You picked a fine time to leave me Bravo 3....

[skibum]

I guess it had to happen sometime. I was leaving Fairlee Creek last Tuesday and picked up a crab pot float just as I was coming up on plane. The engine never waivered. We heard a wack, wack, wack and then the boat started slowing down. I shut her down and dropped the hook. We tried to get under the boat to inspect the props, but there was a 2' chop and the boat was bouncing around too much to risk getting under there. I could feel the line wrapped around the props, but nothing else was visible. Unfiortunately, I managed to drop the one knife that I had on board that could cut it off in the water. It took Sea Tow 3 hours to make the 12 mile trip back to my marina. For those of you that have never been towed, this is what the view looks like from the end of the rope...



When I woke up on Wednesday morning, I saw this. It apparently spun around so that the float was in the back during the tow home. That thing at the bottom of the pole is a heavy weight. It feels like a metal bottle filled with concrete. The marina pulled my boat and we removed it. We dropped the boat back in the water, and now I have no forward or reverse. The surveyor just called me and fortunately, he knows my mechanic. He is going to authorize funds for him to pull the drive apart to see what broke. Looks like I am going to be boatless for at least another week, and will once again miss Aquapalooza :smt089

Anyone want to guess as to what broke? I suspect the clutch assembly because everything sounds normal when I turn the props by hand. The shifter is very hard to move in either direction.

 

[JimG]

Thats some bad luck... hope you get it fixed soon.

When you dropped it in the water, did it make any noise when in gear? Clutch or coupler?

 

[skibum]

Thats some bad luck... hope you get it fixed soon.

When you dropped it in the water, did it make any noise when in gear? Clutch or coupler?

Nope... No noise. The engine sounds fine, and there is no noise from the drive. I opened the engine hatch immediately after it happened. I didn't smell any rubber burning, and I couldn't see anything unusual in the area of the coupler.

 

[keokie]

I'm guessing you broke a shaft.

 

[LetsRock]

I am guessing you broke his crab pot...

 

[ChuckW]

Uggg... sorry to hear about that. The Bravo III is broke, the crab pot is broke, hopefully you won't go broke

Good luck getting back on the water soon.

Cheers,

 

[skibum]

I was hoping that the pot, and at least caught a few keepers were there when they lifted me out.

Mechanic still hadn't heard from the surveyor at 10am. I was supposed to call back close to 5pm, but I got busy at work and forgot.

I think the insurance has my back on this one. It was an accidental strike on a submerged object, so I don't think I'll be going broke because of this.

 

[SeaRenity]

Mike
Sorry to hear the bad news. If I can help you with anything let me know. It does seem that this year there are crabtraps everywhere-- it's a boaters nightmare.
let's hope it's a quick fix. I do think the insurance should cover all but your deductible
Rich

 

[Gunn]

Wow, that's some crab pot float; what's with the weight? I figured the float was tied to a line that went down to a cage...? There are tons of them to avoid in certain areas. Usually you can find the string and get through or parallel them easily, but sometimes they come out of nowhere at the last second.

 

[blaster]

You never know what someone will tie to a crabpot. I saw a guy using some kind of metal cable and a giant mooring ball for a float. He obviously was not a professional waterman. I certainly wouldn't want to hit that rig in the dark of night.

 

[skibum]

Mike
Sorry to hear the bad news. If I can help you with anything let me know. It does seem that this year there are crabtraps everywhere-- it's a boaters nightmare.
let's hope it's a quick fix. I do think the insurance should cover all but your deductible
Rich

I think it will. I just got a letter from the insurance company saying that they are handling my "collision" claim. I guess that means that they aren't going to give me hard time about "normal wear", "improper maintenance", or anything stupid like that.

Mike said that he'll come by and pull the drive on Monday. I'm just mad that I'm gonna miss Aquapalooza. The ex-admiral's nephew may be coming up tomorrow with 2 jet skiis, so I might be able to get out on the water anyway. I'll probably hang out at the marina Sunday. I'll have 'em drop me in so I can dockalounge with the gang. At least Rowboat Willies will be open. I guess I'll just spend the evening up there tossing back a few while gawking at Elise's brand spankin' new hooters... :smt101

 

[skibum]

You never know what someone will tie to a crabpot. I saw a guy using some kind of metal cable and a giant mooring ball for a float. He obviously was not a professional waterman. I certainly wouldn't want to hit that rig in the dark of night.

I think this one was attached to 2 crab pots before I snagged it. Here's another picture of it. I cut the orange line clean, but the other one wrapped around the prop and pulled the whole mess up into the props. We sat anchored for about 25 minutes waiting for Sea Tow and we didn't see any other floats in the area. Normally, the float, and the pole are above water. The weight should keep the pole vertical, and they are easily spotted. If I hadn't just accelerated from a 6 knot crawl, I could see how I just might not have seen the thing. The last thing I thought to myself before hitting the throttle was "just find an open area, and get on plane". I was specifically looking right at the area where the strike occurred 10 seconds before I got there. I am 100% sure it was under water. I'm fairly certain that the current had pulled the whole deal under water. The float easily slides up and down the pvc pole, so I suspect that it was near the top of the pole when I hit it because the lines attach to the float, and I have 2 small dings on the bottom where that float whacked the bottom. Gotta fill them in with some epoxy or ptex, and touch up the bottom paint. That damn weight is heavy, though... If the surveyor has already looked at it, I'm gonna scrape some paint off of it so I can see what it is made of. It feels like it it a painted metal bottle with concrete in it. The dang thing is pretty heavy.

It sounded like I had hit a floating tree branch and was chopping it up with the props. What a sickening sound... :smt089

 

[Wired2Cruze]

Sorry to hear about your experience....

I trashed an outdrive once when I hit a stump pulling a skier.
When I tried putting it in gear afterwards there was just the sound of metal gnashing metal... another sickening sound....:smt089

 

[Alegria]

Skibum

So sorry to hear about this. Hope you are back on the water soon. Did you hit it on the south side of the cut? Heading back from BIH 2011 there were a few markers like that really close to the south entrance. Would not be surprised if it was clipped by another boat and hanging around under water when you contacted it.

Take Care.

 

[BigWill1985]

My dad runs a boat very similar to mine (21 foot Celebrity, although his is a bow rider vice a cuddy cabin). It sits fairly deep in the water. I remember being with him once when we hit something under water while skiing. We were over at Lake Manawa, in Council Bluffs, IA (very shallow, dirty local lake). We used to go there since it was very close, free, and we generally went in the evenings after work for an hour or two at a time.

I was in the water with tow rope in hand, getting ready to pull up slalom skiing. My dad punched the throttle, the aft end sunk and I began pulling out of the water. Then we heard a SICKENINGLY loud BANG, and he immediately killed the motor as he trimmed the lower unit up. I swam up behind the boat, and started running my hands around the lower unit. Everything was intact, aside from the propeller.... There was an ENTIRE EAR gone. We pulled the rope in, loaded up, and limped back home. I'll tell you what, that was one unbalanced ride... Just idled back, but the stern of the boat was wagging all over the place. LOL

Replaced with a new prop and was back on the water two days later.

~Will Courtier~

 

[skibum]

Skibum

So sorry to hear about this. Hope you are back on the water soon. Did you hit it on the south side of the cut? Heading back from BIH 2011 there were a few markers like that really close to the south entrance. Would not be surprised if it was clipped by another boat and hanging around under water when you contacted it.

Take Care.

No... this happened just outside of Fairlee Creek, about 30-40 yards past the red 2F marker.

I have heard of several crab pots somehow finding their way into the cut since this happened to me. I was told that they were on the southern side...

 

[Theresamarie11]

I think it will. I just got a letter from the insurance company saying that they are handling my "collision" claim. I guess that means that they aren't going to give me hard time about "normal wear", "improper maintenance", or anything stupid like that.

Mike said that he'll come by and pull the drive on Monday. I'm just mad that I'm gonna miss Aquapalooza. The ex-admiral's nephew may be coming up tomorrow with 2 jet skiis, so I might be able to get out on the water anyway. I'll probably hang out at the marina Sunday. I'll have 'em drop me in so I can dockalounge with the gang. At least Rowboat Willies will be open. I guess I'll just spend the evening up there tossing back a few while gawking at Elise's brand spankin' new hooters... :smt101

Glad they're taking care of you and good you got out of the episode safely! This year in Vt, Champlain was 4' over flood stage for a couple of months and there was a huge amount of 'junk' on the water during that time coming from rivers. Huge logs and whole trees. We went slow until we were confident the lake was mostly clear. I know it's probably inevitable that someday we're going to hit something given how much we boat, but I'm surely not looking forward to it!

 

[skibum]

Update on the weight.... It was a plastic drink bottle that was filled with concrete. I thought it might have been metal when I first looked at it because there was a small piece of foil embedded in the paint.

Terri, I can tell you it is inevitable. Almost everyone that asked about it at the marina either has had it happen to them, or knows of someone that it has happened to.

Its funny, Tom mentioned the "south side of the cut", which is 1/4 mile from my marina. They carpet bomb that entire area with crab pots every day. I have gotten quite good at watching for them, and at doing the crab pot slalom. I've always been paranoid about snagging one, and it was one of the things that I was specifically looking for when I snagged this one. Sometimes, you just can't win...

 

[jitts3]

Either way, if I were you that thing would be hanging in my shop. Got a buddy with a bent in half driveshaft off of a hopped up lifted ford. He even painted his driveshafts red so when he throws em he can find them easy. Silly things we wrenches do.

 

[skibum]

I'm guessing you broke a shaft.

You are the winner.... I finally got a mechanic out to the marina. When he pulled the drive, only 2" of the shaft that goes to the coupler came out with it. The U joints and the other side of the shaft had to be removed separately.