Boat safety - put a cork in it!!!

Fly'n Family

Fly'n Family

Active Member
Sep 19, 2013
812
TX / CO
Boat Info
2008 Meridian 341
2004 Boston Whaler Sport 130 w/40 hp Merc
Engines
6.2's
Actually was a pretty serious situation. Some dock folks, an older couple, came into their slip about 10 pm tonight - the lady running down the dock yelling "help, our boat is sinking".

Happened to be on the bridge of our boat, and grabbed a bucket and headed their way with a dock buddy not far behind. Got there and they were in serious trouble. Boat had water across the entire stern and up about two inches on their motors, and filling fast. Buddy and I started bailing with 5 gallon buckets as fast as we could, and told them to get BoatUS on the horn as quickly as possible. The Boat US guys were home in bed, yet still got their in about 25 minutes thank goodness as we were losing the battle. They hooked up a couple of hard core pumps, and the tide fortunately turned quickly.

As they were pumping, my buddy was shining a flashlight trying to find the leak - when I saw the light clearly from the outside through a thru hull fitting. Apparently whatever was attached (no clue what it was) gave, and the thru hull lived up to it's name with water pouring in.

Long story short, they got water pumped out to where the fitting was above the waterline - and then stuck essentially a big cork in it.

So moral of the story - if you have thru hulls down low, have one of these cork kits onboard, and, sign up for BoatUS as they literally saved the day.
Boat Safety.jpg


Boat-Safety.jpg
 
You dont say the size of that boat but generally speaking
you want pumping capacity to equal the largest hole in your hull, Eg: 2 inch sea cocks, 2 inch bilge pumps.
You also would like a high water alarm circuit wired directly to the battery with a loud audible horn attached and a good sized bilge pump.

From an electrical standpoint, make sure your underwater fittings are all bonded together

And when all else fails , cut up a lifejacket and stuff it in the hole
 
Bt Doctur said:
You dont say the size of that boat but generally speaking
you want pumping capacity to equal the largest hole in your hull, Eg: 2 inch sea cocks, 2 inch bilge pumps.
You also would like a high water alarm circuit wired directly to the battery with a loud audible horn attached and a good sized bilge pump.

From an electrical standpoint, make sure your underwater fittings are all bonded together

And when all else fails , cut up a lifejacket and stuff it in the hole
Click to expand...

35-37....never paid attention to the make, I'll look tomorrow.

I failed to mention in the OP his bilge pump was not working. Agree if all you have is a lifejacket to cut up, do what you gotta do - but the wood cork thing was pretty slick. Just looked it up at West Marine - cheap insurance.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/seafit--wooden-emergency-plugs--4641080?recordNum=28
 
Saw the wood cork packets at WM awhile back. Thought about buying a pack but didn't. Probably should have. all of our thru hulls are above the water line by a few inches except the ones under the boat (AC, head, macerator). They all have seacocks but the ones on the side are at least 3" or so above the water line. Still not out of the danger zone though
 
Seems like they had "other problems" before that thru-hull gave it up. Based on the line of bottom paint in that photo it looks like she was several inches lower in the water than normal before that thru-hull would have become a problem. Hopefully the owners find the original source of water (and fix their bilge pumps)...
 
Get one of these TruPlugs https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VWQZ9DE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 since it is foam you can also use it if you end up with a hole in the hull. Our surveyer recommended it when we bought our 360DA

If you want to go the extra mile on safety, attach the appropriate side cork on a short line to every seacock in the boat. That way if a sea cock fails, you have the cork right there. You may also want to have a small rubber mallet onboard to drive the cork in.
 
(Unfortunately) It's good to see these threads once in a while. Awareness of what could happen and being prepared is the key. After all, it's not like you can just pull over to the side of the road. Although, beaching the boat is something to keep in the back of your mind.

I have a couple of those TruPlugs - so far, haven't had to use them but they do seem like they would do the job.

I also have a toilet wax ring. I have no doubt in my mind that it would work really well - smooshing it into a hole of just about any size/shape.
 
its not something i keep on board but will be sure get a couple of them today
 
I have had them on board for years... As someone said, it's cheap insurance.
 
For those of you with the older boats with the plastic thru hole fittings, I would think it prudent to replace them with either new plastic or metal fittings. Its difficult to determine the integrity of the plastic from visual inspection but after fifteen or twenty years of sitting in the sun they get brittle and don't take much abuse to break off.
Just a thought
Carpe Diem
 
Carpediem44DB said:
For those of you with the older boats with the plastic thru hole fittings, I would think it prudent to replace them with either new plastic or metal fittings. Its difficult to determine the integrity of the plastic from visual inspection but after fifteen or twenty years of sitting in the sun they get brittle and don't take much abuse to break off.
Just a thought
Carpe Diem
Click to expand...

I had asked Frank about this before and found his response....

In a message dated 4/20/2012 9:03:51 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, fwebster@ writes:

Mark,
The plastic thru-hulls are really Marelon and they are sealed or bedded to the hull with some type of epoxy. They are a real bear to get off and you are most likely going to break them off and need to bore oversized holes to clear the epoxy inside the hull. This is going to be a lot more expensive than you can imagine, so, if the plastic ones are not damaged and don't leak, I wouldn't mess with them.
Frank
 
The Bill Collector said:
I had asked Frank about this before and found his response....

In a message dated 4/20/2012 9:03:51 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, fwebster@ writes:

Mark,
The plastic thru-hulls are really Marelon and they are sealed or bedded to the hull with some type of epoxy. They are a real bear to get off and you are most likely going to break them off and need to bore oversized holes to clear the epoxy inside the hull. This is going to be a lot more expensive than you can imagine, so, if the plastic ones are not damaged and don't leak, I wouldn't mess with them.
Frank
Click to expand...
Good point, however I’d still rather replace them at a reasonable age rather than find out the failed plastic thru-hull was the reason my boat sank!
 
This is the second story I have read on this site today. We all sphave me so much money on electronics and everything else, but safety gear seems to be low on most people's list. It should be the highest. Have plugs, tap, puddy, and replace through hull hoses every 5 years.
 
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