Almost Sunk My Boat

[ShoreAcres]

Finally launched "The Dog House" this past weekend. Last fall I left the bottom drain plug on the head unscrewed and left the seacock open. I have a launching checkilist in my smart phone I always follow, but I did not have it with me. I believe the drain plug is below water level and the water would have poured in. I thought of it after it was mostly in the water but still on the trailer. I imagine the bilge pumps woudl have saved her if I didn't notice right away, but I won't forget this next year. This fall I will replace the the drain plug rather than leaving it off.

[ss3964spd]

Close call! I launched mine this past Saturday for the first time this season and I probably checked that the bilge drain plug was in about 5 times.

[tjwieseler]

Originally Posted by ShoreAcres

Finally launched "The Dog House" this past weekend.

Hey,

Nice Name!

I probably checked mine at least 5 times.

Terry

[shrew]

Originally Posted by ShoreAcres

............ I imagine the bilge pumps woudl have saved her if I didn't notice right away, but I won't forget this next year. be

Maybe. I find most bilge pumps are undersized. The question is, how much water cand ingress as opposed to the bilge pump capacity. Bilge pumps are spec'd for volume over time being pumped horizontally. add even 1 foot of rise from the pump to the through-hull discharge, the volume that can be pumped over the same time period drops dramatically. (buy a pump rated higher than what you need).

BTW, add "Close Seacocks" to the list of pre-launch steps. For that matter, add inspect and lube seacocks to the winter maintenance list. A few years ago, I watched a boat get launched and the hose wasn't properly connected. the seacock was frozen and the boat started sinking. The bilge pumps had no chance of keping up and the boat was quickly sinking. Thankfully the boat lift and operator were close by.

[ShoreAcres]

When I first got my boat it had two screw holes hidden behind an external depth finder transducer bracket and the water poured in just from those tiny holes. I can't imagine how fast it would come in from a seacock or the big drain plug on the head bowl. I do have an extra bilge pump (3) as I leave her on a mooring buoy for up to a few weeks with no one really checking her.

[ShoreAcres]

Originally Posted by tjwieseler

Hey,

Nice Name!

I probably checked mine at least 5 times.


Terry

Here she is. Note the BiG Dawg on the dock.

[shrew]

Nice pic....great dog!! If you don't already, close all seacocks when you leave the boat. Head, A/C (if you have it). Since these IO's don't have through hull pickups, there's no seacock, however unless the intake hose comes loose (it happened to me underway) you shouldn't need to worry much about that one.

[Tommyfmu]

Originally Posted by ShoreAcres

Finally launched "The Dog House" this past weekend. Last fall I left the bottom drain plug on the head unscrewed and left the seacock open. I have a launching checkilist in my smart phone I always follow, but I did not have it with me. I believe the drain plug is below water level and the water would have poured in. I thought of it after it was mostly in the water but still on the trailer. I imagine the bilge pumps woudl have saved her if I didn't notice right away, but I won't forget this next year. This fall I will replace the the drain plug rather than leaving it off.

It was advised during a full survey recently on our boat to install a float switch high in the bilge which will trigger an audible and visual alarm. It's cheap and good insurance 'just in case' because we sleep on our boat often and to not have to doggie paddle out of it in the middle of the night would be good. We're going to power it from our (2) inverter 6 volt batteries which are in series.