sublauxation
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2008
- Messages
- 1,317
Haven't been around much lately but wanted to post this one up because it's something I never would have thought about and on bigger water it would have been serious. I'll try keeping it short.
We were sitting around the fire at the lake Sunday when I noticed a boat about 40 feet from shore. It's a small, shallow lake with a sand bottom and the water is pretty low. I didn't think much of it but about 10 minutes later I noticed the 2 occupants bailing water.
I hopped in my boat and motored over to see what was up, it was an older couple in an aluminum boat. He said they initially noticed water on the floor, thought they spilled the minnow bucket but quickly realized it was more serious. They were beached, taking on water and with both of them bailing weren't keeping up.
I initially assumed some tubing for the live well probably broke so I used a couple plugs I keep on my boat to plug both the back inlet and outlet. I also hooked up the live well pump from my boat that is set up to use as an emergency bilge, then jumped in to help bail. With both pumps working and 2 bailing we weren't keeping up. There was about 3-4 inches of water above the floor which made it hard to get a full bucket of water so we tried to open the floor locker to make it easier.
Even with 2 of us standing on it there was so much pressure on that floor locker that we couldn't spin the latch to open it. Turns out their life jackets were in that hatch (neither could swim) and they had absolutely no way of getting them out. The woman said that's even where Tracker recommended storing them!
At that point I was reluctant to tow them because I assumed that a weld had split and pulling them out would be a mistake but another guy came along and they consented to being towed to the launch. I stayed aboard bailing like crazy until we were able to get it on the trailer. (Being in Wisconsin, while this was happening another neighbor came out and brought us mixed drinks!)
Turns out the front live well thru hull fitting sheared off leaving a 1 1/8 round hole in the hull.
All ended well but had that been bigger water, and they been further from the launch it could have gotten serious quickly. Nothing like having your life jackets stuck under the floor, pushing up on the access door making it impossible to open and get them as your boat is going down!
When boating I keep mine on the back of my seats, easy access an they provide a bit more cushion!
We were sitting around the fire at the lake Sunday when I noticed a boat about 40 feet from shore. It's a small, shallow lake with a sand bottom and the water is pretty low. I didn't think much of it but about 10 minutes later I noticed the 2 occupants bailing water.
I hopped in my boat and motored over to see what was up, it was an older couple in an aluminum boat. He said they initially noticed water on the floor, thought they spilled the minnow bucket but quickly realized it was more serious. They were beached, taking on water and with both of them bailing weren't keeping up.
I initially assumed some tubing for the live well probably broke so I used a couple plugs I keep on my boat to plug both the back inlet and outlet. I also hooked up the live well pump from my boat that is set up to use as an emergency bilge, then jumped in to help bail. With both pumps working and 2 bailing we weren't keeping up. There was about 3-4 inches of water above the floor which made it hard to get a full bucket of water so we tried to open the floor locker to make it easier.
Even with 2 of us standing on it there was so much pressure on that floor locker that we couldn't spin the latch to open it. Turns out their life jackets were in that hatch (neither could swim) and they had absolutely no way of getting them out. The woman said that's even where Tracker recommended storing them!
At that point I was reluctant to tow them because I assumed that a weld had split and pulling them out would be a mistake but another guy came along and they consented to being towed to the launch. I stayed aboard bailing like crazy until we were able to get it on the trailer. (Being in Wisconsin, while this was happening another neighbor came out and brought us mixed drinks!)
Turns out the front live well thru hull fitting sheared off leaving a 1 1/8 round hole in the hull.
All ended well but had that been bigger water, and they been further from the launch it could have gotten serious quickly. Nothing like having your life jackets stuck under the floor, pushing up on the access door making it impossible to open and get them as your boat is going down!
When boating I keep mine on the back of my seats, easy access an they provide a bit more cushion!
