Boating accident update 2/16

[Craneman]

Well the Willapa tried to claim a couple more yesterday. Last night around 5 Pm I helped the athorities flip a 15 ft Pacific skiff upright at the ramp so they could put the boat on the trailer the motor had a crab pot line in the prop. The man and woman was taken away by ambulance. Was told a oyster  crew boat picked them up. I hope they will be ok.
             Moe

[SRanger]

Glad them got them out before it got dark.  Right out of Tokeland seems to be an area that frequently has pots.  Hope they are okay.

SR

[Craneman]

It may have been thier own pot line as it had a sport red and white bouy
       Moe

[Chuck Jones]

Please excuse my ignorance....but how does a crab pot line hung up in the prop end up flipping a boat?  I realize this is the ocean, and that perhaps the lack of steerage caused it to broach in the oncoming waves??  Dunno, but I'd appreciate more details.

[SRanger]

Was not there last evening but it can be a windy bay with big tide changes.  My guess is one of them was leaning over to try to free the tangle tipping the boat.  Wouldn't take much of a wave to send them the rest of the way over.

SR

[xplorz]

A lot of people think the Willapa Bay is a tame stretch o water, but it can be very nasty at times. Glad they made it out with their lives.

[Craneman]

Please excuse my ignorance....but how does a crab pot line hung up in the prop end up flipping a boat?  I realize this is the ocean, and that perhaps the lack of steerage caused it to broach in the oncoming waves??  Dunno, but I'd appreciate more details.

Well Chuck I wasn't there but weard things happen, current,wind,waves, would have been dragging off the stern ebb tide, guess what I'm saying is all it takes sometimes is just one aw sh!! . This is the second boat sinking this year not good
  Moe

[Danno]

Please excuse my ignorance....but how does a crab pot line hung up in the prop end up flipping a boat?  I realize this is the ocean, and that perhaps the lack of steerage caused it to broach in the oncoming waves??  Dunno, but I'd appreciate more details.

I don't know that bay and I don't know that boat but the minute you get your prop caught in an anchor or crab pot line, the boat turns ass end to the current and then gets pulled down based on the speed of the current and the length of the rope.  If the boat has a low transom as many 15' boats do, it starts taking on water and in a minute, you're down.

[amazing grace]

Always carry that knife on you so you can cut the rope. As Danno says, when that rope gets tight it is just seconds from being to late. Cut it as soon as you realize the situation. You are still in trouble, but aleast you won't be pulled down by that rope. 

[Chuck Jones]

Please feel free to correct my misconception if it is so....but how does a crab pot pull down the ass end of a boat?  Don't you folks pull them up by hand or with a sort of crane?  They aren't affixed to the bottom...so a rope in the prop with a crab pot attached shouldn't be able to pull the ass end under....unles somehow the pot got stuck in something?  I think there has to be more to this than detailed thus far. 

[StreamFixer]

As noted, foul the rope on the prop, you now have a 30 to 40# anchor dead center on the stern.

I suspect this link shows one of those boats. 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/boa/3608631775.html

Look carefully and you will see there is no motor-well, just the transom, then the interior of the boat.

Assume a modest size motor and a 15" transom and a fair current running.  When running correctly you will likely have about 10 or 12 inches of free-board on the transom.  Add a 30# anchor to the bottom of your outboard, let the current and wind do their thing and that free-board has now likely been halved (say 6 to 8"). 

If there is any wind, with the anchor in the rear, the chop is coming from the rear regardless of the direction of the current.  That chop could easily be a foot or more in modest conditions.

Now take a fellow the size of you or I Chuck and stand us at the very corner/end of the boat, leaning over the transom trying to reach the rope to remove or cut without falling overboard.  Every time you lean the side of the boat tips further reducing the free-board.  A bit of wind chop and you are taking on water with each wave, which will accumulate where you are standing' until you are suddenly likely to find your self treading water.

At least that would have been the sequence I would suspect was most likely to have occurred.

StreamFixer

[Craneman]

   Today my wife and I found out we knew the people involved The wife got home from the hospital this afternoon and I talked to her., He comes home maybe tomorrow. As suspected the crabpot line got in the prop on a max ebb, they moved to the back of the boat and he tried to cut it out and the water started in. She said the current sucked the boat under so fast she couldn`t believe it.\ They were in the water for about 1and 1/2 hour hanging onto the boat but no one saw them so they decided to swim for it. They made it to a near by oyster bed that came dry and were rescued there by the oyster workers. THEY WERE WEARING LIFE JACKETS,NO DOUBT SAVED THEIR LIVES. wife and I took the boat and their truck to their home
                                        Moe

[fishorcrab]

Wasn't there a thread some months ago about attaching a knife to a boat pole for cutting a line wrapped around the prop? I seem to remember that 3wgt having a solution, but I have been wrong before.

Paul

[Chuck Jones]

There was a comment about the knife on a pole...along with the comment that it didn't work very well.  You couldn't get enough pressure on it, and it was difficult to maneuver.

[strokersquid]

As noted, foul the rope on the prop, you now have a 30 to 40# anchor dead center on the stern.

I suspect this link shows one of those boats. 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/boa/3608631775.html

Look carefully and you will see there is no motor-well, just the transom, then the interior of the boat.

Assume a modest size motor and a 15" transom and a fair current running.  When running correctly you will likely have about 10 or 12 inches of free-board on the transom.  Add a 30# anchor to the bottom of your outboard, let the current and wind do their thing and that free-board has now likely been halved (say 6 to 8"). 

If there is any wind, with the anchor in the rear, the chop is coming from the rear regardless of the direction of the current.  That chop could easily be a foot or more in modest conditions.

Now take a fellow the size of you or I Chuck and stand us at the very corner/end of the boat, leaning over the transom trying to reach the rope to remove or cut without falling overboard.  Every time you lean the side of the boat tips further reducing the free-board.  A bit of wind chop and you are taking on water with each wave, which will accumulate where you are standing' until you are suddenly likely to find your self treading water.

At least that would have been the sequence I would suspect was most likely to have occurred.

StreamFixer

by the pictures that boat has already capsized and it's still on land !

[rusty scuppers]

I use to own one, it is a very good boat for alot of applications but I was also concerned about the low transom and I felt the max hp of 45 was too heavy for it so I went with 25 2s and sometime a 4hp 2s for trollling with it also, it was a good combo, while a little slow getting on plane with three people it would get to 20mph which fit the bill at that time. the boat that Streamfixer posted thru craigs is also the type I had but it didn't have center steering console which was added by the somebody. Livingston had two styles during their productions the tiller model which I had and center console and deck trim and I can't remember if it had a motor well.

[redbaronace]

Very scary situation and glad the owners made it out alive.

This brings to mind a question.  How do you think a 17 or 19" arima would have fared in that exact scenario?

[rusty scuppers]

Ask the guys who fish in that kind of moving water like the Columbia with heavy waves going with the current, would they anchor a stern. which is basically what happened plus a dead motor.

[StreamFixer]

This thread had devolved into a discussion about emergency rope cutting devices so I split it.

The remainder of the discussion can be found under  Emergency Rope Cutters.


StreamFixer

[Craneman]

Ooh  high jacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

    Moe