Trawler sunk in WA

https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler-news/trawler-sinks-survivor-airlifted

Everybody's nightmare. This fellow was evidently well prepared.

That's a really big tender for a 45 trawler. He must have been towing it? I'm scratching my head over this one.

twistedtree said:

I'm scratching my head over this one.

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Why? It seems pretty straightforward to me. Boat hits submerged object & taking on water. Skipper calls for help, abandons his boat and goes into his dinghy & waits for help to arrive. Help comes, they take him aboard and tow in his dinghy.

People often tow large dinghies in the PNW. What's causing the head shaking?


Not being argumentative, just curious.

I think Twisted's point ...

is that a 17' tender on a 45' trawler is an odd combo as the tender is 37.8% as long as the trawler.

Bird Dog said:

is that a 17' tender on a 45' trawler is an odd combo as the tender is 37.8% as long as the trawler.

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Let's see - we use a 9 foot dingy on a 40 foot loa boat. 22.5%. A 37.8% equivalent for our boat would be a 15' tender or dingy. Yes, that would be very big given our boat's size. Huh. Never thought of the size ratio in those terms.

Wow! The poor Fella. Damn shame.




Cheers.


H.

DHeckrotte said:

...Everybody's nightmare. This fellow was evidently well prepared.

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hfoster said:

Wow! The poor Fella. Damn shame...

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From the article, it sounds like he was lucky he was towing. The accident was after dark and he may have lost consciousness. Not the best time to be trying to launch a dinghy and abandoning a boat by yourself.

Soon I'm going to have a 12' tender on a 30' boat.

Relative volume can be a consideration.

I always watch ahead, everywhere. Lot more debris in the water since I was commercial fishing. It can't be all from Japan. I winter on a river and see many semi submerged logs go by. Once a small tree standing straight up, turned out to be a branch with the whole tree underwater. Also a couple trees, anchored by their roots, bobbing up and under from the current, gradually working downstream. CG not interested. 40' steel launch service boat had one come up as they were passing over. Took out shaft, strut, and rudder on one side.

Bet he has a lot of insurance

I'm just really skeptical of people. That's a large tender to be towing for a 45' boat out in open water, 10 miles off shore. Not unheard of, but definitely at the fringe. And a convenient escape vessel. And a convenient bump on the head so one can't answer any questions about what happened.

Before questioning his tender size, I'd want to know a lot more info. Like--did he often tow a tender? That size tender? Did he often boat by himself? Where was he headed and where did he start?


I agree lots of questions here but I'd hesitate to jump to any conclusions without that missing info.

Wow,speculation abounds. Maybe he was prepared with a ditch bag,etc like we all kind of preach? Maybe just a trawler owner/operator who had a boat go out from under him and was prepared for an emergency situation.

There are a lot of unanswered questions with this incedent. Location suggest he was doing an over night transit alone or looking for a good place to scuddle a boat unobserved. Being knocked uncouncious and holing a trawler suggest hitting something very large. A log or dead head is not likely to knock someone off their feet. This leaves whale or container, both possible but not heard of this happening in this area before.

This is a tough crowd. If he was under-prepared he'd be crucified for lack of forsight....if he's adequately prepared...he's suspicious.

How deep is it there ? Will an insurance company send a diver to the vessel before they cut a check ? Are there deeper spots that would be easily accessible to scuttle a boat ?

38' and I tow a 17' center console, some must think that is suspicious.

It's one thing to tow that on a river, but a whole 'nuther thing to tow it in open ocean. I smell a rat, too...but hope I'm wrong.

River Cruiser said:

38' and I tow a 17' center console, some must think that is suspicious.

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Where will you scuttle your boat, since that is clearly your plan?

Everyone here works for the insurance company, it appears. Let's hope for his sake there actually was insurance in place.

While in Maine every summer I run a 36' lobster boat turned picnic boat, and we tow a 13' Whaler almost everywhere we go. A royal PITA in some cases, but a fantastic tender when you want one. Many times I've wished the Whaler was a little bigger. I bet he loves that 17-footer when he's using it.

I did tow it across Lake Michigan last year, I would need a much sturdier tow rig if I did much of that.

We passed a dead head last week with a diameter of around 36" bobbing slowly up and down 18" out of the water, with 95% of that lunker log suspended vertically under the surface. Hit that in a Taiwan fiberglass boat at 6 knots and my guess it would be like hitting a dock.

I have no clue whether this fellow set up the sinking of his vessel any more than anyone here does, but I have to say that assuming the worst of the man is hardly fair.

I see nothing strange in the size of the tender. Here in BC it is very common to tow a larger tender. A number of people on my dock tow 15 foot whalers with boats between 32 and 42 feet. Another group tow 17 foots with boats still less than 50 feet. I have a 34 foot boat and will likely buy a 15 foot tender very soon. I am surprised that the size of a tender would lead someone to assume there is fraud in the air. I am sure there are easier ways to collect insurance rather then bashing your head and getting a helicopter ride with the CG.

I don't get the tender questions. Lots of 40-50' boats here towing 13, 15, and 17 foot whalers and the like. Had a similar sighting to Delfin last weekend - huge deadhead with only about 6" above water and 24+" round. Sunny day, nothing distracting me and a slight chop. I missed it by 10' and never saw it until i was passing. Just dumb luck. Tough crowd.

I've seen plenty of dead heads even hit a few, they break running gear, it's pretty difficult for a waterloggged piece of wood to hole fiberglass at 7 or 8 knots. However a container is a different story they seem to achieve neutral buoyancy and float just below the water. Hit the corner of one of those and it's an instant hole... As far as a dingy we routinely towed a 20ft'r behind our 42 OA and have an 18ft tender for our 48... no big deal

I have no problem with the tender size. We see that all the time

A couple that we shared an anchorage with on more than one occasion has a 46 Nordhavn.

Their skiff was an approx 20' hard top fishing boat. They would anchor the big slow boat and zip arond fishing in the smaller boat.

It would not be unusual for a recreational fisherman to tow a large dingy from Astoria Oregon to the Puget Sound for fishing. It's about a 1.5 day trip and can be flat as glass. Traveling single handed is unusual and not allowed by most insurance policies but a coastal policy would not necessarily prohibit this. 10 miles out would put the boat beyond diver access but night transits are done in deep water to avoid the crab pots.

I can't say things smell bad but it doesn't smell good either.

I'm sure the insurance will ask all the questions.

However, there's a good chance that it's all exactly as pictured and described.

Years ago I was friends with a man whose brother was known to be terribly dishonest. He had a factory and it caught fire and everything in it lost. Everyone in the area said arson and insurance and an arson investigation was immediately launched. One problem. He had no insurance. He'd never carried any on that facility as insurers didn't trust him so the rates were prohibitive plus he didn't like insurance, about to the level of Seavee. There was no motive that could be found for arson. He was sole owner. He told his brother he didn't blame anyone for being suspicious but this was the one time he was innocent of everything. He suffered a huge loss.

Then sometimes those we trust most are the insurance scammers.

The skepticism may be founded but basing that on his dinghy size is not right.
I know and have known people with smaller main boats , down to 32', tow that size of dinghy.
It,s common here for folk to tow large dingbats here. They can cover long distances far quicker in the 'bat than in the larger boat. Often used by sportfishers but simply touring folk too.
Foolish maybe but not automatically crooked.
Also to the point, if you collide with some of the deadheads I,ve seen, submerged logs, the boat is going be damaged, often seriously. Boats have sunk from those things, they are often heavier than the boat., Big enough that it,s like hitting a rock.

I would just like to know if he hit something and what it was- and if so has the thing hit been found and dealt with. Is there a FAA type agency for boating where you can look up preliminary reports for accidents?

Based off the timestamp on the rescue video this happened at the end of July. Is that enough time to begin an investigation, put out a report, and/or retrieve the wreck or would it just be left as is?

I don't know enough about boating to know, but I'm looking at maybe the size of the dinghy could simply be something he had from before, or was a deal he picked up cheap, or was the only thing on hand to support his trip out that night. But that is my speculation.

With all the forum members from that general area I still halfway expect someone to log in and know this boat or this person.