What if you hit this at near WOT speed??

[sunchaser]

In Puget Sound, just coming up on the Narrows bridge (only one at the time), at night, we hit something 'Bump, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, .

Night running in the WA and BC waters can be a challenge. Koliver's point about less debris today than a decade or two ago is spot on. Spring runoff sure brings part of the forests into the water. Our more exciting sightings have been when past Port McNeil and rounding Cape Caution with seas running and fog prevalent.

Once north of Prince Rupert and into AK debris eases off. Then a new challenge appears, commercial fishing and crabbing becomes heavier. Worried eyes front, my wife's 20/15, is really helpful.

 

[angus99]

When I was a kid on the Ohio River, I can remember dodging everything from trees to chicken coops to cow carcasses coming down river with the spring rains. And they weren’t waiting to be hit by a boat, they were moving with velocity!

 

[Nikko]

I was walking with the Admiral on Hilton Head Island yesterday (hoping Governor lifts stay tomorrow so we can head out for a bit), and saw this laying on the beach. From the looks of it, this palm tree has been out there for some time. Since I ply these waters frequently, I started thinking, what if last month I would have hit this thing at near WOT speed? For me that would be near 30-35 MPH. Given my boat, the damage would have been probably catastrophic and maybe lost the boat. What about your vessel?

Welcome to boating in the west coast of BC

 

[boatpoker]

First time I entered Lake Superior on a delivery I was intimidated by the warning on the chart. "Beware of Large Number of Floating and Submerged Logs"

 

[Group9]

We ran over a wooden pallet one night crossing the Chesapeake Bay at speed. It didn't damage the prop or running gear, which was amazing, but getting it loose from the prop at night in some pretty good waves, while looking for towboats, was one of my least fun nights of boating.

 

[BYNW]

I don't go WOT. I don't go at night. I don't go in the fog. I still find debris by braille.

 

[Mako]

A thread on worst things you’ve ever hit. Nice! I hit a ship wreck once. Submerged fly bridge cruiser in Biscayne bay right after Andrew. That “bang” is a scary sound.

 

[BandB]

A thread on worst things you’ve ever hit. Nice! I hit a ship wreck once. Submerged fly bridge cruiser in Biscayne bay right after Andrew. That “bang” is a scary sound.

Wifey B: Someone was probably looking for their boat. Did you let them know you'd found it?

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

I think it depends on your drive setup. A twin screw trawler is certainly going to sustain more running gear damage than the full keel single engine guy. Maybe not enough to stop him dead in the water....

 

[Lou_tribal]

When I was in Nova Scotia last September I enjoyed watching lobster boats preparation for the fishing season. I find the cage they all have around the propeller really interesting. Don't know how difficult it would be to fit one but that would be a really good safeguard against major issue.

L

 

[Jeff F]

When I was a kid on the Ohio River, I can remember dodging everything from trees to chicken coops to cow carcasses coming down river with the spring rains. And they weren’t waiting to be hit by a boat, they were moving with velocity!

I anchored one night just below Cairo, inside an island but in the full flow of the current. River was at flood stage and I spent the night listening to the shaft spinning and clunks of varying intensity as debris hit me. Didn't get much sleep

After that I made sure I was in quiet water when stopping.

 

[Jeff F]

When I was in Nova Scotia last September I enjoyed watching lobster boats preparation for the fishing season. I find the cage they all have around the propeller really interesting. Don't know how difficult it would be to fit one but that would be a really good safeguard against major issue.

L

I've seen that. But I suspect it's to keep the prop from getting fouled by lines or nets.

My boat is a lot like the east coast boats, single engine and protected prop/rudder. The vulnerability of the prop to damage from debris or grounding is pretty low.

 

[Benthic2]

I went fishing with a group of guys once and we left the dock at about midnight and steamed through the dark ( and 6-8 foot swells ) at about 25 knots. I was convinced we were going to die. I was lying in the v-berth and would find myself 3 feet in the air on a regular basis. Amazing boat ( 50' Buddy Davis )....horrifying ride.

 

[dennismenace111]

Growing up in South Florida back in the 60's with a wooden runabout as my first boat, we were always concerned with floating coconuts... back in those days people thought nothing of tossing their yard cuttings into the bay to be carried away by the tide... hitting a coconut at 30mph in a wooden hulled runabout would certainly ruin your day... and hole the hull.

 

[Group9]

I went fishing with a group of guys once and we left the dock at about midnight and steamed through the dark ( and 6-8 foot swells ) at about 25 knots. I was convinced we were going to die. I was lying in the v-berth and would find myself 3 feet in the air on a regular basis. Amazing boat ( 50' Buddy Davis )....horrifying ride.

Some co-workers went down to visit a fellow retired co-worker who moved to the Florida Keys. He had a waterfront place, and they jumped in his center console the first night to head to a waterfront restaurant.

He was driving wide open, but they figured he must know his way, and know there were no obstacles on the route.

A couple of days later, they went back to the same place in the day, and he was driving around old pilings, piers and docks, left and right. One of them came back, and said had never been so scared for something he had done two days before, in his life.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Sure that log looks scary but read literally any story about trans ocean crossings, particularly long extended ones and also races. You will find at least one incident of hitting a submerged object that never was identified. The consensus of opinion is that these "boat eaters" are shipping containers which were lost off huge cargo boats, they float just below the surface.

REALLY scary!! I wonder if some type of sonar would give warning.

pete

 

[Begorrah]

Allways liked to have two people on the bridge so one could be on the lookout for logs in the water. Never boat at night. Take it easy on the speed.

 

[O C Diver]

The consensus of opinion is that these "boat eaters" are shipping containers which were lost off huge cargo boats, they float just below the surface.

Almost all sea cans sink fairly quickly unless they have a cargo of rubber ducks, life preserves or other extremely buoyant cargo. They're not water tight and the pressure differential a few feet below the surface, forces water in. If they're floating below the surface, they sink. A portion has to bob above the water to float at the surface.

Ted

 

[Benthic2]

Sometimes you read about people suffocating in shipping containers, so they must be sealed fairly well.

 

[Begorrah]

Don't think they suffocate. Probably die from the heat or cold.

 

[Richard mcc]

im up here in louisville not much has changed!lol

 

[markpierce]

...

My boat is a lot like the east coast boats, single engine and protected prop/rudder. The vulnerability of the prop to damage from debris or grounding is pretty low.

Those characteristics were "must have" criteria for selecting my current boat.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: Solution. No props.

 

[Lepke]

My boat hit a log in the Strait of Georgia at 10 knots when a friend had the watch. I have a monel plate on the stem. The boat took no damage I could find.

 

[Group9]

Sometimes you read about people suffocating in shipping containers, so they must be sealed fairly well.

Back when I was working, there were so many people being smuggled in, in shipping containers, that U.S. Customs, at least at our port, refused to use their giant X-ray machine on any container, until they had opened it and checked first to make sure there were no people in it.

Which of course, really lowered the value of having the giant X-ray machine in the first place.

 

[tkeithlu]

Steel, 65,000 pounds, propeller protected by keel and foot to rudder, 8 knots.

Log? What log?

This is, after all, a trawler forum, and trawlers don't hit logs at 30 knots. If you are going to run at that sort of speed, do keep a good look out - there is more out there waiting for you than just logs.

About eight years ago I looked over a cigarette boat that hit a log at 130 MPH. It had (used to have, actually) propellers that came in their own suitcases. The owner would not admit to the cost of that little accident.