someone signed me up for the no plug @ ramp club!

[Home Cookin']

I keep a boat on the trailer at times at a private boat club; just brought it back from the shop last week. Sunday I got a call that they saved it from sinking at the pier--I hadn't put it in and (come to find out) neither had my sister, who shares the boat. Apparently someone Friday night launched it without the plug and left it tied to the dock--we guess they didn't find the key or if they did, didn't find the battery switch.
The bilge pump ran all night and into Saturday; when it ran down someone at the club put an electric sump pump in it and kept it afloat. They also moved it from being caught under the pier with the rising tide!
By Sunday the sump pump wasn't keeping up so they found a spare trailer and pulled it up. After that another member saw it, knew it was mine and called.
I figure it was "youths" who wanted to go out striper fishing; I've had the boat 20 years so someone may have been familiar with it.
Good point to learn--the bilge pump and internal floatation will keep up with the missing hull plug for about 12 hours. However, now that I know this, I have no intention of retesting this info.

I joined the plug club once, long ago, on my own (and just reached over the stern and screwed it in). But I didn't need my membership renewed!

Please withhold any padlock suggestions.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: someone signed me up for the no plug @ ramp club!

I would be more concerned about the launching of the boat without yoru knowledge... That would really bother me.

Glad they saved it. Hope no damage was done...

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: someone signed me up for the no plug @ ramp club!

Believe me it does bother me. If there's some consolation it was a very strange incident; we're asking around about others but thsi appears to be very unusual. Hopefully a one-time thing and I just got unlucky.

Damage was a fried battery ($70) and some marks on the side of the hull from the pier, which will scrub off. A small bottle of stabilizer was floating in the stern locker so I'll toss it, probably the same with 2 qts of oil.
One good thing about an old "beater" boat and one made for fishing and hosing off in that regard--can't really hurt them. A nicer boat would show the marks; a carpeted/uphostered boat wouldn't handle the wet deck so well.

There were nicer boats they could have taken--a well-restored 13' whaler right next to mine; some larger and newer boats. There are 2 older skiffs in the water that belong to the club for the sailing program. Maybe mine looked easy b/c it was older; I think they found the key and went from there.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: someone signed me up for the no plug @ ramp club!

Definetly replace your water/fuel seperator and fill the tank when you go aout again. That is the best defense against water that may have found its way into the tank. Keep a watch on that filter too. Could take a while to get it all out. But you should be ok...

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: someone signed me up for the no plug @ ramp club!

I pulled some gas through and it was OK. The tank and fuel line system is sealed and the seperator didn't go under. We ran it about 10 minutes and it was OK. But I'll keep an eye on it; I thought about the same issue (this was the boat where we lost the motor to a leaking overflow vent).