It can happen to anyone

Carpediem44DB

Carpediem44DB

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2015
3,230
Sanfransico Bay area
Boat Info
2000 Carver 506
2006 44 DB Sedan Bridge
Engines
Volvo TAMD 74 P
So we retreated to the boat for a few days to escape the crazy heat wave affecting Nor Cal this week. Benicia enjoys the cool marine air and being only 30 minutes from the ranch is 20 to 30 degrees cooler. This morning I noticed a new dock neighbor's boat a Maxum 3200 sitting low in the water. It was about five inches above the bottom paint water line. I knew the owner lives 2 hours away and was not on board so I boarded the boat to see if I could manually activate his bilge pump. His batteries had submerged and were drained. I called the Harbor Master and his crew brought a trash pump right away and soon the boat was pumped out. I called the owner and he freaked out and jumped in his car to come deal with the after math. Water had inundated the ER and the aft cabin and as far forward as the galley.
Upon investigation, he found a broken ground wire at the aft bilge pump. It had pulled from a butt splice as if someone had stepped on the wire bundle. On Sunday he inspected the bilge after a cruise and found a small amount of water and ran the pump to drain and then stayed an extra hour to ensure there was no active leak.
Just goes to show you that even when you think you are doing things right stuff just happens. This will surely cost the insurance company $15,000 and him a lost summer boating season.
Carpe Diem
 
I have a newbie question- if a boat is sitting in a slip for a couple weeks, will it most likley take in water from somewhere, even a nominal amount? Allow mt to rephrase, in power boating, if you were to walk away from a boat for 6 montbs in a slip, would it more than likely take on a good amount of water if the bilge pump did not work?
 
Daniel1980 said:
I have a newbie question- if a boat is sitting in a slip for a couple weeks, will it most likley take in water from somewhere, even a nominal amount? Allow mt to rephrase, in power boating, if you were to walk away from a boat for 6 montbs in a slip, would it more than likely take on a good amount of water if the bilge pump did not work?
Click to expand...

No, it is not normal for a boat to take on significant water just sitting in a slip. Big rains, big storms, maybe then we collect a little water. But otherwise we should not be consistently taking on water.
 
Carpediem44DB said:
So we retreated to the boat for a few days to escape the crazy heat wave affecting Nor Cal this week. Benicia enjoys the cool marine air and being only 30 minutes from the ranch is 20 to 30 degrees cooler. This morning I noticed a new dock neighbor's boat a Maxum 3200 sitting low in the water. It was about five inches above the bottom paint water line. I knew the owner lives 2 hours away and was not on board so I boarded the boat to see if I could manually activate his bilge pump. His batteries had submerged and were drained. I called the Harbor Master and his crew brought a trash pump right away and soon the boat was pumped out. I called the owner and he freaked out and jumped in his car to come deal with the after math. Water had inundated the ER and the aft cabin and as far forward as the galley.
Upon investigation, he found a broken ground wire at the aft bilge pump. It had pulled from a butt splice as if someone had stepped on the wire bundle. On Sunday he inspected the bilge after a cruise and found a small amount of water and ran the pump to drain and then stayed an extra hour to ensure there was no active leak.
Just goes to show you that even when you think you are doing things right stuff just happens. This will surely cost the insurance company $15,000 and him a lost summer boating season.
Carpe Diem
Click to expand...

So the owner has no idea where the water post-cruise came from? That's a big time bummer. He's lucky to have good slip neighbors!
 
Stee6043 said:
No, it is not normal for a boat to take on significant water just sitting in a slip. Big rains, big storms, maybe then we collect a little water. But otherwise we should not be consistently taking on water.
Click to expand...
Boats with the old style packing will.
 
Daniel1980 said:
I have a newbie question- if a boat is sitting in a slip for a couple weeks, will it most likley take in water from somewhere, even a nominal amount? Allow mt to rephrase, in power boating, if you were to walk away from a boat for 6 montbs in a slip, would it more than likely take on a good amount of water if the bilge pump did not work?
Click to expand...
Boats are designed to shed rain water, and they're obviously designed to not allow water in through the hull. HOWEVER, they age and regardless of how well you stay on top of things, water will find a way in. You should not leave the boat unattended in the slip for 6 months. Make friends with a local and ask them to check on it at least once a month, and give them permission to board the boat if they see anything that concerns them. I walk my docks every day and I see boats that are less than 5 years old holding water. Sea Hunts in particular are very bad for clogging their scuppers and not letting rain water shed correctly. But I own one and know how to clear it without boarding. Most of the time I will pull the owners name and call them before I board and clear the water. Unless there's no time to wait.

The last heavy rain we had, I found myself standing on the bow of a boat while someone else was pumping out water. The transom was underwater and me standing on the bow allowed the transom to rise just enough for the pump to work.
 
Stee6043 said:
So the owner has no idea where the water post-cruise came from? That's a big time bummer. He's lucky to have good slip neighbors!
Click to expand...
He suspects he has a leaking bellows as the boat has out drives. They should not be leaking as the drives were replaced less than six months ago. It is being towed for haul out and evaluation tomorrow. I’ll post the results. This is a bummer for he and his fiancé as this is their first boat and they are really trying hard to do things right, not the stereotypical “COVID-19 newbies” that we hear about cluelessly jumping in to boating.
 
Saga continues…. This morning I take a dock walk and discovered the subject Maxum is low in the water again. I boarded the boat to investigate and found that the owner had used a plug strip on the end of the extension cord from the shore power to use an additional pump to pump out the cabin. Some how he must have turned off the switch on the plug strip before leaving for the night. Since he was not able to get back to the boat until afternoon, I pumped the boat dry for him and started poking around to find the leak. It appears that the water is actually coming not thru the bellows but thru the transom thru bolts supporting the port drive. These were installed 6 months ago so it will be very interesting to see what the mechanic finds when they haul out tomorrow.
 
I feel so bad for them. It's a good thing that you're there to help them.
 
While those bolts can leak, a good set of bilge pumps should be able to keep up.

When I first got my boat the float switch failed and ran the batteries down. Got to the boat with a full bilge and a wtf moment. Replaced the pump with a new one. Added an additional pump, both on special stainless steel brackets. Each attached to separate batteries. Added a charger too. Piece of mind.
 
I am planning on purchasing an emergency pump, I borrowed one from a mechanic in TN one year when I sent my wife and daughter to what I thought would be their deaths in a deck boat with no drain plug, bad bilge pump, on a lake with no cell coverage, few boaters, and shores with steep beaches (they were fine, but it took that emergency pump 15 minutes to drain the boat the next morning). Just a standard bilge pump, 8’ of tubing, and about 6-8’ of wiring with alligator clamps. Not only for me, but in case any other boater needs it. I’m thinking a small, relatively portable, 12v battery might be good too, in case the boat y=that needs help has dead batteries, but not sure how to keep it charged when my boat is dry stored, and I don’t want to haul it back and forth each trip…
 
Todd, I just replaced my working bilge pump with a new pump, and will be using my old pump as a portable backup. I hadn’t considered carrying a 12v battery. But you could use a lithium battery. Keep it charged to 80%. It will stay charged for a year and is much lighter to carry than a lead acid. That battery could also double as a jump starter.
 
I found a small pump on my boat with ten feet of hose and an spring clamps on a ten foot harness to drain areas that hold water in my goofy bilge. I used it initially to help in this situation until the marina could get a high volume pump to the boat. The darn thing quit working about fifteen minutes later! Glad it failed when I did not not have to rely on it. Ill be replacing it as well as investing in my own high volume submersible pump for emergency use. I have noticed in higher end private yacht club marinas that they have emergency equipment in a dedicated clearly marked dock box at every dock gate which includes an emergency pump and spill kit. Had this happened after hours, it would have taken who knows how long to summon aid from the marina management.
Carpe Diem
 
I'll tell ya, I think I'd be worried every day if I left my boat in the water remotely. Isn't there some sort of camera system that could be linked to your smart phone so that you could check on your boat visually to make sure it's not taking on water?
 
Daniel1980 said:
I'll tell ya, I think I'd be worried every day if I left my boat in the water remotely. Isn't there some sort of camera system that could be linked to your smart phone so that you could check on your boat visually to make sure it's not taking on water?
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Look up boat nanny - just one out of many systems that can be used to warn of trouble with high water, loss of power, intruders etc
 
Daniel1980 said:
I'll tell ya, I think I'd be worried every day if I left my boat in the water remotely. Isn't there some sort of camera system that could be linked to your smart phone so that you could check on your boat visually to make sure it's not taking on water?
Click to expand...

Anything that works at your house, can work on your boat.
 
Daniel1980 said:
I'll tell ya, I think I'd be worried every day if I left my boat in the water remotely. Isn't there some sort of camera system that could be linked to your smart phone so that you could check on your boat visually to make sure it's not taking on water?
Click to expand...
5D67BE22-07B4-4BA0-B728-F9E163BE3460.jpeg

I’ve lived on a lake for most of my life. It has everything from small motor boats and small sail boats to 80 foot plus and longer boats. Most of them are unattended for days on end. They almost never sink. In 45 years of living here I can tell you they almost never catch on fire when in the water. I can remember a handful of sinkings and about the same number of fires. It is a pretty amazing track record when you consider how poorly cared for many of them are and the actual large numbers on boats in slips on any given day.
 
A little update on the Maxum drama. The owner arranged for a tow to a yard in the East Bay, about a twenty mile tow through what is the nastiest water conditions in the bay. I happened to catch him on the phone during his transit and what fun he was a havin. He did notice that as the boat was being towed, it was no longer taking on water. We are surmising that the bolts some how are loose and while the boat is being towed with the drag on the drives the bolts seal and when it is sitting static the bolts are loose and allowing water past the washer and nut on the inside surface of the transom . Either way, the yard that installed the drives less than six months ago will likely be getting a phone call! Either from the owner or the insurance adjuster,
What a bummer for the new owner.
 
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