www.iFourWinns.com

Another great thing is join BoatUS.com for less than $200 a year you can get towed or rescued free plus $14 for trailering cover check them out. I joined just this month and although I only boat inland lakes and river my cost was about $60 for the rest of the year.

Glad your all safe

Ray

We are finally getting close to the marina when I hear what sounds like splashing water and the engine is running a bit rough at 1200 rpms so I open the engine compartment and low and behold what do I find water splashing around in the engine compartment and the serpentine belt. The ski locker was emptying out the water it had into the bilge pump area but the bilge pump had stopped working for some reason.

Glad it worked out. The sea is unforgiving, good thing it didn't make an example of you and your friends.

I'm guessing they don't put different bilge setups into a boat that size and kind because it's not intended for water conditions like that. Boats intended for rougher water and fishing tend to have features better suited for it. Bow riders don't.

You might want to keep an ear out for increased db level coming from the exhaust manifold for the rest of the season as a precaustionary measure. Manifold gaskets are down low, easily swamped and do not like to get wet. If you hear increased noise do not continue to drive too far, have them checked out at the dealer because a compromised exhaust manifold gasket can be a fire hazard and that's no fun.

Keith

Even the bay out here can be smooth as glass one minute and change in a matter of a minute with an afternoon thunderstorm rolling through. No fun right before nightfall and TowboatUS busy with 6 calls in 10 minutes.

One person died this mini season. From what I was told in the past by the locals, mini season is always a madhouse and they would rather do away with it. Newspaper here had a picture of confiscated lobsters and the police wrote their fair share of tickets. They came around this year with dogs, to weed out the people double dipping, along with their usual bag of tricks, cameras on bridges, etc.

Glad it worked out. The sea is unforgiving, good thing it didn't make an example of you and your friends.

I'm guessing they don't put different bilge setups into a boat that size and kind because it's not intended for water conditions like that. Boats intended for rougher water and fishing tend to have features better suited for it. Bow riders don't.

Please tell me you had taken the carpet out...

Glad to hear everyone's ok. Looking forward to your next adventure.

Wash down everything in the engine compartment except electrical connectors with fresh water, salt water is bad for any metal...
Bowriders, that are not self bailing, do not belong out if the waves are predicted to be more than 1-2 feet, because all it takes is one big wave over the bow.
I have used my boat in similar conditions in LI Sound and when I see it get like that, it's time to GET OUT OF DODGE....

Keep the bow cover on, run the boat in bow up mode, that's about all you can do.

My next boat is going to be a closed bow boat, with high freeboard and most likely outboard power, that way at least if the weather conditions get worse you don't have as much of a risk of something bad happening...

Joe,

I took the course offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary in Coral Gables Recreation Center and highly recommend it. Its a great course and I honestly believe it should be mandatory to be taken and refreshed periodically by all boaters.

One more thing, here in Miami we boat 12 months a year. While a lot of our friends here will begin the yearly ritual of winterizing you are going to have tons of time to continue the use of your pride and joy. Don't take on risk that are threats to you or your crew. For us there is always tomorrow.

That is exactly what my wife told me after I gave her a less interesting story of the day. I definitely thought about that also, what is the big deal with going out in crap when we can go year round. I was thinking of an online class but I don't think it will be as good as being there in person. Coral Gables sounds good not far from me at all. On your comment of taking risks I definitely agree but sometimes people don't know a risk is a risk like in my case. I want to learn all I can to avoid making dumb mistakes like I did that day.

Glad you are safe!

I'm glad to hear you guys are all safe. My first power boat was a 26' bowrider and I had a couple days like you had. Just a few years ago, a 22' bowrider sank on our lake, just as you descibe. Everyone was rescued, but in the ocean this could have been tragic.

As you learned, the big issue with bowriders in heavy seas is taking water over the bow. Most fishing style open boats are self bailing, the deck is above the water line. Any water that come over can easily leave by scuppers.

With your boat, you really have to keep the water out. That means putting on the bow cover, if you have one. This will let you take a few small waves, but a big one will still come in. The real solution is as you did, drive the boat. You need to keep the bow up and steer around the big waves. You may need to go at an angle to the waves.


You really have to be diligent, this can snowball real fast. Once you have one wave onboard, now the boat is heavier and sits lower, making the next wave even worse. More and better bilges pumps can help but you can still put more water in than they can pump out.

This is a little worse than I expected it to be. I figured we were going to read another "I forgot to put the plug in" stories.

I am glad everybody is ok.

Snowball is definitely the word because you are exactly correct, I went from looking at the first wave and saying jeez that is a lot of water to Oh Christ jesus why the heck is all that water in the ski locker not going away, to oh crap this doesn't look good at all, to oh crap we are all gonna die! very quickly! I have to say one thing that gave me comfort in this whole situation, before I get on the boat I am wearing my auto deploying PFD and while everyone onboard were looking for the life vests I was dealing with the emergency at hand and I will definitely never get on my boat ever without my vest on. You actually get used to it like seat belts.