Could be Worse

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Heard it was a cabin cruiser. There’s been one on a buoy just south (closer to shore) from us the past few years. Very sad for the owners
 
The definition of a "weed" is any plant that grows where you don't want it. It's similar for water, as soon as it gets into someplace it shouldn't be, the problems start. The difference between a boat and an anchor is occasionally very subtle.
 
Gem Morris said:
What makes a boat like that sink?
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Generally speaking:
-shaft seals leaking (where shaft exits through the hull to the propeller)
-engine or genset thruhull either leaking or if left open, a hose broke/cracked connected to the thruhull
-thruhull on sides of boat where air conditioning, bilge pumps exit, etc. break, then water enters during storm wave motion

In these examples, the leaks are normally slow but steady leaks, but if the batteries die (this boat was on a buoy with no shore power) so bilge pumps stop working, they sink pretty quickly.

You might find it interesting that even though the freeboard on big yachts/cruisers is usually many feet high, there are usually several places water can enter the boat that are far less than a foot above the water line on the sides or back of the boat (engine exhaust, sink drains, bilge pump thru hulls, deck drains). So once the boat starts taking on water and is lower in the water by even just a few inches more than normal, game over.
 
Pegasus said:
Generally speaking:
-shaft seals leaking (where shaft exits through the hull to the propeller)
-engine or genset thruhull either leaking or if left open, a hose broke/cracked connected to the thruhull
-thruhull on sides of boat where air conditioning, bilge pumps exit, etc. break, then water enters during storm wave motion

In these examples, the leaks are normally slow but steady leaks, but if the batteries die (this boat was on a buoy with no shore power) so bilge pumps stop working, they sink pretty quickly.

You might find it interesting that even though the freeboard on big yachts/cruisers is usually many feet high, there are usually several places water can enter the boat that are far less than a foot above the water line on the sides or back of the boat (engine exhaust, sink drains, bilge pump thru hulls, deck drains). So once the boat starts taking on water and is lower in the water by even just a few inches more than normal, game over.
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Funny Pegasus, we must have been typing pretty much the same thing at the same time.

TR
 
TR. said:
Funny Pegasus, we must have been typing pretty much the same thing at the same time.

TR
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TR, it's like we were on the telephone talking! Funny.

p.s. I just looked at the photos posted by Ryan and you can clearly see about 6 thru hull fittings on the starboard side of the boat less than a foot above the water line - just pointing that out to show you all an example of how close fittings are to the water on cruisers, and engine exhaust outlets are even closer to the water - not saying that either of these is what caused this boat to sink.
 
PowellBride said:
So we get to the buoy field and those nice new balls are sitting high in the water all around us......but where is our ball? Nothing above the surface? Did they leave the old ball on since we were in the field all winter?

Nope there it is a good foot or more under water, the cable is perpendicular! We CANT GET OFF the buoy, the drag is drag has too much tension on the cable

Long story short. Exec Services thinks the drag is a houseboat.

To be continued after sunrise today. Assuming we’re not to dizzy to stand. You REALLY spin when you don’t have a little slack on that cable and winds were miserable last night
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Hi Powell Bride,
I am at Wahweap and have a new buoy too. I was very disappointed when we went up for the first time to see that the new buoy did not have a swivel like the old one did. We have always used two wire pendants off the swivel. Now we have two wire pendants going to one shackle that goes to the buoy. Aramark always suggested two pendants. I do agree with that. But now that both pendants go to one shackle with the same working load limit (WLL) as the shackle that goes the pendant I do not see the safety advantage. I have seen HB's slip off the buoy with only one pendant - not pretty. The swivel has a much higher WLL than the shackles. I am also wondering where Aramark's/ owner's responsibilities starts/stops now that there is no pendant. I have asked Aramark for an explanation for the change and the responsibility question on four separate occasions and have never gotten an answer. How do you feel about not having a swivel now? Or maybe Bullfrog was always different?

On your other posts regarding solar powered freezer. We have a small solar powered freezer on the front deck that works off of two solar panels. Have a controller, inverter and 2 HD 6v volt batteries made for solar. Nothing else electrical works off this system except the occasional cellphone. Also have another separate solar panel for house and engine starting batteries. We can fit about eight blocks of solid block "real block ice" into this small freezer. Not the "formally ice cube stuff" squeezed into a blocks and sold at Wahweap and Dangling Rope. We never have to buy ice. That said - if the sun don't shine on your panels then you may run out of juice for your freezer overnight. But if it is overcast or we are in a super shady spot the freezer still says cool enough until the sun shines on it again. I have details on freezer size, panel size, inverter and controller but is all up on the boat. We will be there in another week if you want it.

Kilojuliett
 
kilojuliett said:
Hi Powell Bride,
I am at Wahweap and have a new buoy too. I was very disappointed when we went up for the first time to see that the new buoy did not have a swivel like the old one did. We have always used two wire pendants off the swivel. Now we have two wire pendants going to one shackle that goes to the buoy. Aramark always suggested two pendants. I do agree with that. But now that both pendants go to one shackle with the same working load limit (WLL) as the shackle that goes the pendant I do not see the safety advantage. I have seen HB's slip off the buoy with only one pendant - not pretty. The swivel has a much higher WLL than the shackles. I am also wondering where Aramark's/ owner's responsibilities starts/stops now that there is no pendant. I have asked Aramark for an explanation for the change and the responsibility question on four separate occasions and have never gotten an answer. How do you feel about not having a swivel now? Or maybe Bullfrog was always different?

On your other posts regarding solar powered freezer. We have a small solar powered freezer on the front deck that works off of two solar panels. Have a controller, inverter and 2 HD 6v volt batteries made for solar. Nothing else electrical works off this system except the occasional cellphone. Also have another separate solar panel for house and engine starting batteries. We can fit about eight blocks of solid block "real block ice" into this small freezer. Not the "formally ice cube stuff" squeezed into a blocks and sold at Wahweap and Dangling Rope. We never have to buy ice. That said - if the sun don't shine on your panels then you may run out of juice for your freezer overnight. But if it is overcast or we are in a super shady spot the freezer still says cool enough until the sun shines on it again. I have details on freezer size, panel size, inverter and controller but is all up on the boat. We will be there in another week if you want it.

Kilojuliett
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Buoy - I don't recall having a swivel previously, I"ll have to ask my guys and see what they think.

Freezer - we have a hard top bimini on the boat and installed 4 100W solar panels (and plan to install 2 additional) to run the freezer. For the 3 days we tested the 7 cf freezer ran just fine, but the 4 panels weren't able to fully recharge the batteries, and we saw a slow decline in overall battery amps. On the next trip we are also going to wire the batteries to the generator, so if we had a series of cloudy days we could run the generator to keep the freezer operational. We have 2 separate panels that run the 12v lights and radio in the houseboat. We put that in place over 10 years ago and it's one of the best investments we ever made. We only run the generator to vacuum at the end of the week.
 
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