Thank you coast guard for a job well done

brianluck

took my boat yesterday to hart miller island in the Chesapeake bay. an annual raft off unofficially known as aquapalooza was taking place. we arrived around 1-130 dropped anchor and proceeded to eat and partake in beverages. around 5 we noticed the swimplatform was under water. and had a damp carpet in the cockpit. upon further inspection i found my cockpit bilge not working quickly swapped it out. however the volume of water coming in was much more then my engine bilge and cockpit bilge pump could handle. we raised anchor and attempted to make our way in roughly 4 miles. how ever we started taking on more when we could safely run the engines. a distress call was made to the coast guard they promptly arrived and proceeded to pump us out along with sea tow. made an emergency call to our marina they where standing by to hull me out. once we removed a satisfactory amount of water to tow us in we where on the move. a $400 tow bill later and 9" of water in the cabin my rinker was hanging in the travel lift to dry out and put on blocks. thanks to the coast guards quick response time my rinker will live to float another day! no one was injured. so begins the process of finding the cause as well as steam cleaning the bay water out of the cockpit carpet! joys of owning a boat! Break Out Another Thousand. cheers all

212rowboat

Glad you made it, friend. I bet the pucker factor was off the charts, no? 

I'll catch huge flack for this, but.... Realize your engines are huge pumps in themselves... In a truly bad situation, it's a good thing to realize you can slice into the water circulation pumps supply and suck a massive amount of water out with a quickness... 

I swear, I'd rig in a valve off a Y similar to that which splits a water hose if I was somewhere where a shallow shoal or friends aren't always close by.. I may do it in the winter, anyways.. the bitter end could lay in the bilge under the pan with the valve on top of the engine.. throw those bad bears over to bilge supply, and wham bam- a LOT of water goes bye bye.. 

Just a thought... At any rate, man, I'm glad you had assistance and they were competent.. 

Black_Diamond

Lucky no one was hurt, that's #1.  everything else is replaceable.   CG is way under rated IMO. They pulled a dock mate in Sat from a mayday call, smoke from the eng room. Not a fire (issue unknown at this time) but scary for the family and kids. 

Glad everyone is ok!

brianluck

I agree, I have a new respect for the coast guard. They stayed with us all the way until my boat was in the travel lift 

raybo3

Glad you made it safely. The boat can always be fixed. Keep us posted

Dream_Inn

Yes, glad you made it safely.  I unfortuanately know what it's like to be in distress and have my family get off of a boat because it was safer in the water.  & coast guard was there for me and my family and my kids were safely aboard their boat having snacks and drinks while we got it all figured out.

Next time you need to come to the Rendezvous instead!

MarkB

 

I'd say a VERY good ending to an unfortunate event. I honestly thought you were going to end off by saying they took us off the boat, and we watched it go down to the bottom, after I read the swim platform was submerged.  I'm so glad everything turned out okay.