Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Yikes this is awful . . . What were you guys fishing for out there? Fox news said you had to toss over 150lbs of fish?

I might be able to help locate the boat next week if you have approximate GPS numbers. Pm me if you want help.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Mitch - glad to see you guys did OK and made the best out of a lousy situation. I know KJ a bit and really glad I'm not hitting any funerals this week.

That said, I'm very glad you guys made it and the way you have documented will probably save some lives. That is huge and not enough can be said about that. Hope it gets told more.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Ya made CNN, more importantly you made it back. Go play the lotto.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

The 20" transom on my boat is the one thing that scares the hell out of me. Routinely takes water and runs onto the deck and my 18 only has scuppers out the motor well. Mine will also runs water through the cable hole in the bulkhead, but only when loading on the trailer.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Another friend of mine had a problem last week in his bay boat near Brenton Pt. Swells came over the 20" notch when switching tanks, the other 3 in the boat were bailing from the bow while trying to get restarted. Couldn't as too much water mixed into the 2nd tank. They were able to bail enough to get towed up the bay a bit.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Hey John,
The MV Times got your site address wrong in Nelson's column about this story so I sent them a note to correct it. ;)

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

I share you concerns, but, took a few steps to make me feel better.It's difficult to see in this old pic and I have replaced since this was taken, but, I used a whole tube of silicone caulking inside and out of the hole where the cables run through to seal it up. I haven't had any trouble with water coming in. I also have the bulkhead on the front edge of the splashwell to keep the water in the well. I keep the plugs in while on the water. The water that does get into the deck area goes through the livewell in the floor and I turn on the bilge pump once an hour as a precaution.
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/100_1887.jpg
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/100_1886.jpg
When I get around to replacing the transom, which isn't necessary right now, I'm going to take some additional steps to fix these issues, like raising the transom to 25" and the floor a couple of inches including the bottom of the splashwell.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

wasn't your time to go guys...boats can be replaced,people can't be.i'm very glad to hear you guys came out well from this - coulda been real bad


take a lesson from this:
high bilge water alarm - any boat should have one installed - wired to be "hot" at all times - very easy to do - not sure how - ask,i'll gladly tell you how to do it

second bilge pump - wired to a seperate power source - meaning,2 batteries - 2 power sources - stagger the pumps - each battery powers a pump - this keeps the pumps independent of each other.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

I completely agree, with your back up pump 1 to 2" higher with it's own battery. Plus in my case it pumps out of the oposite side of the boat. If I see water pumping from the starboard side I know I have issues with my main pump which pumps out of the port side.

Re: Seacraft sinks off Martha's Vineyard
 

Mitch - glad to hear you guys survived OK! As others have said, someone was looking out for you, with a radio popping to the surface, which then quit as soon as you were picked up!! How lucky is that?!!

I'm sure it was hard to do, but THANKS for sharing your story - it might save someone's life someday! BOAT/US publishes a lot of similar info in their Seaworthy magazine. I recently ordered a book from them containing 10 years of back issues; tons of useful info in it that I'm still wading thru!

One question, given the 20/20 hindsight and wisdom you now have . . . would a 25" transom or a full height splashwell have made any difference in preventing swamping when you hit the gas? One friend of mine, in response to a question about what he'd do if he ever took a big wave over the transom, said he figured the water could go out the same way it came in, i.e. over the low transom cutout, when he nailed the throttle . . . maybe that would work if the bilge were dry, but I'm not so sure about that now!! Seems like bailing might be a better option!