High horsepower, low skills?

[airdvr1227]

39' Cigarette Salvage

 

[scoutabout]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Impressive video and I suppose they know what they are doing but it gave me the willies to see the camera operator standing right beside that tow line.

The force exerted on it while trying to tow a boat that size full of water to planing speeds would be enormous. Easily enough energy to take his head off if that bow fitting let go at the wrong time.

 

[cobra1476]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Wow. That was a nice boat.

Wonder how much work it would need? Fresh water probably isn't as bad a salt.

 

[SWD]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Impressive video and I suppose they know what they are doing but it gave me the willies to see the camera operator standing right beside that tow line.

The force exerted on it while trying to tow a boat full of water to planing speeds would be enormous. Easily enough energy to take someone's head off if it snapped at the wrong time. Maybe it was steel cable -- hard to tell in the vid.

This is nothing boat related but is "tow rope" related. My neighbor tried to pull out some farm equipment from the mud on his own......the pin pulled out and came into the tractor cab with about 30ft of rope. two punctured lungs, broken ribs, broken collar bone, broken jaw, cheek and eye socket along with a broken nose. Be respectful of tow ropes.

 

[shrew]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Intersting that it looks like they towed it afloat. The only time I've ever seen anything like that happen is when the garboard plug was removed. I wonder if that is what caused her to sink to begin with.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

I am real surprized the bow eye held. I cannot imagine that a stock one would have held up. Is it possible that the boat was pre-rigged for this salvage? I have pulled bow eyes out of boats, just cranking them (dry) onto the trailer.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

This is nothing boat related but is "tow rope" related. My neighbor tried to pull out some farm equipment from the mud on his own......the pin pulled out and came into the tractor cab with about 30ft of rope. two punctured lungs, broken ribs, broken collar bone, broken jaw, cheek and eye socket along with a broken nose. Be respectful of tow ropes.

One more reason to use chain when pulling large loads. Chain loses kinetic energy quickly and doesn't recoil like tow straps do.

I couldn't tell that the bow eye was reinforced, it looked like the factory setup. Obviously once the had it moving, the guy jumped in and started the trash pump to empty it out while underway and it would have been fine after that, but still looks dangerous until the boat gets on plane.

 

[agallant80]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

No big deal. He just forgot the drain plug. We have all done it at one point in time

 

[spdracr39]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

I don't think OSHA would have approved of any part of that operation.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

I don't think OSHA would have approved of any part of that operation.

Well aside from the issue of the bow eye/towing rope, I don't see that any other part of the operation was "unsafe". All equipment seemed to be in good condition and was appropriate for the job. The transfer of the guy/pumps from one boat to the recovered boat is a bit unconventional but didn't appear to be unsafe. I'm not sure why they didn't just use the air bags to float the entire boat then pump out the water before getting underway. Seems like it would have probably taken longer, but been a bit less risky.

 

[QC]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Wonder how much work it would need? Fresh water probably isn't as bad a salt.

Less than you might think. If you "pickle" the engines immediately, get her dried out, pump out the fuel, change any other fluids, I bet she'd run well the next day. Long term they say starters, and some electronics will go bad. I have experience with this on a friend's boat, and the only thing that didn't work was the stereo. Two seasons later and all still works.

And you don't need low skills to sink one. Stuff happens. That one is odd as it seems to be in open water. But they may have dragged her there to float her. I like the operation. Agree that the bow eye would be suspect, but you're supposed to be able to lift them there, right?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

I never heard any claims for the strength of bow eyes. I was towed off a sandbar (3" of water after tide went out), by the bow eye on my Searay. The only damage was to my self-esteem and my bottom paint. However, the boat was not filled with thousands of pounds of water.....

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

Less than you might think. If you "pickle" the engines immediately, get her dried out, pump out the fuel, change any other fluids, I bet she'd run well the next day. Long term they say starters, and some electronics will go bad. I have experience with this on a friend's boat, and the only thing that didn't work was the stereo. Two seasons later and all still works.

And you don't need low skills to sink one. Stuff happens. That one is odd as it seems to be in open water. But they may have dragged her there to float her. I like the operation. Agree that the bow eye would be suspect, but you're supposed to be able to lift them there, right?

I couldn't agree more, we have done the same process several times with flipped "Hot Boats" or 1/4 mile drag boats, so long as the hull survived the flip hook up the bow eye and start slow, the boat will come up on top of the water and it only takes time to get her empty, sometimes it takes a couple boats tied to the sides of the flipped boat to get her up depending on a few things (probably not an issue for an off shore boat like in the video). Getting the water out of the motor quickly is very important, and the electronics are almost never the same so replacement usually follows.

As for using chain or wire rope, I will never use either again, I've seen them both break 4 wheeling no thanks, a good synthetic rope or tow strap and taking things slow, as the old saying goes let nature take its course, the water will will come out of the boat if the hull is ok.

 

[rbh]

Re: High horsepower, low skills?

+1 on the synthetic rope, 7/16- 23.000 pound +- breaking strength.

Once you get the boat moving fast enough that it starts to rise/plain to the point there is free board, start bailing/pumping.