firecadet613
Well-Known Member
- May 10, 2007
- 5,253
- Boat Info
- SOLD - 2007 Four Winns V358
- Engines
- Twin VP 5.7GXi V-Drive / ZF63s
How far offshore are those posts? I guess this makes a good case to keep anodes on my shafts....
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Good idea!Just another thing to think of. There was no assurance that the shaft was going to stay in place since you couldn’t verify what was happening under the boat. Lucky for you it did. If I saw that, I think I would have clamped my vise grips on that shaft just to make sure it wasn’t going to fall out........
To me it's 1 and 1a. Need to quickly evaluate your ability to control the leak. That will buy you time to call for help. If you look at it and there's just no way, then call for help first cause you're probably going down. Calling for help can take some time communicating with authorities and allow the small leak you could control to swamp the boat.Just a thought here and maybe this scenario is different but in my career in law enforcement we were trained to call for help before reacting. In this scenario if you try to plug the leak before calling for help and you aren't successful then will you be able to call for help? I do understand that time is critical here in stopping a leak but would it be a good idea to call for help first? Now if you have company onboard then they can call for help.
First of all, it's great to hear that everyone was safe and you've managed to get to a nearest port without issues. And also thanks for sharing your story. Besides gathering some suggestions, these discussions are serve as a good "wake up calls" and reminders we all could use from time to time.
There were number of good suggestions, but I have to admit that toilet bowl wax rings was something I haven't heard yet. It could definitely come handy to seal a crack where cone or wooden plugs would be useless. I'll add that to my list as well.
As you think though what had transpired, you probably already realized that the biggest issue was the fact that you had no plan B. If she was to go down, everyone onboard would end up overboard. The worst part in this scenario, is the fact that you've mentioned very cold water temps. This means that survival rate is dropped drastically, due to hypothermia. At 50 degrees you got only 30-60 min. Having said that, when putting together solutions for plan B, you need to keep in mind how to keep your crew dry and warm as long as possible.
Years ago, when we started doing more extensive cruising, a tender was a must have. Over the year, the tender grew with a mothership. An 11'er with 40HP can get you to safety quick. As we started doing more offshore cruising, a liferaft became a must have equipment. That's my plan C. I don't recall if it was mentioned here yet, but a ditch bag (with waterproof handheld VHF) is another must have. Depending on your offshore cruising plans, EPIRB or PLB is something worth looking into.
My steps in this scenario:
1. Everyone - PDFs are on.
2. Stop the "bleeding". Do a quick assessment on how bad is the damage and if I'll be able to keep it under control.
3. Make the VHF call and know what you need. Meaning, if the situation is under control, it's just an FYI for the CG. If not sure and help is needed, you ask for it ASAP.
4. Lock the bad shaft and head to nearest port.
5. Use whatever means possible to keep the mothership afloat and stay with it, as it'll increase your survival chance, if a tender or a liferaft is not available.
Oh, BTW, I have all the diving rig, but diving in 50 degrees would be pretty far on my to-do list. I'd first exhaust all of my options to do everything from the inside. And as Steve mentioned, I had the same thought as I was reading your post. Use whatever tool possible to ensure that the shaft stays in place without falling off. It was the most effective "plug" for the hole. Otherwise, you'd need to have helping items to act as an emergency plug.
Each situation would be different. Need to call upon your inner McGyver.Great thoughts, thank you! I do have a dinghy and that is for sure the Plan B if sinking offshore were to become inevitable. I also carry a PLB at the helm anytime we're away from shore.
I've heard a couple folks suggest locking the broken shaft. How would you do this short of line around the prop? In my case there was less than an inch of shaft still showing in the boat. I'm not sure how (or why?) I would have secured it from inside the boat? I suppose the why would be to keep it from falling the rest of the way out.
Good stuff. I'm learning a lot from this thread. Including the fact that Amazon prime has toilet bowl wax rings for $5 delivered to my door
...I've heard a couple folks suggest locking the broken shaft. How would you do this short of line around the prop? In my case there was less than an inch of shaft still showing in the boat. I'm not sure how (or why?) I would have secured it from inside the boat? I suppose the why would be to keep it from falling the rest of the way out...
Obviously in either scenario the co-captain is hailing the Coast Guard....
I agree, call for help first. Thinking about how I would handle this, my first action would be to activate the distress button on the VHF, and then investigate the issue. I'm not sure what the next steps for the distress would be though, so I need to think through that. I assume that it would send out the alert, along with my GPS coordinates, so I would at least throw that flag up while I turn my attention to the problem at hand.Just a thought here and maybe this scenario is different but in my career in law enforcement we were trained to call for help before reacting. In this scenario if you try to plug the leak before calling for help and you aren't successful then will you be able to call for help? I do understand that time is critical here in stopping a leak but would it be a good idea to call for help first? Now if you have company onboard then they can call for help.