Tried to drown my only grandchild

[Lootas1]

Well, of course it wasn't deliberate. Here's what happened. Sarah wanted grandpa to take her fishing. We went fishing in Finally! the 1961 Larson Sea Lion that was first launched after I got her about 4 years back. Now she had always floated before but this time I took wife, son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and an extra battery for the electric motor, a couple of anchors and "stuff". We are out on the lake when someone notice water over the floor boards. Just a trickle.
I assured them all was well but we upped anchors and headed for the dock. I was't too sure all was well. Woke up at 3 a.m. today and it dawned on me where the water came from.
The guy who first had the boat installed a sink that discharged over the side just above the water line. The extra load probably put the discharge below the water line. The discharge hose was probably around 50 years old and I had never inspected it.
Today I took a look. The hose looks okay but the clamp on it was quite loose. I think water came in there. Anyway, I pulled the sink and discharge line and will fiberglass the hole this afternoon when it warms up. Guess that means a white spot on the hull where the fitting used to be but that sure beats sinking!

[pathfinderz1]

It sure does give you a thrill when you see water coming into the boat and don't know were it is coming from. Glad you make it back safely.
Mike

[Bflaherty]

congrats on surviving the scariest scenerio a boater can face.

Our little Chris Craft has a disturbing water leak that I have been chasing the last 3 times out. I am finding that water leaks are like computer problems, you have to push just the right buttons and then they crash, but if you do the sequence out of order there's no problems, our boat will float dry all night or even idle all day, but start running at speed and after 20 minutes we pumped 10 gallons out with the "brand new" bilge pump...

[Sammamish1]

Brian,

Having had a similar problem in the past it sounds like somewhere the hull is working and opening up under pressure.and flexing. This idea sounds stupid but it works, at least with a roller trailer I'm not sure about bunks.

Fill the boat up to the water line if your trailer will handle the weight. Drive around on a rough but not horrible road and check the outside of the hull for water. It may be to hot right now to do this since the water will dry up in a millisecond.

Anyway that's my two cents worth.

[Dave C]

congrats on surviving the scariest scenerio a boater can face.

Our little Chris Craft has a disturbing water leak that I have been chasing the last 3 times out. I am finding that water leaks are like computer problems, you have to push just the right buttons and then they crash, but if you do the sequence out of order there's no problems, our boat will float dry all night or even idle all day, but start running at speed and after 20 minutes we pumped 10 gallons out with the "brand new" bilge pump...

That reminds me, I have a friend that had an older Bayliner that behaved the same. Turns out getting on plane there was a point when water would flow past the bilge pump discharge and flowback through the pump. :eek: I didn't believe him so to prove me wrong he jamed a cork in the dicharge. No more water inflow. Go figure.

Good luck.