www.iFourWinns.com

A mid 1980's 35' Chris Craft hit a rock the other day. Shaft was almost completely yanked from the boat, water flooding in, bilges unable to keep up, it was going down.

A 16' Donzi gets a line attached and starts hauling boat to our marina about 1 km away. Bilges are unable to keep up. The wise captain used the engine as an emergency pump. He removed the raw-water intake hose and directed it to the water below the engine and revved the hell out of the engine in neutral. Although the boat kept sinking it slowed the rate of decent down. The Donzi dragged it to our boat dock where 8 boaters helped grab the boat and walked it to the boat launch (against as strong current) and it was picked up by the boat hoist.

I never heard of this emergency strategy and I don't know if I could be this cool under such pressure.... but it is good to know!

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Ernie Follis
It'll Do II
Four Winns 348 (2005)

So all this happened and there wasn't some idiot blocking the dock when you got there

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2001 Four Winns Vista 248 by rick2752, on Flickr

Very clever idea on his part. I can't say I could come up with the same idea in a pinch like he was in.

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2014 Four Winns H180 RS
14' 70's Lund

i have heard of this with guys off shore hitting things or blowing a shaft seal. .

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Not Penny's Boat

1993 190 Horizon 5.0L EFI
http://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11136
1977 14' CMF Skiff SOLD
2015 Emotion Stealth Angler 11

You can do this on just about any engine that uses an engine mounted impeller if you have enough hose to reach the bottom of the bilge. It will suck it up fast. Now on an I/O with the drive mounted pump, if your raw water intake hose pops off or leaks like mine did, it does the opposite!! Fills the bilge with sea water really fast. Always check all the cooling hose clamps and fuel hose clamps, every one at the beginning of each season.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Didn't older shaft driven boats commonly have this type of thing; incorporating valves and permanent pipework, so that the engine pump could either suck up water from outside or from the bilges?