Joined the "aground' club

[mike-the-cobra]

Went out to Cass lake in Oakland County MI yesterday. A spur of the moment thing, so I forgot to take a lake map. Was cruising along with a friend and sudden we came to a screaching, abrupt halt!

Cass lake is the second largest lake in Oakland County, 1250 acres, maximum depth of 123'.

We were cruising along kind of following (from way back) another boat when he turned around and we kept going forward. We could see another boat pulling skiers maybe 1000' in front of us, we were pretty much in the center of the portion of the lake we were in and sudden that god awful noise and stop! We were doing probably about 20mph or so. The female friend with me was freaked and I was a little rattled myself. It went from 54' to 2' in the matter of 25 feet!

Backed my way out of the prediciment, luckily it was pure sand so I lost a lot of paint on the prop, but doesn't look like any damage. Got back up on plane fine, doesn't seem to have suffered any adverse effects.

Of course now I was totally rattled and paranoid, the lake is big and weird, deep to shallow everywhere. I cut the day short after a few more passes, and a lot of idling around (LOL).

Not sure i will go back to that one!

 

[RWilson2526]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

Sounds like no harm was done....look at the bright side it could have been rocks and you could have been doing 40 mph instead of 20. I've done that once or twice myself....crappy feeling when your moving along just fine and then that god awful sound and you turn around and see black muck behind you.

 

[Hit It]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

Pulled one of those ourselves at Lake Powell in southern Utah last week. It was my dad's boat and luckily I wasn't driving . Lucky there was no damage, we weren't going very fast. That lake is notorious for rocks lurking just below the surface and with the water levels always changing it's always a different lake each time you go.

 

[bj2455]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

Been there.. done that myself. Just keep a watchful eye on the temp gauge. I packed the engine with sand and had to replace the water pump impeller.

Bill

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

I would rather run onto sand like that (and I have) than run onto saltwater creek mud. At least, you can get out and push on sand if you can/need to. You sink in Marsh mud and are there until another boat pulls you out or the tide rises to refloat...

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

How the heck does one back out of something like that, seriously you didn't just back out right? you didn't have to get out and push or anything?

 

[mike-the-cobra]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

Nope, I tilted the engine (I/O) just so the prop was under water and backed it out. Didn't know if I was gonna make it but I did...

 

[cadrien]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

I probably spend too much time on Google maps looking at satellite images of my chosen lakes. The image below is Cass Lake, certainly looks like LOTS of potential trouble out there. Glad it turned out the way it did. Any idea where on the lake you hit ground?

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

You got lucky on that one, Glad nothing serious happened!!

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Joined the "aground' club

depending on how and what you hit you can often back out. But be aware that a prop doesn't fair very well if it hits something in reverse, especially a rock. But if you run aground while on a plane, it might not work.
Also in reverse you'll suck up more sand/mud. Going forward and leaving "clouds" won't hurt as long as you are moving, and not chopping the bottom.
If you are boating around marsh mud bottom you need a shove pole with a duck bill. Where I go on the Eastern Shore, it's the second most important piece of equipment (after the anchor).
There are so many tricks to getting unstuck (and mistakes, too) that I couldn't list them here but it's an all-day everyday event when you haunt the skinny water. I am eternally grateful for soft bottoms.
Paint on a prop? I hardly remember...actually one reason we use SS props is b/c we are on the bottom so much. They can even get "sanded down" over time if you are a high-hour user.
A cool trick is using your stern wake to lift you over a bar. Takes practice and timing!
So chalk it up to experience; hope you have many more.

 

[exceed]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

It went from 54' to 2' in the matter of 25 feet!

Of course now I was totally rattled and paranoid, the lake is big and weird, deep to shallow everywhere. I cut the day short after a few more passes, and a lot of idling around (LOL).

Not sure i will go back to that one!

LoL You lake people give me such a good laugh. You guys could never live in some saltwater. Glad nothing was damaged though! Some of our channels here have sand bars year round.

 

[steddy]

Re: Joined the "aground' club

Yeah, we played that game with another boat on Mona Lake last year. We were behind them, he was pulling a tube about 300' in front of us. They were heading toward a sand bar (ankle deep water), but couldn't see it due to the chop and murky water. He never slowed down from 25 MPH until after the boat came back down to the water. The funniest part was when his tube passed him. Big black gusher from the out drive after that. "Sorry, buddy. You're not throttling your way out of that one." Our little 17' bowrider had all it could do to remove the 24' Four Winns from its pedestal that day. The guy was pretty greatful. No damage done, at least at that point. He probably took a few hours of life off his impeller and propeller, though.

I always run an aluminum prop because I don't have the sense to stay in deep water. I hear tell the aluminum props give way a lot easier than SS. I get new props for about $65-$75, so I figure I can buy a lot of props for the cost of a shaft or lower unit or something else. So far, I've only had to replace 1.