"POLECAT"-OC,MD BLUE SHARKS AND POWER BOATS!!!

[jemche]

plan was to leave sunset at 6. checked radar and it looked like bad thunderstorms. waited till 10 to head out. saw birds working in the inlet... caught 10 or so 3-4 lb. bluefish for bait. headed to the sausages.bumpy boat ride out. confused sea. arrived at the sausages and water temp was 63 degrees. less than ten mins after the chum was in, blue shark came right in and we pitched to it and caught it. the first blueshark was big, around 8ft long. another bite 20 mins later. then 10 mins after second bite they really started to come into chum. i think we caught 13 total.

the sharks were really cool, but the most exciting(not necessarily in a good way) part of the trip was when we noticed the boat leaning to the starboard side. opened the fish boz and it was almost full with water. YIKES!!! tried to remain calm, and Boz got into the fish box and turned the seacocck off. then turned on the manual bilge pump while the rest of us got lifejackets out and turned the radio to 16.
ended up getting everything straightned out but it was scary.

turned out to be a leak in the seacock, and a small crack in some other pump that im not sure how to spell....masseratoro maybe. but the main problem was the auto bilge pump failed to turn on.

well here are some pictures. was planning on taking more shark pictures but the water in the boat forced me to put the camera away

making bait.


sharks






Boats and other pictures.



















LOOK. DAVE SIKORSKI IS FAMOUS. ON THE SIDE OF THE CLEVELAND CONSTRUCTION RACING BOAT!

[scott w]

nice pics! and evey one wonders why insurance is soo much....it makes me sick...

[jemche]

o and by the way. forgot to mention this..... thanks franky for letting us know where the fish were. u da man!

[OCcaptain]

Congrats on your day!! We actually started trying not to catch blue sharks after about 10 of them. Glad you guys made out ok with the leak. Good reason to check those bilge pumps every now and then.

[frankypettolina]

Good job on remaining calm and sorting out the problem- you guys kept your heads and turned a potentially life threatening situation to just a quick stop to a good fishing day.

The Marine Surveyor in me is going to come out for a quick minute now. While the bilge pump not working properly led to you noticing the accumulation of water- the real culprit will always be the seacock and the macerator pump. Bilge pumps are not designed to stop you from sinking, rather they are supposed to remove normal accumulations of water due to deck run off, spills, leaky packing etc. etc. etc. many a surveyor has had his backside handed to him in court when the opposing attorney asked why the boat sank and the surveyor said because the bilge pump stopped working. NO!! The boat sank because water was pouring in a broken fitting, hole in the bottom, whatever. Bilge pumps just can't handle huge volumes. A statistic i learned in survey school was that there is not a bilge pump made that can keep up with a 1 inch hole, 1 foot below water line. Scary when you think about it.

Again, good job on all parts of your day. Keeping cool heads and working smart was great- and believe it or not, saved your lives. Ending up in the water with a chumslick and hungry sharks is not good.

Glad it all worked out for you guys.

[Henrique38]

So Franky, in the interest of prevention, how long should a seacock last and how does a person inspect these? What should we look for when checking out the through hulls?

[snowranger]

Sounds like a great day. Glad your water problem wasn't too serious!

[92 feet down]

Good job on remaining calm and sorting out the problem- you guys kept your heads and turned a potentially life threatening situation to just a quick stop to a good fishing day.

The Marine Surveyor in me is going to come out for a quick minute now. While the bilge pump not working properly led to you noticing the accumulation of water- the real culprit will always be the seacock and the macerator pump. Bilge pumps are not designed to stop you from sinking, rather they are supposed to remove normal accumulations of water due to deck run off, spills, leaky packing etc. etc. etc. many a surveyor has had his backside handed to him in court when the opposing attorney asked why the boat sank and the surveyor said because the bilge pump stopped working. NO!! The boat sank because water was pouring in a broken fitting, hole in the bottom, whatever. Bilge pumps just can't handle huge volumes. A statistic i learned in survey school was that there is not a bilge pump made that can keep up with a 1 inch hole, 1 foot below water line. Scary when you think about it.

Again, good job on all parts of your day. Keeping cool heads and working smart was great- and believe it or not, saved your lives. Ending up in the water with a chumslick and hungry sharks is not good.

Glad it all worked out for you guys.

I just couldn't resist, sorry, I'm at work. A hole with a diameter of 1-in. & 1-ft. below the waterline would convey seawater at a rate of appx. 11.5 gallons per minute, utilizing the orifice formula of Q = C*A*(2gh)^0.5. Where C=0.6, Q=0.026 cubic feet/sec. which converts to 11.5 gal./min.

What's the average rate of bilge pumps?

[Thunnus Amongus]

I just couldn't resist, sorry, I'm at work. A hole with a diameter of 1-in. & 1-ft. below the waterline would convey seawater at a rate of appx. 11.5 gallons per minute, utilizing the orifice formula of Q = C*A*(2gh)^0.5. Where C=0.6, Q=0.026 cubic feet/sec. which converts to 11.5 gal./min.

What's the average rate of bilge pumps?

I think the point is that you cant keep up with it forever. Eventually the battery will die or you run out of fuel to keep it charged.

[frankypettolina]

There is no set life span for a below waterline through hull fitting. There are a lot of variables- material, bonding system on the boat, maintenance etc etc. What I recommend is that they be inspected regularly for leaks, hoses and clamps checked, and valve exercised and lubricated. When the boat is hauled the hose should be removed and the piping checked for corrosion/wear. If it is starting to corrode or wear, it may be time to replace the fitting.

Also, when visually inspecting fittings look around the base/flange where it is attached to the hull- the compound used to bed the fitting can age and allow water intrusion, or the "fit" of the fitting may have changed and there can be leaking around the fitting.

To answer the bilge pump question. 700 gallons of water per hour is alot of water in a boat. I am merely going by what my instructors taught me. But bear in mind that bilge pumps may be rated at 800, 1500, or 2000, or 4000 or whatever GPH, but that is assuming no voltage drop and a direct run of hose. I can tell you that there is always voltage drop and a less than direct run of hose. Also think about where the hole is, it can be dumping water into the boat half of the boat length away from the pump- by the time the pump is activated there may already be a significant portion of water in the boat.