I have heard them all ....... Now !

[scoutabout]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

I don't buy that marina's overly alarmist attitude at all.

Nevertheless, keeping one's mind open to the possibility doesn't hurt either. I found this a particularly interesting article.

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/sinking.htm

 

[Philster]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

Pascoe's talkin' 'bout the bigger boats and the center console boats, because you really can't cover them very practically. The inference is that - duh - of course you cover li'l runabouts/bowriders and such. I mean, even the dern boats that are made to shed water sink.

I'd like to hear more from the OP about his boat, and how he planned on wet slipping it and such.

Ya know... maybe the marina owner was being a stand-up guy and had this potential customer that thought he could plunk his ill-equipped boat in a slip with fingers crossed, with a wee little pump and no covers. Who knows.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

And a "dry slip" is a parking place for your boat on the trailer at the marina. Only if the earth swallows it up can a boat sink in a dry slip.

Maybe from where you're from, but where I come from a "dry slip" is a covered slip (a roof) that protects the boat from filling with rain. The boat is still in the water, but is protected from the elements.

I know many boats stay slipped all the time with no problems whatsoever, but there are quite a few that sink too.

It's not that hard to sink a boat, all you have to do is not know what you're doing... and even if you do know what you're doing Mr. Murphy can showup at any time.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

Three years ago when my boat was new, it came with a bilge pump without an automatic float. It was on my list of things to modify but I'd never had a problem. Went to sleep one night at the cabin around midnight as the winds were kicking up. Boat was tied to the dock. I woke up at 6am and it was raining cats and dogs. The rain gauge that was dry the night before read 8.5" at 6am. I ran down to the boat, which was probably only another 1/2 hour away from fully sinking. The entire base of the floor was under water. It took my 500gph pump 45 minutes to pump out all of the water! I've now got my a second pump with an automatic float and three brand new batteries, but something can always fail.

There is no fool proof plan when mother nature is involved, slip or no slip, float or no float.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

The only thing that makes sense here is that the marina owner "read something between the lines" in Bulldog's phone call to him and simply did not want his business. We don't know what kind of boat he has, or how it is equipped, either. I'm sure the marina owner (who clearly rents slips out and not just to unsinkable boats) has no regrets after the phone call ended with "I ask him just how much weed he smokes a day and drinks and hang up the phone, the things you hear from Professional boaters ! "

Smart businessmen know when to turn down some business "opportunities."

 

[Steve Mahler]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

This is why I always ram my boat up on the gravel beach, otherwise the sinking gods just snatch it overnight. LOL

13 years here, only saw 1 boat in my 400 boat marina sink at slip, and it was a center console aluminim with no pump or anything else for that matter. I dont think it did the boat any harm anyhow.

 

[2ndtry]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

I notice the OP has not been back, I guess since he found a different marina he just wanted a rant and not advice.

I wonder what kind of boat it was if he planned on covering the boat while away? Let us know bulldog!

 

[Philster]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

Must be bailing his boat out or something.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

Must be bailing his boat out or something.

Good one

 

[Circles47]

Re: I have heard them all ....... Now !

We did, however, lose it when Dad first got it; the way it was moored exposed the low transom to waves, which got right high in the 50 mph squall, plus the rain. After we moored it with the bow into the prevailing wind we were fine.

I've seen this too, and wonder if it's not a common reason smaller boats get swamped. We rent a slip at Cumberland for a week every year, and I always back the boat into the slip.

Once in Canada, the sky opened up and dumped 5-6 inches in about a half hour. The 16' Aluminum boat I owned then, had a bilge pump, but it wasn't automatic. There was about 200 gallons of water in the bottom, which weighs close to 1600 lbs, but it was still floating.