Not a good way to start the day....

Last night GW and I were in the lighted boat parade. We had 19 guests on board which was the staff of our local Junior Achievement and their husbands. JA supplied the muchies and brought all their own booze (no red wine!) and a good time was had by all.

I went down to the boat this morning to do a little cleanup and just to check and make sure everything was in order. As I walked down the dock, this is was I saw of the boat that's side-tied on the opposite side of the dock from us....



This is an old wood hulled boat, about 60' long that the owner had done a major refit/refinish on a couple of years ago. It was in beautiful shape with a nicely done white hull and a beautiful teak interior.



The owner had already been called and was on the way when I called him. Several people showed up with water pumps to try to stop it from sinking any further.





Before I left spill containment booms were spread out around the boat. The only leakage by the time I left was from the diesel heater exhaust outlet. At first it was just bubbling air but after all the air got out of the tank it started bubbling out diesel. We were able to contain that with the diapers so it doesn't look like there will be any environmental damage.



Best guess at this point is that the boat is sitting on the bottom so won't sink any further. They were trying to locate flotation bags when I left in an attempt to lift it off the muck bottom.

What a way to start a nice Saturday.

Real sad. Fresh water?

What a heart breaker!

I realize it probably happened over night however I doubt it so what I don't get is from the time it started to it's present state tell me that there wasn't anyone around that noticed? It didn't all of a sudden end up on the bottom without some indication it was happening.

My heart sank when I saw this picture... so sad

We left our boat last night around 10:30 and it was fine at that time. The guy in the next slip to my boat noticed it at 8:30 this morning.

It is fresh water, and about 43*. At this time of year it's usually very clear. Once boats start hitting the water and the spring runoff starts it gets cloudy.

Nobody knows, but at this point speculation is that a thru-hull hose gave out. That boat probably has 3" thru-hull fittings and a 3" hole 5' beneath the surface lets a lot of water in.

Yep a lot of intake that's for sure but a couple of bilge pumps could or should have kept up or the very least got someone's attention.

So sad!

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That is a shocker, really feel for him. Very much 'there but for the grace of god......'

No way of knowing what caused this, however I do worry about thru hull fittings, their failure can be so catastrophic.

Ocean Breeze NL said:

Yep a lot of intake that's for sure but a couple of bilge pumps could or should have kept up or the very least got someone's attention.

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Should be easy enough to rig a horn / alarm for those as well.

That's a shame.
Glad we have dry exhaust.

Oh Brother! All that work. Well, with fresh cold water, maybe it has a chance to come back pretty good. Sad, sad, sad.

Makes me sick to see those pictures.

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wood boat...I wouldn't necessarily think thru-hull hose any more than just a plank letting go....

you would have to be a complete dolt to let thru-hull and hose maintenance go that bad when a wooden hull not recently refastened is a time bomb waiting to open up.

I have crawled thru many vessels and only found a hand full where the owner had mounted a 2nd high mounted bilge switch that turn on a red rotating beacon and strobe lite to get people attention. Also saw one with a siren attached to switch. not a big cost for the benefit. My vessel has a strobe an really loud beeping horn. The battery bank that powers it is mounted high also.

I believe that is the GB 50 we met up the Snake 3 summers ago... it looks like he had really cleaned it up ( except for the sunken part ) in the last few years. It is always heartbreaking to see a boat go down... luckily it is in fresh water.
HOLLYWOOD

Ron T said:

I have crawled thru many vessels and only found a hand full where the owner had mounted a 2nd high mounted bilge switch that turn on a red rotating beacon and strobe lite to get people attention. Also saw one with a siren attached to switch. not a big cost for the benefit. My vessel has a strobe an really loud beeping horn. The battery bank that powers it is mounted high also.

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I have two high bilge water switches.

Either one goes off and less than 10 seconds later I get a text and a e-mail on my Iphone, my Ipad, my home computer, and my office computer.

Then I get the same text and e-mail every minute until the alarm goes away.

N4712 said:

That's a shame.
Glad we have dry exhaust.

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Yes, but the genset, water maker, and drip less systems on your rudder and shaft are potential water ingress points. And too, how about the salt water wash down on some Nordhavns?

I'd guess too on the sunk vessel a board was sprung. But on some older vessels there are ever so many through hulls to be suspect about.

sunchaser said:

Yes, but the genset, water maker, and drip less systems on your rudder and shaft are potential water ingress points. And too, how about the salt water wash down on some Nordhavns? I'd guess too on the sunk vessel a board was sprung. But on some older vessels there are ever so many through hulls to be suspect about.

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Yep, but we try to close all the valves every time we leave the boat. Not sure if everyone else does, but that's regular procedure for us.

Makes my heart sink - Too!

I have gotten 3 call from customers to install a warning system since this started. If you go to WOLO MFG. CORP. VEHICLE HORNS, WARNING LIGHTS & ACCESSORIES their truck back up alarms are water-proof and cost $ 45. for Model BA-107. 107 DB loud. Also waterproof strobe and LED warning lites; $ 60. to $ 120.00 Plus good bilge switch and wire. I feel the expense and time needed, 3 hours with 2 coffee brakes, is well worth it.

Great idea

Ron T said:

I have crawled thru many vessels and only found a hand full where the owner had mounted a 2nd high mounted bilge switch that turn on a red rotating beacon and strobe lite to get people attention. Also saw one with a siren attached to switch. not a big cost for the benefit. My vessel has a strobe an really loud beeping horn. The battery bank that powers it is mounted high also.

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My second stage bilge pump, probably 8" higher than the smaller primary, has a fused wire added from the "switch to pump" side straight up to the lower helm horn button "button to horn" side. KISS. No diodes. Just wire. Yes the pump spins when I hit the horn button- probably does it some good to spin. And yes the horn blows when I lift the float switch to test it (on the to do list to replace with a Water Witch) but this just confirms the wiring and horn are still operational.
Having added my 2¢ let me also agree how sad it is to see such a beautiful vessel sink. Almost doesn't look real in that clear still water.

I like Steve's (Forkliftt) concept for hooking bilge pump action to horn button. I muse that concept and wonder if hooking to all three of our regular bilge pumps to horn, so that any "unexpected" need for bilge water evacuation becomes immediately noted while aboard or while not aboard. This would have a shut off flip switch to horn so I could manually activate the pumps while aboard if desired without horn sounding but then after I've checked for bilge water hit the to-horn flip switch back on as an alarm system.

Reason I'm thinking this concoction after reading Steve's post is due to these factors:

1. Our Tolly hull/bottom takes on "0" water of its own volition... at rest or on cruise
2. We do have a top off leak in one fresh water tank and if fill hose is left on too long there is at times a few gallons that enter bilge - for which I manually activate pump to remove (I’ll fix that some day!)
3. One time years ago we were cruising along on a sunny blustery day up on flying bridge and then we anchored. Upon anchoring at reduced rpm I heard bilge pump water hitting the sea. When throwing open engine hatches I found considerable water in bilge. Pumps handled that OK. It was raw water pump on starboard engine that had failed considerably, although still getting enough to heat transfer system to keep engine cool. I would have liked to be warned by horn - Good idea Steve!

This is now on my To Do list! - Art

PS: I'm wishing best luck to owners of sunk boat... My heart aches for you.

There isn't anything new to add since yesterday. A rep from the EPA showed up and said everything looked good with the spill booms and the diapers we were collecting so he was happy.

Speculation is that a hose from a thru-hull fitting gave out and flooded the boat. There's an exhaust outlet on the stbd side of the boat directly off our stern. I usually hear it running but I talked with the owner this morning and told him I hadn't heard it when we were down there Friday night. I thought it was a heater exhaust and just figured the heater had cycled off. Turns out that exhaust is from a bilge blower that's always left on to keep fresh air down where his house and engine batteries are. If the bilge blower wasn't running that may be because the batteries were dead and that may have kept the bilge pumps from discharging water.

Now it's up to the insurance to take care of the boat.

Thanks Art for the kind comments. Slight thread hijack, two things actually. I no longer leave my charger on while at the boat, it's an older unit and just don't trust it enough, so when I first get on the boat, I hit the blower/blowers to confirm the batteries are still up. Afterwards I turn on the charger and hear a slight increase in speed due to the higher voltage. Probably not nearly as accurate as the modern monitoring systems out there but it works. Second issue, it seems the '83 Present 42's don't have near the engine room vents that 85 and later show at midship. I'm convinced that this contributes to engine room "smell" that I always seem to be fighting. Over the years, I tend to run the 12 volt blowers, one from aft head to ER, and other from ER to outside- for a couple of days if we have not been on the boat for a few weeks. It's not as big an issue if we go regularly. HOWEVER, the unit we use, a
Jabsco 35400-0000. Has a service life of about 1200 hours- so I have probably purchased 4 or 5 of these over the years. Attempts at freshening them up have had varied results. Does anyone use a 110 version of these, or possibly another 110 blower that they are happy with? Perhaps a continuous duty motor? Any replies to this might be posted by starting a new thread! Hijack over!

...Yeahp, we spend our lives working hard to do many things, amongst them to have something that we really like. And then, one day, we come to a crossroad like this.
Life is not always fair!

My simpathy and best wishes for the owner of the boat!

I was in a transient slip once and noticed that the unoccupied boat in the next slip seemed a bit lower in the water than when we arrived. We had admired the boat earlier so I could tell it looked different.
I notified the Dockmaster who came to verify and then left to call the owner. After a couple of sundowners no one had showed up and the boat was obviously taking on water.
I again walked to the dock office and was informed that they could not find the owner and that there was nothing they could do without permission. Coast Guard showed up with a pump but would not board boat because owner not present.
The marina put spill booms around and we all watched as the boat sank. Talk about sad.
I found out later that the engine had been removed that day and the mechanic had failed to plug the exhaust. Not sure how you could miss that but that was the story.

Bill Ranson said:

I was in a transient slip once and noticed that the unoccupied boat in the next slip seemed a bit lower in the water than when we arrived. We had admired the boat earlier so I could tell it looked different.
I notified the Dockmaster who came to verify and then left to call the owner. After a couple of sundowners no one had showed up and the boat was obviously taking on water.
I again walked to the dock office and was informed that they could not find the owner and that there was nothing they could do without permission. Coast Guard showed up with a pump but would not board boat because owner not present.
The marina put spill booms around and we all watched as the boat sank. Talk about sad.
I found out later that the engine had been removed that day and the mechanic had failed to plug the exhaust. Not sure how you could miss that but that was the story.

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Good on you Bill,
We are so afraid of being the Good Samaritan these days in fear of getting our asses sued that our "built-in neighborly help" or "doing the right thing" is limited. The one thing in my home town that I am still thankful for is that neighbors look out for and action what needs to be done to help others. On many occasions at two in the morning, a group of fellows went down to help out a needed fisherman or pleasure boater when things needed to be done. Something to be said for that I tell ya. I got called a little while ago from a passersby out for a daily cruise who called someone to go take care of an issue at my boat. There was no way I could get there to take care of it, but thankful people are still around like that and like you Bill ( and oh ya Hollywood ).

Bill Ranson said:

I was in a transient slip once and noticed that the unoccupied boat in the next slip seemed a bit lower in the water than when we arrived. We had admired the boat earlier so I could tell it looked different.
I notified the Dockmaster who came to verify and then left to call the owner. After a couple of sundowners no one had showed up and the boat was obviously taking on water.
I again walked to the dock office and was informed that they could not find the owner and that there was nothing they could do without permission. Coast Guard showed up with a pump but would not board boat because owner not present.
The marina put spill booms around and we all watched as the boat sank. Talk about sad.
I found out later that the engine had been removed that day and the mechanic had failed to plug the exhaust. Not sure how you could miss that but that was the story.

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I know this is what has been shoved down our throats due to our legal system. But... I would rather be sued for trying to do the right thing than to have to live with my guilt for not.

Besides a good lawyer could probably sue someone who had the ability to do something and chose not to... again our P.O.S. legal system.

I have stepped aboard a number of times to help a vessel in dire straits and to this point have not been sued... I am a true believer in Karma

HOLLYWOOD

Bill Ranson said:

I was in a transient slip once and noticed that the unoccupied boat in the next slip seemed a bit lower in the water than when we arrived. We had admired the boat earlier so I could tell it looked different.
I notified the Dockmaster who came to verify and then left to call the owner. After a couple of sundowners no one had showed up and the boat was obviously taking on water.
I again walked to the dock office and was informed that they could not find the owner and that there was nothing they could do without permission. Coast Guard showed up with a pump but would not board boat because owner not present.
The marina put spill booms around and we all watched as the boat sank. Talk about sad.
I found out later that the engine had been removed that day and the mechanic had failed to plug the exhaust. Not sure how you could miss that but that was the story.

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Here's an idea!

Next time call the cops and tell them you think you saw strangers selling drugs off the boat and it seemed there were drugs that had been in the window! Then when they show tell them you think those strangers may have screwed around on the boat because it seems to be taking on water! I hope the cops could then get the CG aboard for a needed, continued pump out!

Geezzz - Have we become so litigious that no one can even board a sinking boat to save it from sinking – does that include the CG too?!?! That is unbelievable and somehow very sick !

Art said:

Geezzz - Have we become so litigious that no one can even board a sinking boat to save it from sinking – does that include the CG too?!?! That is unbelievable and somehow very sick !

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Art, when you are right, you are RIGHT..!

Actually...if the boat is floating but taking on water.....YOU CAN do something about it...if it's already sunk is when salvage become questionable.

YOU CAN be sued if you are IN THE POSITION TO HELP AND DON"T ...usually that would be an on scene salvor, USCG or equivalent, or even possibly the marina if they had equipment or have done it in the past.

We do it all the time under those guidelines....