Why did it sink?

[John Berg]

Tim, Even with the splashwell full of water and the water running through a hole for your controls, seems your bilge would have kept up. any guesses. I would like to avoid this in the future. I sleep on my boat in front of Hooters and I dont have a bilge. John

[Lootas1]

Scary, isn't it. Tomorrow I check my Vessel Assist policy and my State Farm boat insurance policy to make sure I'm covered if my boat were to sink. Expect if I tried sleeping on it in front of Hooters, my wife might blast a big hole in the hull.
Jerry

[Tim_Mattson]

John,
I talk of "Level Flotation " quite often and didn`t heed my own advice.1st strike.
Plus I hastily parked stern-into the waves,2nd strike.
I looked at Westerner`s Ice cold Beer and merely thought about a cold one......then the waiter interupted.....strike 3.
The Seafair had foam under the outer floors but not down the middle.Too much flotation down low ,water on top and a boat will "Turtle".
The little bilge pump will never keep up with sloshing waves every 2-3 seconds and the huge Sump pump took a few tries before it caught up.
A 500 GPH pump is no match against 2000 gallons in 20 minutes (how long it took....) but then again,how often do you really need a 2000 GPH pump?
Even that would take a 1/3 of an hour to empty with this quick mental math.
I`ll be getting foam blocks to cram down both rear corners on Tuesday from Wooldridge.....I`ve been meaning to do it and now would be foolish not to.
Owning the Foam -collared Safe boat has let me get complacent,I had that one filled to the gunnels in the spinning 8 knot Riptide of Bush Pt......couldn`t budge the boat with that much foam on both sides,I tried.Had to pull the drains as it wasn`t self-bailing at the time.Took 5 minutes but the foam lifted it up until I could get on plane to suck it dry,dry.
We found out later the Alum proto hull had split down the keel after our LaPush trip.
Now that hull(actually new version) has two bilge pumps ,deck drains in
1.5`` and welded floors for a second bottom.
My huge Seafair bow was the only thing that kept it bobbing,had we not un-tied ,it could have been slowly lifted until level,then simply pump it out.
The shore was so,so close ,it looked do-able.....
Also note the rear splashwell doesn`t rise higher than the transom top.
Might have to address that with gaskets or a flange.The Foldodwn rear seat top is sweet for towing but one feature that may be the golden Bee-Bee.
My G-3,Mr. BeeHaven may be seeing some foam too,the 135 hp won`t be tried unless that is done.....
You can also wire a buzzer like inboards use wired to an auto Bilge,when power comes on it will let you or anybody around know something is amiss while sleeping at your favorite sports bar.
Lake Union gets funneled wind events and either end of the lake can have a rash of sinkings like mine.Boat covers can hold a bunch of water ,block the scuppers or splashwell drain,and well ,we know the rest.
TimM

[Helmar]

John,
I talk of "Level Flotation " quite often and didn`t heed my own advice.1st strike.
Plus I hastily parked stern-into the waves,2nd strike.
I looked at Westerner`s Ice cold Beer and merely thought about a cold one......then the waiter interupted.....strike 3.
The Seafair had foam under the outer floors but not down the middle.Too much flotation down low ,water on top and a boat will "Turtle".
The little bilge pump will never keep up with sloshing waves every 2-3 seconds and the huge Sump pump took a few tries before it caught up.
A 500 GPH pump is no match against 2000 gallons in 20 minutes (how long it took....) but then again,how often do you really need a 2000 GPH pump?
Even that would take a 1/3 of an hour to empty with this quick mental math.
I`ll be getting foam blocks to cram down both rear corners on Tuesday from Wooldridge.....I`ve been meaning to do it and now would be foolish not to.
Owning the Foam -collared Safe boat has let me get complacent,I had that one filled to the gunnels in the spinning 8 knot Riptide of Bush Pt......couldn`t budge the boat with that much foam on both sides,I tried.Had to pull the drains as it wasn`t self-bailing at the time.Took 5 minutes but the foam lifted it up until I could get on plane to suck it dry,dry.
We found out later the Alum proto hull had split down the keel after our LaPush trip.
Now that hull(actually new version) has two bilge pumps ,deck drains in
1.5`` and welded floors for a second bottom.
My huge Seafair bow was the only thing that kept it bobbing,had we not un-tied ,it could have been slowly lifted until level,then simply pump it out.
The shore was so,so close ,it looked do-able.....
Also note the rear splashwell doesn`t rise higher than the transom top.
Might have to address that with gaskets or a flange.The Foldodwn rear seat top is sweet for towing but one feature that may be the golden Bee-Bee.
My G-3,Mr. BeeHaven may be seeing some foam too,the 135 hp won`t be tried unless that is done.....
You can also wire a buzzer like inboards use wired to an auto Bilge,when power comes on it will let you or anybody around know something is amiss while sleeping at your favorite sports bar.
Lake Union gets funneled wind events and either end of the lake can have a rash of sinkings like mine.Boat covers can hold a bunch of water ,block the scuppers or splashwell drain,and well ,we know the rest.
TimM

Hi Tim.
Again, Very sorry to here what happened to you.
I have to disagree to agree with you on the flotation.
The concept of Flotation is just that, Float the boat.
If she was tied to the dock, she may have not rolled over.

Turtled or not, she May have floated with full foam under the floors.
Me, I will continue to do that to my boats. The next trick is to do just as you suggest, Foam blocks up under the side decks.

My past experience shows that most any boat will roll over. My race hull (forget the name but 17 ft) with a small block chevy, got swamped Twice in the Columbia River.
The first go around was quit costly as I lost my prop shaft, prop and had to go through the engine again.
The second time it happened to me, water was up almost to the spark plugs, But, this time all along the hull was foam blocks.
My plugs had been converted to Inside with a cable up by the ski tower.
I was able to keep her running and pulled the plugs as I headed towards shore. That time, I saved her.
Shortly after that, I sold the boat.
Point being, I really feel all the flotation foam I had put in her saved my bacon the second time.

Like I said above. I will keep foaming my boats with as much flotation foam under the floors and if she turtles, I can still roll her over with help.

I guess we can both agree that there is no such thing as Too Much Foam.
Or, The More Free board, the better.

[Tim_Mattson]

Joe,
My family used to build and design trucks for Alaska,meant to drive on Ice and Float if needed.
We turtled the protype Truck on the River only once to learn one flat pc of 4-6`` thick Foam under the payload deck,(above the 44 X 40`` Tractor tires mind you) would stop it at a heigth t could still drive out of but more important,stayed much more level.Get an buoyant chamber under too far and it wants to go not matter what direction you pull.
Gunnel blobs will really help but lack of hull flair really makes it sink quicker as you see in this pic.Check out the boat with PFD....This is the best possble scenario for hull shape and placement of foam.Of cours it ain`t a real classic so inside she goes,and a little more care which trump all.
I`m mentally prepping for a crossfloor bench/Damassy to screw to the Transom well,maybe just angle alum to start,then fit wood to block off the waves,backrest folds forward off of that with cut-out for motor t tilt up on road.
Tim M