That is sad. They probably panicked or something. Or the boat had too much water in it to get up on a plane.
I am curious... I was testing my bilge pump a couple weeks ago, really testing the float switch. I put the plug in and then put a hose down in the bilge area and turned in on full blast. It took a while (approx 1 min) for the water level to build to the point the bilge pump would turn on but my rule 1500 would pump out the water faster than the hose could fill as it would cycle on and off every 45-50 seconds. Do you think a pump like a 1500 or larger could keep up with an open plug? I would think a garden hose on full would put out more water than an open plug would let in at the dock? Just guessing though, never officially tested my theory. Thoughts?
Quote from: "Bergertime"I am curious... I was testing my bilge pump a couple weeks ago, really testing the float switch. I put the plug in and then put a hose down in the bilge area and turned in on full blast. It took a while (approx 1 min) for the water level to build to the point the bilge pump would turn on but my rule 1500 would pump out the water faster than the hose could fill as it would cycle on and off every 45-50 seconds. Do you think a pump like a 1500 or larger could keep up with an open plug? I would think a garden hose on full would put out more water than an open plug would let in at the dock? Just guessing though, never officially tested my theory. Thoughts?The biggest thing I took from the link Bob posted was the depth in the hull of the opening (hole). The deeper it is the greater the water pressure, the higher the volume and the faster the fill. These big pumps draw a lot of amps. Boats around here sink all the time at the dock in thunderstorms. Float gets stuck on "on" from twigs, debris etc. Pump keeps running even though the bilge is dry, kills the batts. Next downpour comes...adios.
The deeper the more pressure is true, but it is pretty easily stopped. On my 30' sailboat I replace a thru hull transducer while the boat was in the water and it was no big deal. The diameter of the hole in the hull was 1 1/2 inches and was about 2 feet below the water line.I simply cut the old wire off the transducer, took the nut off it and let it drop to the bottom. Water starting coming in and I put my hand over the hole and it stopped. Not a lot of pressure. I grabbed my dive mask and the new transducer (which was prepped and ready to go) and I dove in, put the bundle of wire thru the hole and got back in the boat and secured everything down. All in all I had maybe 10-15 gallons of water in the bilge when I looked and the pump was running and got it all out. Time frame... 3-4 minutes. When I was done I went back in and got my old transducer off the bottom.Another time while sailing on a friends 27 footer we hit a floating log at a pretty good clip and punched a nice hole in the side of the hull on his boat. We put a tarp overboard and with extra line we tied it about the entire hull. Leak yes, but the tarp compressed enough against the hull it didn't sink us, and we made it back in. A VHF call to the marina gave them enough notice to be able to pull the boat on arrival. The pumps kept up with the leaking hull.Scared, yes. But I learned a valuable lesson on both occasions. A hole in the hull while being very dangerous is not such a bad situation if you keep your head on straight. In most all cases it can be easily managed. Jump overboard, put the plug in, use buckets, call for help if you need it. But you need to assess the situation and make an intelligent decision on how to fix it. The very first step in this is to make sure you have all the proper gear, and it all works.When people panic is when really bad stuff happens.
