I Hit a pot buoy

Jeremygavin

Jeremygavin

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2012
2,054
Cape Cod, MA
Boat Info
2011 520 Sedan Bridge
2016 Sea Ray 19 SPX OB
2019 Walker Bay Generation 340
Engines
Cummins QSM11s
Mercury 150 Fourstroke
Honda 40hp
I was running in lumpy seas today just off shore and I missed seeing a string of pot buoys and I ran over the first one. Only reason I knew it because I heard a thud and looked back and saw remnants of a pot buoy and the rest of the string was in front of me. I don’t think I feel any more vibrations than I did before, definitely nothing drastic. Ran another 30min at cruising speed and then through the harbor At idle and into the slip with no noticeable changes. I have never hit a pot buoy before so Question is: should I be worried about checking it out for damage or have people hit them before with no damage?
 
If you don’t have any vibrations, there probably isn’t anything serious. You may have nicked the boot stripe and waterline gelcoat, but that’s about the extent of it. Worst case is to wrap the line around the shaft and props.

I’m surprised you even saw any. When I brought Serenity down from Portsmouth a couple weeks ago there were almost none in sight. I think I only had to adjust the AP twice. Usually in the stretch past Isle of Shoals they are so thick you can walk on them. I don’t think any of our lobstermen are even going out the market’s so bad.
 
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Henry Boyd said:
If you don’t have any vibrations, there probably isn’t anything serious. You may have nicked the boot stripe and waterline gelcoat, but that’s about the extent of it. Worst case is to wrap the line around tube shaft and props.

I’m surprised you even saw any. When I broke Serenity down from Portsmouth a couple weeks ago there were almost none in sight. I think I only had to adjust the AP twice. Usually in the stretch past Isle of Shoals they are so thick you can walk on them. I don’t think any of our lobstermen are even going out the market’s so bad.
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I think I hit it with a prop because it came out directly behind me and there were pieces of buoy. If I had remnants wrapped on the shaft I would think I would feel some vibrations right?
 
Jeremygavin said:
I think I hit it with a prop because it came out directly behind me and there were pieces of buoy. If I had remnants wrapped on the shaft I would think I would feel some vibrations right?
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Yes, you would. Been there done that. If there’s no discernible vibration you’re probably good to go.
 
Thanks guys. That’s kinda what I was thinking but good to get confirmation with guys that have been through it before.
No line cutters on the shaft. I was going to put them on this winter but once I looked into it my shafts didn’t have enough clearance with the shaft taper so would have had to put spacers at the tranny so it turned into a bigger project than I had time to tackle this off season.
 
As others said, it's HIGHLY unlikely there's any damage. I've hit them with smaller, more delicate props than what you have with no issues. I do think it would be a good idea to take a deep breath and go check things out - primarily looking for some rope - just to be sure.
 
Lazy Daze said:
As others said, it's HIGHLY unlikely there's any damage. I've hit them with smaller, more delicate props than what you have with no issues. I do think it would be a good idea to take a deep breath and go check things out - primarily looking for some rope - just to be sure.
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Thanks. I agree I need to check it out. I will take a look under the boat this week.
 
Gofirstclass said:
OK for one of the left coasters on CSR, is a pot buoy the same as a crab pot?
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Yes, that is the same. Buoy with a line going down to a pot of some kind. Around the south shore of Cape Cod most are crab pots because we have warm water. North of the Cape they are mostly Lobster pots because of the cold water. Like Henry said, on the north shore they can get thick enough to walk across.
 
I reeled one in two weeks go in rough seas near Georgetown, SC. Crab pot got reeled up and banged on the hull and broke off. I backed down a few times to try to unwind it the other way. But I didn't dive to check it until I anchored for night 50 miles later. The buoy came out from under the boat while we were backing down to set anchor. I found some strands still wrapped around the shaft between the Port prop hub and the strut which I cut off with a razor blade. I could actually move the prop a tad rotationally so it either got loose from the rope or the bottom paint guys never tightened it enough. So, the moral of my story is dive under and give everything a good inspection.
 
ZZ13 said:
I reeled one in two weeks go in rough seas near Georgetown, SC. Crab pot got reeled up and banged on the hull and broke off. I backed down a few times to try to unwind it the other way. But I didn't dive to check it until I anchored for night 50 miles later. The buoy came out from under the boat while we were backing down to set anchor. I found some strands still wrapped around the shaft between the Port prop hub and the strut which I cut off with a razor blade. I could actually move the prop a tad rotationally so it either got loose from the rope or the bottom paint guys never tightened it enough. So, the moral of my story is dive under and give everything a good inspection.
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Thanks for the info. I will check it out this week. I don’t want any rope wrapped around the shaft between the prop and strut because it could slow water flow and burn out the strut bearing
 
I once hit a stray fishing net buoy and no vibration after but the engines were having an issue syncing. An underwater inspection uncovered an 8' length of rope wound around the shaft before the prop. Once removed the engines were able to sync again, but the shaft would "sing" when going to neutral from either forward or reverse. It ended up being the strut bearing damaged from overheating with lack of water flow and had to be replaced.
 
I had a diver check out the running gear yesterday and there was a little bit of pot line wrapped around the shaft but no damage other than that so I think I am good now. Thanks for the advice with this issue.
 
Jeremy, I once hit a log in our 320. Very minor prop damage was very apparent with vibration above 1000 rpm's. You can be pretty sure you have no damage without vibration. What did the diver cost you? I haven't checked your other thread this morning.
 
spikedaddy99 said:
Jeremy, I once hit a log in our 320. Very minor prop damage was very apparent with vibration above 1000 rpm's. You can be pretty sure you have no damage without vibration. What did the diver cost you? I haven't checked your other thread this morning.
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It was $125 to check it out and take the remaining line off the shaft.
 
And here I thought a pot buoy was...a buoy that stored pot. :rolleyes:
 
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