Houseboat 1/2 Sunk
- Thread starter ctrldata
- Start date
Marina Bum
Escalante-Class Member
It’s odd to me that these super boat sinkings SEEM to happen quite often. Is that true? Do they go down more often and if so why? There are only a couple hundred of them on the lake so far but they sure are on social media a lot for having issues. Do they sink more often than the old smaller Stardust and Summerset type monohulls? Or are their entanglements just more newsworthy? Are they just too big a billboard in the storms?
But it seems one or two sink every year. I can’t remember the last time I saw news of a more basic normal old monohull sinking out on the lake. Looks like it was on beach bags so it must have been set up professionally. I wonder if this happened with that last big storm? I was in the marina for that one and was glad I wasn’t out on a beach, it was powerful. I had to go out in it alone and tie down my pontoon boat behind my houseboat, we were getting tossed for over an hour in the middle of the night. Strong sustained winds and heavy driving rain. I heard there was a lot of damage to some boats up lake from it.
But it seems one or two sink every year. I can’t remember the last time I saw news of a more basic normal old monohull sinking out on the lake. Looks like it was on beach bags so it must have been set up professionally. I wonder if this happened with that last big storm? I was in the marina for that one and was glad I wasn’t out on a beach, it was powerful. I had to go out in it alone and tie down my pontoon boat behind my houseboat, we were getting tossed for over an hour in the middle of the night. Strong sustained winds and heavy driving rain. I heard there was a lot of damage to some boats up lake from it.
Ryan
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
upthecreek
Well-Known Member
Different boat?
nzaugg
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Yes, it's a different boat. The one in the top post has been in that state for weeks. The instagram posts were for another boat that went down yesterday (Obsession). Speculation on these boats is that the engine compartment air intake is so low to the water that when they get into a condition where there is high wave action, the incoming water quickly overwhelms the bilge pump capacity. Seems like a major latent design flaw if that is truly the case. However, it would also seem to be a solvable problem. The air intake on those boats is about a foot above water. Our older Sharpe Houseboat has air intakes about 2 feet above the waterline.
Powellheadz guy posted a video about having a gas powered trash pump on board these boats at all times. I agree. Would definitely empty a bilge quickly. Would have to be fuel stabilized and started once in while to have it work should it be needed. No time for carb cleaning in emergency.
It sure does seem like these new big White House boats are the ones that are always going down, I would say it’s partly operator error in probably partly design issues. If it is the air intake, you’d think they can put an inverted P-trap to keep water from coming in.
sphoppie
Active Member
A valve in the water box failed. The waterbox is a central area for water collection for all the boats water systems that these "super boats" are using.
john schebler
Active Member
The water box is a metal box where incoming water line is , and all users of water and their valves are with in. Top of that water box is higher than the waterline on the boat……if something leaks, it does not over top the box.
Kinda the same thought as the under water lights. The wiring for underwater lights goes through a sealed tube that rises higher inside the boat then the outside water line.
Those boats have at least 3 sealed compartments and at least 4 bilge pumps. My understanding is that 1 of the compartments could be compromised and the other 2 would provide enough bouncy to keep the boat afloat.
Maybe a little anal on my part, but I check all bilges are dry and bilge pumps work via float and remote prior to leaving the slip.
Water inside the boat needs to have problem identified before a trip.
Kinda the same thought as the under water lights. The wiring for underwater lights goes through a sealed tube that rises higher inside the boat then the outside water line.
Those boats have at least 3 sealed compartments and at least 4 bilge pumps. My understanding is that 1 of the compartments could be compromised and the other 2 would provide enough bouncy to keep the boat afloat.
Maybe a little anal on my part, but I check all bilges are dry and bilge pumps work via float and remote prior to leaving the slip.
Water inside the boat needs to have problem identified before a trip.
sphoppie
Active Member
Just repeating what I was told by someone who was in the know on that particular boat.
Marina Bum
Escalante-Class Member
I saw that video too, I keep both an electric and gas powered pump onboard. All houseboats have a low freeboard condition and vents just above the waterline. Most sinkings or swamping over the years are related to that. I love houseboats but they are fair weather craft and most of the older ones aren’t much more of a mobile home welded to garbage scow than a boat. They are engineered but not meant for rough water in any way. Houseboats are really good at one thing, keeping a large group of people in total comfort for a week way out on the lake.(Heaven) No other boat outside of a cruise ship can do it as well.
But the more complex and the larger they get the more potential there is for issues. All houseboats have a lot of systems to deal with and it’s a full time job out there sometimes. Engines, drives, generators, electrical systems both AC and DC, fuel systems, HVAC, plumbing, water systems, propane, refrigerators, water heaters, holding tanks.
They say that to own a houseboat you either need to be very handy, resourceful and determined or you need to have a lot of money. (Boat Money!) I’ve been around this game for a long time and usually, but not always, the owners with lots of money to lay down don’t have a lot of DIY expertise and couldn’t use a trash pump if they had one onboard. (If this is you please don’t be offended, it’s the way of the world)
When I was in college I had an economics professor ask us a question; he said “do you think you’ll make more money being good at a lot of things or being great at one thing?” I thought being well rounded would win the day, the more you know the more you know, right? He disagreed and said that having a specific desirable specialized unique skill will always carry the day. And that is why most folks who can lay down lots of cash for boats are usually ill suited to self manage them, perform repairs or save their own ship. They are really good as bankers, or equity management or at law or medicine or a sport but by and large fixing is something they don’t do or have the time or curiosity for. By contrast mechanics, contractors, soldiers and firemen types make good DIY boaters.
As boats get ever bigger and more complex there is evermore to manage. Maybe someone should start a daily inspection business where a qualified tech stops by everyday to give the boat the once over while beached and fix minor systems issues. I mean who thought beach bags would have worked and become a thing? You could charge a lot, money isn’t the issue.
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I have been saying this for a long time, there are a lot of people out there that don't know how to even check for issues until it is too late.
