Lessons Learned

[Mike H]

Ok, so I don’t quite know what to file this under: Anchoring among lobster pots in Maine; Lessons learned; What could go wrong, will go wrong; or whatever. In any event, here is a summary of what happened this past weekend. And, please don’t hold me accountable to the sequence of events – things were happening so fast that I remember what happened (I think), but not when it happened. And, things are a bit condensed so as not to put everyone to sleep.

As for those not familiar with lobster gear, there is a trap on the bottom, with a line leading to a surface buoy. From that, it leads on another line to a smaller surface buoy. When they haul, the lobster boat hooks the winch to a point in between the two surface buoys and haul away. It only works if everything is connected, hence lines all over place but in a prescribed manner.

Our boat: 1988 Californian 48 CPMY, twin screws, and I doubt the two previous owners knew how to anchor. It came with a wimpy Danforth which we have upgraded. Our early experience in boating was with a 35-foot sailboat primarily in Alaska, so we tend to overkill. Have retrofitted by installing bow/stern thrusters, larger windlass, larger anchor, and all new electronics (but missing a couple as the story unfolds).

So, last weekend, the Admiral and I spent a wonderful two days at a secluded cove in Maine. Friday morning, time to head off to the next venue. Uh, oh. The two buoys for a trap are on either side of the boat, and the connecting line is hung up on somewhere underneath. It’s a nice morning, but it is Maine. I slip off my pants and drop into the water (think shrinkage) When the water hits my chest, I immediately pop up and say enough of that poop and where is the knife. I cut the line, bring one buoy on board and start the starboard engine. I take a wild guess and pop it quickly into reverse, and the other line comes out. So, now we have the two surface buoys and a line heading to the bottom. We think it might be better to keep all on board for now, and we pull anchor.

But when pulling anchor, we have shifted, and the line to the trap is now hung up on things under the boat. I try to get the line free with the boat hook, but it gets hung up on the trap. All the while, the wind is gently pushing us toward shore, and the Admiral says time to move. I run up to thruster us away from shore, but I use a bit of engine power to help.
For whatever reason (I can’t remember but maybe battery power low on the thrusters) I run down to the engine room. Two of the lower floor boards are floating! Now, that will get your attention.

I check the shafts thinking the lobster trap put too much strain on the shaft when moving. No leaks. I run to the aft lazarette and see water. I hop down and see where there use to be a vertical shaft for the port rudder there is a lot of water gushing up. Lobster trap has pulled off the rudder. I immediately put my palm over it, and all is well (except for how to “permanently” seal it, and we have a lot of water in the bilge). Admiral comes down and puts her palm over it, and I run back to the engine room. Bilge pumps are not keeping up, and the manual bilge pump has a 8 kW generator in the way for use. Now there is a good design.

I have extra raw water intake hose, and I disconnect one from the engine and connect the extra with one end in the bilge. Start up the engine, and soon we have a relatively dry bilge. One and a half steps completed (plug leak temporarily and empty bilge). While getting the plugs, I stick a sock in the leak, and all holds. Don’t ask me what brand of sock. Who would have thunk?

Since the trap has pulled the rudder shaft out and I have no idea what it is still connected to, I need to get that trap off. After muscling it around (they are heavy and I still have bruises and sore back) and using the second boat hook to get it to the surface, I cut the line and haul it on board. (Ok, for the obvious question, only one lobster.) I call a marina about 5 miles away, explain the situation, and they are waiting to haul us when we come in. They are now fabricating two new rudder/shafts commensurate with the shaft size. The original rudders were, in my mind, a bit undersized.
Lessons learned:

1. Never anchor near lobster traps. Yeah, right, this is Maine, and that isn’t going to happen. They do have to make a living, but I have seen buoys so close that I’m sure the first one there will haul several traps at once.

2. Get a wet suit. Going down this week to buy a complete suit with hood, goggles, etc.

3. Install a high water alarm. I hate to think if we had learned of the leak while under way and the engine room awash instead of just a few inches. And, no wireless. My cameras are always blinking out for short periods.

4. Set up a see-through tote in plain site (ceiling of engine room on quick release) with plugs, etc. In it, there will be at least three cans of spray foam that we will replace annually. I have personally seen one boat and heard of another where the spray foam saved the day.

5. Get that manual bilge working in proper order. Maybe it was only the thru hull was closed, but I didn’t have time to think about that. If that is the case, a written note by the pump handle is required. Funny how you remember things at certain times but not when time is of the essence.

6. Buy a replacement boat hook.

It could have ended better, it could have ended worse. We’ll end up with a safer boat.

 

[rslifkin]

Skip the manual bilge pump and add electric high water pumps. As you likely found, if you're a crew of 2, you don't really have an extra person to operate the manual pump. Much better to have the backup pumps either be automatic or on a switch so you're free to work on stopping the water ingress.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Thanx. Fabulous story. We in the West contend with crab traps, but the scale is clearly different.

 

[John R M]

Don't forget a weight belt to go with the wet suit. Without one you'll never get below the surface.

 

[Blissboat]

Great story, Mike - thanks for telling it so well. Lessons learned is right!

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah, I float real good in salt water, like a bobbin!

 

[Juliet 15]

7. Be nice to the admiral. She may be all that stands between you and a sinking...

 

[Comodave]

We put Borel Mfg exhaust temp alarms on our last two boats. They will alarm almost immediately if you loose cooling water flow. But you can also add high water alarm and water in fuel alarm. They are simple to install and don’t use any power unless they are actively alarming. No affiliation just a satisfied customer.

 

[SoWhat]

a 1 1/2" dia hole in hull 2' below the waterline will flood at 62gpm. The average 2000gph bilge pump will pump out 33 gpm (Perfect conditions, no hose length)

Adding a safety fudge factor I would want bilge pump capacity of at least 100gpm with at least 2 through hulls in case one pickup clogs or pump fails. A manual pump such as a Whale Gusher 10 or Urchin will pump 10-15gpm. Not enough to make an appreciable difference.

I carry both wood and foam plugs. (and note that once you free boat from pot warp it will take off leaving you bobbing around in your wet suit. Trail a long line)

 

[ScottC]

Well-told story with excellent summary of lessons learned. Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[Mike H]

I forgot to mention that on my to-do list is to put Y valves on the raw water intake to each engine. One hose will go to the thru-hull / strainer and the other to the bilge. I'll put a screen on the end. That way, it will be a quick flick to get a lot of water out of the bilge. I've heard a number of lobster boats are set up that way.

 

[rslifkin]

I forgot to mention that on my to-do list is to put Y valves on the raw water intake to each engine. One hose will go to the thru-hull / strainer and the other to the bilge. I'll put a screen on the end. That way, it will be a quick flick to get a lot of water out of the bilge. I've heard a number of lobster boats are set up that way.

Not a bad idea. But it might be worth finding out how much water your engines actually move. For some, it's a lot. For others, it's less than a large bilge pump. If they don't move as much as you'd want, you could install a clutched belt driven pump on each engine as an emergency pump. Some of those can move a truly incredible amount of water.

 

[Blissboat]

[y]ou could install a clutched belt driven pump on each engine as an emergency pump. Some of those can move a truly incredible amount of water.

That's the workboat solution. As long as the engine can stay running, you can dewater the bilge. Compartmented boats connect the pump to a valved manifold allowing selection of the compartment to be dewatered.

 

[SoWhat]

Jabsco 2C49 1" raw water pump used on 6 cyl Lehman pumps 18gpm at 1500 rpm.

 

[proudsailor]

Great info, thanks for sharing. Spray foam? Stuff used to fill gaps around windows/doors? What's the secret to stopping a hole with spray foam that has water pushing through it?

 

[wkearney99]

I keep a set of wood and foam plugs on board. I hope to never use them. I do have some flex-seal spray foam on board but have never applied it to have any idea about whether it'd be of any use or not.

Good point about an alarm in the rudder space, I don't think I have one back there. Though I think the top of the rudder deck is above the waterline, but I certainly wouldn't make any bets on it.

My to-do list has had "secondary high water bilge pump(s)" on it for waaay too long.

 

[Juliet 15]

I wonder if this would be a good time to hear from various TFers on what emergency dewatering solutions they've seen or implemented. I've been dithering over buying an electric pump. My port engine has a complex pump/ hose setup that extends from the engine room to the bow, but using it requires moving some valve handles to get the auction focused on the right hose section. I've never tested it...

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Thanks for sharing. I like the idea of foam. Also many new boats has the emergency valve so you can use the engine as a bilge pump. Good thinking.

 

[kenk]

I'm curious to know how the lobster trap pulled off the rudder and shaft.

 

[SoWhat]

I'm curious to know how the lobster trap pulled off the rudder and shaft.

There are many rudder configurations but we can assume OP had a standard spade rudder secured by a collar and not mounted via pintles. We can also assume dry weight of boat in excess of 40,000 lbs. From my own experience I can affirm that a pot wedged in rocks makes a superb anchor. Using the rudder as the anchor attach point for a 40,000 lb boat is going to break something. The line between the pot and the rudder is like a piece of rebar.

OP did not do a failure analysis but we can guess that a corroded collar, maybe some crevice corrosion, maybe even poor fabrication, might have played a role. Not a common failure mode but not all that surprising either.

Kudos to the OP for keeping his head on straight and solving the problem.

 

[kapnd]

I lost a rudder once, and the canned spray foam saved the day!
Lesson learned was keep some rubber gloves taped to the spray foam can.
I had my hand over the hole, and sprayed the foam between my fingers, and had to keep my hand there for a while as the foam cured. My hand became part of the patch, and although it wasn’t too difficult to pull off, the excess cured foam on my hand stayed with me for several days.

 

[SailorGreg]

I lost a rudder once, and the canned spray foam saved the day!

Lesson learned was keep some rubber gloves taped to the spray foam can.

I had my hand over the hole, and sprayed the foam between my fingers, and had to keep my hand there for a while as the foam cured. My hand became part of the patch, and although it wasn’t too difficult to pull off, the excess cured foam on my hand stayed with me for several days.

And we leave for Maine tomorrow! Too late for some of these ideas, but will buy some foam. Great idea. One lesson we have learned is to make a map of the area around our boat at anchor. All the floats around us, color coded. When we get up in the morning we check to see if they are all still visible. If one is missing, likely we will find it caught below.