Great Scallop dive. Lousy near-death experience.

[decapoddiver]

For my daughter at least. Took my daughter out today as surface support for some scallop/lobster dives. Found the beds about 50 yards away from where they were last time. Loaded up my three bags and got back in my boat. I was almost done shucking and my daughter decided she wanted to jump off the stern to swim. The very same time that the wake from a large boat hit us, my bilge decided to clog/stop working, a large wave came over the stern and she fell off the boat. I got her back in but while doing so, the stern was so low that additional water came in. Rapidly pulled the anchor and headed for the dock. So, no second dive but still got my gallon. Very scary experience for her (and her Dad watching her be that scared). Managed to get about 50 gallons out by the time we got to the landing and drained another 100 when I pulled the boat out.

Lots of little issues that all culminated in one large one.

Water was 61 degrees at depth of 52'
Vis was 15'

 

[Peter_C]

First rule of a bilge pump is never trust one. Two are better, and set up on two isolated batteries is even better. Second is carry a bailing bucket. Third is to have a handheld DSC equipped radio or an PLB of some kind. What would have happened if the boat rolled? You probably should have called the Coast Guard and alerted them, following up every ten minutes until you were safe again. Lifejackets do save lives.

I have an elephant trunk on my boat to drain it quickly when I do take a wave. Then a smaller bilge pump to get the remainder.

 

[Oldbear]

Thanks for sharing...it is threads like yours and posts like Peter's that I learn from. I am a novice boater who has taken a few small boating classes, but they were very generalized.

 

[xroirat]

I happy to read that everyone came through the experience okay. I can not understand why boat designers put in low-cut sterns that enable waves to break over them and flood the hull. The boat that left that large wake bears some responsibility for your mishap as well.

 

[decapoddiver]

First rule of a bilge pump is never trust one. Two are better, and set up on two isolated batteries is even better. Second is carry a bailing bucket. Third is to have a handheld DSC equipped radio or an PLB of some kind. What would have happened if the boat rolled? You probably should have called the Coast Guard and alerted them, following up every ten minutes until you were safe again. Lifejackets do save lives.

I have an elephant trunk on my boat to drain it quickly when I do take a wave. Then a smaller bilge pump to get the remainder.

.
Bilge pump wasn't the only issue. Both of us were wearing life jackets, portable waterproof VHF attached to my life jacket along with EPIRB. Two different manual bailing pumps and 1 bailing bucket on board. That's why I'm here to tell the story. If boat had flipped, the redundant communication systems I had immediate access to would have allowed us to get help not to mention the other recreational boats within 100 yards.

 

[Peter_C]

.
Bilge pump wasn't the only issue. Both of us were wearing life jackets, portable waterproof VHF attached to my life jacket along with EPIRB. Two different manual bailing pumps and 1 bailing bucket on board. That's why I'm here to tell the story. If boat had flipped, the redundant communication systems I had immediate access to would have allowed us to get help not to mention the other recreational boats within 100 yards.

Well then you weren't in any danger of dying...Misleading title.

 

[decapoddiver]

I was referring to what my daughter was feeling. I edited it and hopefully corrected it. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Rich Keller]

Another way to get rid of the water would have been to pull the drain plug in the stern while you were under way. This would only work if the boat were able to move fast enough to expose the drain on the outside so the water would flow out rather then coming into the boat. Always have a bailing bucket too, a scared man with a 5 gallon bucket can move more water then any bilge pump.

 

[decapoddiver]

Couldn't get up on plane due to the amount of water (20 y/o 60 hp on a 17' center console). I was a bailing/pumping machine. Shocked that I didn't inadvertently bail some gear out.

 

[AfterDark]

Does your boat not have petcocks that can be opened when the boat is running to drain the water? Glad everything worked out.