Bodega Bay Boat Capsize

[psneeld]

There were some good articles and statements by the USCG after the rollover of the center console in the Tampa area where those pro football players drowned a few years back.

A boat like that with 4 guys in it if they were remotely over the weight limits and gear, add a rolling moment, shift some weight, have the passengers grab something high and because of weight placement and hull design, a rollover is very easy.

 

[BandB]

Photos probably aren't a good way of judging balance. But that boat looks like the cabin top is fairly heavy with the large glass and fiberglass top. With an outboard that large and the absence of a large low mounted inboard for ballast it just looks like it's ready to go over.

Photos are all we've got and my first impressions were that wasn't a boat I'd want to be on in that area under the conditions often there. When we hear 32' it doesn't tell us much. A 32' tug is one thing and a jon boat at the other end. Well, this looks much closer to the jon boat than the tug. Looks like a fun boat in good conditions but not in any other conditions. Frankly it reminds me too much of a boat my cousin's husband and his father built and then they and my father and another cousin and his father took it out. Approached the inlet and over it went with them landing on or near a sand bar.

 

[caltexflanc]

Actually that is a very common size and design there.

 

[CPseudonym]

Actually that is a very common size and design there.

+1

Looks identical to the bulk of the small commercial boats on this coast.

 

[psneeld]

Slight differences in hull design and loading on a boat that small can be a big difference in stability.

 

[FlyWright]

Don't know how it rides with 4, but it seemed just fine with 2 of us onboard. But then again, we weren't riding a rogue wave. In some conditions, no boat is "big enough."

Suffice to say, I'll be buying my crab this year. (Hell, it's probably cheaper that way anyway!)

 

[BandB]

+1

Looks identical to the bulk of the small commercial boats on this coast.

I was thinking further north when posting and do recall seeing some like that at Bodega Bay and being surprised they were commercial boats. For some reason I didn't connect it to this accident until my wife reminded me.

Monday night you had a four year old boy fall 225 ft off a cliff there too. He survived and had surgery and hopefully will be ok.

 

[FlyWright]

The Reel Kahuna isn't a commercial boat. It's a friend's that we went out on together. But I will attest that it was far from the smallest boat out there crabbing.

 

[caltexflanc]

I was thinking further north when posting and do recall seeing some like that at Bodega Bay and being surprised they were commercial boats.

Go to Point Arena, Albion and Noyo and you'll see a whole lot more, commercial and rec. For instance, the small fleet at Point Arena is all pretty much like that; some kept on moorings during summer, others on trailers which are taken up the wharf and the boat launched via crane off the side of the wharf. Virtually all are commercial boats or a hybrid.

 

[markpierce]

...

Suffice to say, I'll be buying my crab this year. (Hell, it's probably cheaper that way anyway!)

I do all my "fishing" at a store or restaurant.

 

[FlyWright]

I do all my "fishing" at a store or restaurant.

Maybe most of your fishing...