow several times going directly into the waves to get home, shuddering with every wave. bow so high as i'd go up a wave i'd loose sight of the lake. and i don't have a issue with seeing over my bow. no over heat. so far, only thing that was damaged was the bow rail. a screw popped out and left the rail floppy. best i can see in an initial inspection is just sanded the bottom of my starborad side pretty good. had the drive buried in the sand about 8'' on the beach. it seems ok too. why i don't know. guess i'll watch the weather better next time.... i read it, but didn't put 2 and 2 together and beached on the wrong side. lesson learned.
to say the least. it was an exciting night and morning.....

special Thanks go out to my two friends. they saved my bacon this morning......

 

[DJ]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

Glad you're OK.

I've never been in that situation but I've helped others that have.

 

[ziggy]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

thanks dj....

I've never been in that situation but I've helped others that have.

yer a good man dj. i've not had the opportunity to help anyone, yet. towed a few folks in, but never something like this. i was at someone else's mercy as i couldn't do the deed by myself. a most helpless feeling. let alone that it was my own negligence that got me into the predicament......

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

Glad everybody is safe.

I got out to one of our fishing spots last labor day weekend with my cousin in the boat with me. We didn't get to stay out but 15 minutes and got scared off by the storm that was moving in quick. We got back just in time, my uncle told me to just park my boat in the boat house slip when we got back because he wasn't going to launch his boat yet, so when we got back I did that.

We parked the boat and sure enough strong winds coming on from the east, rain came down in buckets. I guess the other goof balls were still out there fishing near the area we were at, they didn't look to concerned about the storm that was moving in when we passed back by them after the 15 minutes of being out there.

 

[rndn]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

had the drive buried in the sand about 8'' on the beach. it seems ok too.QUOTE]

If you really had it buried the 8 inches, replace the impeller as it's sure to have taken a beating with the sand going through it.

 

[ziggy]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

If you really had it buried the 8 inches, replace the impeller as it's sure to have taken a beating with the sand going through it.

yep, that's what it looked like. 8''. least that's about how deep the hole was in the sand after pivoting the bow out to sea. the drive was tilted all the way up too... at no time was it running under this condition though. i was concerened about an over heat as i got underway after getting unstuck. so watched closely at the temp gage. no difference from before or after. always run fresh water thru it when i get home too. which i did. i'll be pulling my drive real soon anyways for end of year service and impeller is on the list over the winter.....

thanks for the heads up.....

 

[ezmobee]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

I forgot to check the weather before dragging my boat all the way down to the lake a couple weeks ago. I get down there and see white caps. I was annoyed but determined to fish and was planning on going out anyway. Then I got to the ramp and saw some other fisherman trying to put their boats in or take them out and looked like they were clearly having a hard time at the dock in the wind. So I said screw it and turned around and went home. That was a crappy day. Just to torture myself I went to weather.com when I got home and checked to see that it had said for the day and sure enough it said winds of 15mph with gusts up to like 20-25 or something. My boat doesn't handle chop well so I certainly would have stayed home had I looked.

 

[ziggy]

Re: durablity of an aristocraft

ya made a good choice ez. i can't believe i did what i did. guess i just didn't believe the wethers man. calm seas sat. night. red sky at night, sailor delight. lateeda. none the less, the forecast was for winds to change and increase to 15-20mph with 40mph gusts. from the nw. felt more like sustained 25mph with gusts to 45 on the windward side though. the wind had the whole lake to blow across before getting to where i was at. i should have put in on the leeward side. that woulda kept me safe. but i just didn't listen.
i used to love to jetski, don't have one any more. but as i looked back at the lake after getting back on the trailer i thought to myself. geez. those white caps would be enough to keep me off, even in a jet ski. an i consider them very sea worthy craft. it was just wild..... further inspection has reveled mostly no damage to my vessel. a sanded starboard keel a bit. a broke bow rail that happened in the night while trying to get off the beach myself. so far that's it. gonna raise the drive tonight and inspect the bellows and the likes. i assume there ok as i had no more water in my bilge that usall for high seas like that.... a half cup maybe...... for what happened. i feel lucky..... gonna buy a powerball tonight....