What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

[mvoellinger]

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

I have broken down twice on the water - the first time ended up being a faulty ignition component. Second time was an idle air control valve. Neither were "maintenance" issues, but both stranded me. I bought seatow the day I bought the first boat 4 years ago and haven't regretted it. The last time it would have been too much for someone to tow me back to the marina, as it was it took seatow close to two hours at a max speed on 8 mph. A 7000lb 28ft boat isnt easy to tow. With that said, I have towed in others before and wouldn't hesitate to again, especially if I got flashed.

 

[ericp501]

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

Add towing to your boat insurance.. I pay $16 a year extra with progressive and that covers me for $300 worth of towing.

 

[KC DREW]

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

Buy a sea tow membership or other water service membership and have a cell phone or radio at all times. I just got stuck ran out of gas and had to pay $300 to seatow just to get a little gas put in my tank. Its so much worse than a towtruck on land. You think they gouge you wait till your stuck on the water. $200 an hour plus expenses. I Agree with the others. Of course try and get a situation put in place ahead of time. Fix the problem or I always have a little trolling motor tucked and paddle. You gotta have something out there with you. Even miles from shore you can paddle or troll back.

 

[KC DREW]

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

Also on a sailboat with no wind, Ive got in the water with a rope and swam the boat a long distance til I found wind. You could do that with a powerboat in an emergency. Get out with a life jacket and a rope and kick it back to shore.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

Saturday my wife and I were out for several hours, covered 67 miles, and the motor started acting up on the way home, about 15 miles from home, but we were able to get home, heart in throat! The worst was crossing the mouth of the harbor, outgoing tide, lots of ships. I knew if I were shut down completely I could call a tow, especially since we were heading up wind and against the tide to get home. it was a great feeling when I turned into my river, where I could flag down a number of tows, or call friends, if needed.

Earlier that afternoon we monitored a non-emergency distress call to USCG from a 22' sail boat who drifted into shallow water; 2 people on board (thinking him and his now-former girlfriend) on the boat I think he'd had a week or so. Tide was falling and not in an area I know, and my boat was not much smaller, so I let CG hook him up with sea tow.

In any case, havnig a propertly rigged anchor is your #1 safety device. Take my situation: I was mostly running less than a mile off the beach but the wind was offshore so if my motor quit I would have been blown 20 miles across the bay and likely out into the ocean, or into the shipping lanes, or both. And further from Sea tow to add to the $$$. Then I was in the harbor, with traffic and high-security Navy base where they might see drifting boats as targets.

I fixed the problem the next day but it took all afternoon. I could have done it "at sea" with what I had on board, but I'm glad I didn't have to.

 

[JoLin]

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

I climbed back onto the boat with my pockets full of slime, and used a series of anchor tosses to "winch" my boat in.

As with everything else in boating, there's a term for what you did. It's called 'kedging' or 'warping'.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: What TO DO if you get stuck on the water???

I climbed back onto the boat with my pockets full of slime, and used a series of anchor tosses to "winch" my boat in.

As with everything else in boating, there's a term for what you did. It's called 'kedging' or 'warping'.

I've only done that a couple times--a painful way to travel!