What every boater/fisherman fears

[Big Jay]

Well, i felt it for the first time on Sun. It was NOT fun.

We were doing a diving/pleasure cruise on our 2001 30' Albemarle Express with cat 3126's.

It was my father, my brother, my cousin, my uncle, and myself on the boat. My brother and I were to dive a shallow wreck off Little Egg Inlet, and the others on the boat were along for the ride.

This time my father was at the helm giving me a break for a bit. We clear the inlet. The port motor starts dropping RPM's pretty quickly.

I do ALL the maintenance on the boat. So my father starts scolding me saying its a fuel filter i didn't change, which in fact i did, only days before. Now i am thinking to myself "F**king great, boats broken" I take the helm, bring the sticks back to assess the situation. I look down at the dash, and see the forward bilge pump light on. Sometimes the float switch pops up with a wave and will get stuck. It just didn't feel right though. I leave the helm look over the side of the boat and there is a "healthy" stream of water coming out the bilge pump thru-hull. Not good.

In a silent semi-panic i push people aside and open the hatch by the helm over the motors.

There was a SOLID 2.5' of water in the bottom of the boat. Worst feeling you could ever experience. I look up at my father, and he looks at me...I think we might have even said it at the same time "F**K me...we are taking on water." I told them to radio our marina, clear the lift slip and get ready. Called home with the cellphone let them know the situation.

then the panic ensues. I knew we hadn't breached the hull. The boat never shuddered, no sign of hitting anything, no cavitation. i start ripping hatches off the boat, inspecting below the waterline thru-hulls. crawling into the water filled bilge.

I thought maybe a thru-hull hose came off or something of that nature.

I couldn't find it so i said screw this, some of this water has to leave this boat. The pumps were pumping, but not keeping up. I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket on board and starting bailing like a madman. To my surprise i was actually beating the leak, the water level started to drop. Throwing the water out the back of the boat i noticed the water was tinged black. Then it hit me. I ran up to the helm, flipped on the hatch lift. Lifted the hydraulic hatch, sure enough:

The 8" wide exhaust duct coming off the port motor popped off and was filling the boat with water and exhaust fumes (which we couldn't see because the deck is very well sealed and bilge is bulkheaded). I told my father to shut the port motor down.

Bilge pumps took care of the rest. We limped back to port.

Clean up was LOADS of fun getting all the diesel soot off the bulkheads, motors, and everything below deck. Cleaning the airseps, replacing all the fuel filters, drying everything off.

The boat is fine though, and now i have experienced every boater/fisherman's worst fear (next to fire on a boat).

[O-SEA-D]

Damn, that sucks. Good job on keeping your head on straight and no panicing. Glad everyone made it home safe.

[JMS-ILM]

are you sure you didnt shoot a hole in the bottom with your SKS?

[Big Jay]

are you sure you didnt shoot a hole in the bottom with your SKS?

I thought maybe my 42" AB Biller Speargun might have done it, but a quick peek into the galley revealed the power bands had been un-sprung.

I am thinking maybe this speargun is bad luck.

1) I bought it used at a deep discount

2) First time i tried to use it at the jetty in barnegat inlet i got washed into the jetty by a freaking wake.

3) Then climbing onto the jetty out of the water i lost a fin.

4) Take it with me to go diving and boat almost sinks.

I thought maybe it could have been my father trying to collect the insurance money too, but then i saw him turning pale white and nearly fainting and realized "Nope, not it either"

PS: a hole from 7.62 x 39mm would have been MUCH better than a 8" exhaust duct pouring water into the boat.

[Phillyfisherman]

Big Jay:

Congrats on practicing the 3 Cs....Calm, Cool and Collected! That certainly helped keep a critical situation from becoming catastrophic.

[divemaster]

glad to hear all are ok good job on taking control of the situation and getting everyone back safe.

[langs15]

That sucks, I didn't see it in your post, but did you find out what the leak was from and where it was?

[Big Jay]

That sucks, I didn't see it in your post, but did you find out what the leak was from and where it was?

8" Exhaust Duct coming out of the port motor's riser (i guess you would call it that on a diesel) came disconnected. Its a PVC bellow that connects the molded fiberglass exhaust duct to the metal riser. Clamps were tight. My father and I looked at it afterwards and it was never installed right from the factory. They didn't slip the bellow onto the riser enough to have a good clamping surface.

I went out to the local marine store, bought some T-bar clamps, the ones that tighten with a bolt and screw, and ditched the POS worm screw clamps that were on the exhaust system.

Installed her back the right way. She won't be slipping off again, thats for sure.

I am a bit nervous about the Generator though. The water made it half way up the generator. We started her up no problem, dried her off real good, hope shes gonna be ok though.

[Big Jay]

Big Jay:

Congrats on practicing the 3 Cs....Calm, Cool and Collected! That certainly helped keep a critical situation from becoming catastrophic.

I guess i did pretty good.

I am not gonna lie:

PArdon my french, but i practically shit my undies when i opened up the hatch and saw all that water.

[Capt. Brian Daley]

Glad to see you kept your head this time Jay and all went well and you found
the problem quickly, pretty much the same thing happend to me 9 yrs ago
my freeze out plug poped out as I was 33 miles off going to the sharking
grounds in 4-6 footers from the bridge I turned around and was looking behind
me and saw the gunwal caps very low to water level look again and saw the
steam coming out of the rod holders sh$t steam put her in nuetral pulled
the hatches and the water up to the carbs engine under water called coast
guard told them my position and went in between both engines to find the
the leak engine are still running reach around port engine and I feel hot water
pumping out the engine block and my finger goes in the hole plug was gone
good thing I carry two extra pumps on board all the time and I had three extra
freeze out plugs on board from the winter when one poped out dueing its
job thank god I left them in the boat took a hammer and smacked it back in
pumps cought up with the water coast guard was there before an hour and
one of the coasties got sick on my boat and puking over the side go figure
told the coast guard on is under control and they followed in for a while then
blew past us Jay your right theres know worst sinking feelng than that got
to keep your head good job glad your all safe (I check and replace all intake
and billow clamps every year needed or not)