My First Beaching (hopefully last)

[medic3538]

How did your mechanic inspect the impeller without talking the water pump apart?

I assume your mechanic would not reinstall a used water pump impeller, right? After all, most of the expense is labor; the actual impeller is not that bad so if you open the water pump you may as well change the impeller.

I am currently in Atlanta at a Marriot, but I am calling first thing in the a.m. to see if they changed the impeller. I don't recall that being on the charges on the receipt. Huhh..your right....weird..or maybe I just overlooked that, I hope.

 

[medic3538]

It's hard to tell, but from the photos, it looks like you were coming into Port Royal Sound from HHI. The channel's narrow there. That big wide sound looks so deep, but there are 1' and 3' areas right at the corner. I've almost gotten my wings clipped there a few times. Wherever it was, I'm glad it all worked out ok.

CORRECT!!! Right before the Beauford marina. Again, I messed up on the way TO Hilton Head, but got lucky as the tide was high and was a cookie following fool on the way home.

 

[Woody]

Well..dam..I am not sure..but I am going to check. I use the depth finder on the SmartCraft display and now I am just ultra paranoid, stll having fun, but much more paranoid and aware.

If yours has the same capabilities as mine you should be able to go through the CAL2 screens and find one called Depth Alarm. If you set it at 5' for example when it reads 5' or less it will beep at you and I think the display also flashes or something.

 

[Sadler]

If yours has the same capabilities as mine you should be able to go through the CAL2 screens and find one called Depth Alarm. If you set it at 5' for example when it reads 5' or less it will beep at you and I think the display also flashes or something.

Woody raises a good point. I live by my depth alarm. A buddy got me using it when I first started coastal boating, and it has saved me on numerous occasions. I set mine to 8' when I'm up on plane, and when a guest is driving, I'll set it even higher so I get plenty of warning. If the alarm isn't loud enough, you can add an external buzzer.

 

[wkearney99]

Can't say I've run into many situations on the Chesapeake where a depth alarm would've done any good at anything more than a dead slow idle. At any other speed by the time the alarm kicked in you'd already know the depth (or lack of) by having felt the thump of running aground, or the ting-ting-ting sound of the props slicing sand...

But using the 8' for guest driver trick might be useful in the right locations, good suggestion.