what happens when boats hit rocks??

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hidesert cowboy

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Every year when I go to lake powell, It seems like every year at least once in the trip I scare myself with water that was much shallower than I thought. I use a humminbird helix 5 with their GPS maps and water offset. this is a must for any lake powell boat. I can't imagine not having it. But even this last weekend I still had my annual once a trip scare. This time I was zoomed in on my screen too much and didn't have the overall view I needed and quickly reached areas that were way too shallow to be running full speed in. Although nothing happened it did scare me. My question is what happens to a boat if it hits a rock running 30mph + ?? I see all these fancy wake boats with the exposed props hanging out the bottom, which I would never buy, I have to be able to trim my outdrive!! What are some tales of destruction you guys know about on lake powell.
 
Few years ago over in halls bay we were out surfing all day and had just dumped all the ballast got on plane to get back to the house boat. THUMP, the boat seemed to be out of the water completely, people and objects flew in chaos. I thought for certain we must have just lost the bottom of this boat. After the dust had settled we figured we had better see how bad the damage was. Fortunately we only suffered a superficial gel coat gouge, the prop was a mangled mess but we pulled it and made it back! Always have a prop puller and an extra prop you never know when you will need it!
 
I clipped the top of a shallow rock in Last Chance in early April at about 45 mph, It Nicked the prop but not too bad, Finished the week and just replaced it with a stainless prop and a keel protector. I was lucky.
 
Alan Wade said:
I clipped the top of a shallow rock in Last Chance in early April at about 45 mph, It Nicked the prop but not too bad, Finished the week and just replaced it with a stainless prop and a keel protector. I was lucky.
Click to expand...

Stainless props are more efficient, but can lead to more damage if you do hit something. Aluminum props can act as a sort sacrificial piece that saves you from needing a whole new lower unit or drive shaft.....Or at least that is what I have read, I have not hit anything yet!!!
 
Those fancy wake boats with exposed propellers probably draw less water when on plane than a stern drive does regardless of where it is trimmed.

That said, running aground isn’t good for any boat, regardless of drive.

The boats hull - wether aluminum or fiberglass - is very resilient. I’ve seen wave runners run up on shore at 20 + MPH and survive with minimal damage. I think the biggest danger would be if you hit so hard that you completely took out the outdrive - which would likely only happen at extreme speeds or with a boat with a compromised transom.

As for stainless vs aluminum props - there are very few advantages to aluminum. It is a lower initial purchase price. And gives more flex while it is running (which allows it to spin at more RPMs) so you have to adjust accordingly.

I’ve run both extensively. In regards to repair from damage aluminum seems to ding if you look at it wrong. Growing up i remember dad have the aluminum prop rebuilt annually. When we finally switched to stainless that problem completely went away. Except for the time at Big Mac when dad hit the High-5 hard enough that the prop was at the edge of being “non-rebuildable”. No problem to the outdrive. So I will say that the potential to cause more major damage with a stainless prop has been far from my experience.
 
Several years ago we were pulling the kids on a tube in Lake Canyon. There was a whale about four inches under the water that we didn't see. We hit it going about 30mph. Went over the top and pulled my daughter right across the top. When we stopped she asked us why we had stopped, she didn't even know anything had happened. We knew there was damage because we weren't going anywhere. When we got out of the boat we discovered that the bottom of the lower unit on the out-drive was gone. Luckily we have a 5 hp Honda trolling motor which we used to get us back to Halls Crossing. That is a long drive at 4mph. Needless to say that ended the boating for that trip. It did have a silver lining because I convinced my wonderful wife that the Beachcraft was not worth fixing so a new 21' Sea Ray was the answer.
 
The only advice I can give on this is make sure you are wearing Polarized sunglasses of high quality. Several times I have swerved around a whale and passengers who were watching the water in front of me wondered why I was swerving. They were not wearing Polarized sunglasses and didn't even see them.
Of course if the lighting and conditions are bad they won't help either, but on sunny days you can see whales pretty far off.
 
I find it interesting to hike up to the top of sandstone humps (former ‘whales’) just below HWM and check out the prop marks.

It’s incredible just how MANY there are, especially on the North side between Dangling Rope and Rainbow Bridge.

So weird to be standing 100+ feet above the water level and seeing the classic series of parallel lines carved by prop strikes, obviously many years ago.
 
I drove up onto a hump in Halls one time, couldn't see diddly squat because of the sun. I put the Terrova in the water and myself, and between having the trolling motor on high and several minutes of cussing and pushing and rocking the boat, it broke free. Then used the remote to steer the boat back to me. Just a few scratches on the hull and a change of shorts.
 
I hit a whale just north of Gooseneck a couple of years ago. It unsealed the outdrive from the transom. I was taking on a lot of water. I didnt see it even though I was wearing my polarized sunglasses as we were traveling directly into the sun. I agree with everything stated above and would add make sure you have an operating and high volume bilge pump. We made it back to camp and noticed the leak after we tied up to the house boat. I would also recommend a tube of good underwater sealant to keep on your boat. I ended up driving the boat to the marina and pulling the boat. On plane the boat leaked much less.
 
I’m amazed that there are not more boats that sink on Lake Powell than there are. The whales are everywhere at every water elevation, and many boaters seem oblivious to them, but somehow don’t hit them very often (sheer luck in my opinion).

We also abide by the rule mentioned above – NOBODY drives the boats without polarized sunglasses on! The difference in what you see and don’t see with them is amazing and has saved us from whales many times.

Regarding what happens when a boat hits rocks, I have several ‘real world’ experiences I personally know of:
  • We towed a surf boat into the marina that was stranded after hitting rocks. The impact gashed the fiberglass and put the propeller and shaft against the boat bottom but did not puncture the boat bottom. Severe damage. The shaft seal was leaking water, but the bilge pump was strong enough to keep up with the leak until it was hauled.
  • A very large cruiser hit a rock and tore off the propeller/shaft and caused a severe shaft leak. The bilge pump could not keep up with the inflow, but the owners luckily were near a marina and were able to haul the boat before it fully sank. If this would have further from the marina this would have been a sunk boat.
  • A 25’ runabout with a Mercruiser outdrive hit a rock in Bullfrog Bay. It destroyed the dual stainless props and broke the skeg off, but no leaks and no other damage.
  • A large cruiser with pods hit a rock and sheered the pods off the boat. As designed, when they sheered off, the hole in the bottom of the boat sealed itself allowing the boat to be towed to safety without sinking.
In all of these examples, there was no breach of the fiberglass hull by the rocks hit. I’d guess they would have all sunk if the hull would have been breached. It’s amazingly difficult to put a hole into a fiberglass boat hull. (knock on wood!)
 
I have struck a couple of "hidden whales" over the years even while being careful and always wearing polarized glass. Once was in a 14 foot john boat at trolling speed many years ago in White Canyon. We hit it and then came to a complete stop. We were perched perfectly squared on a table flat rock when we looked around the boat it was blue water, the rock was just about the same size as the boat and only 3 inches under the surface, somehow we hit it just right or wrong depending on how you look at it. It was bright sun and glass calm so the reflection off the water make it very hard to see even when you know it was there. We put a empty milk jug on it to make it visible to others. That rock is now way high and dry for many years and every time I see that table rock pinnacle I think of that day. Luckily we were going so slow no damage to the aluminum boat and since the motor never touched no damage to it. The other time I was not so lucky hit the humps (now high and dry on the left side going up-lake near Knowles.) I saw the water change color and realized it was a rock whale, but it was a bit too late. I shut the motor down and tried to raise/trim the motor but they don't come up very fast. I did not dare attempt to make a hard turn for fear of splitting the Aluminum hull since we were pretty much on it by then. Took a good 1 1/2" chunk out of the skeg, but did not damage the prop or motor. Or so I thought. Two weeks later the Lower unit on the 150 failed. My buddy whos boat it was had to replace it and I never knew about that for a few years. When we looked at the top of that rock, there were pieces of props, gears and lower units scattered about and a good number of scrapes and scratches all over it. We were clearly not the first or only victims of that one. Having spent many days on the lake over the last 46 years I feel I/we have been pretty lucky.
We try to run center channel at all times never cut corners or take unknown shortcuts and thank goodness for GPS and course tracking. We stay on known safe tracks as much as possible. Stay attentive at all times and realize whales can be almost anywhere with the constant changing water level.
Hitting one can cause serious damage and or injury and sure put a damper and a great trip to the lake be careful and enjoy this great lake!!
Stay safe
Mildog
 
We hit rocks on our first trip to Lake Powell. We thought it was minor damage, until the insurance cover a $5k repair (not the boat in the picture). That led to buying a Gramin chartplotter only to find it didn't really have a lake level adjustment, only shore offset. Lacking a solution, I ended up creating Lake Level Maps from the USGS typo's created before the dam was built. Now I offer them to others Lake Level Maps. They work on iPhones, iPads, smartphones, smartpads, older Garmins, Lowrance, and laptops.
 
Some very informative (albeit sickening) stories. In my 30 years on various lakes, I too have had 2 strikes, both of which taco-ed the aluminum prop. In the 20 years since the last strike, I have switched to stainless, and because of Dorado's "sacrificial piece" belief, I try to remain ever vigilant constantly. That being said, I have (more than once) either skied over or driven over a few underwater houses. With Providence, and maybe a little luck, no strikes...
 
Hit the rocks in Padre Bay at about 7PM a few years back in the middle of the channel. Light was bad and it was hard to see the rocks. Boat was sitting on a bunch of rocks, 30 mph to a complete stop. Thankfully we had friends rescue us. Picture 10 teenagers literally picking the boat up off the rocks and standing in the middle of the channel. Noah's Ark. $20,000 later and an insurance claim we will always have that great Powell story to tell! Thankfully we had a spare prop and were able to get the boat back to Antelope. Damage was severe.
 
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A few years ago we hit a whale with my Mastercraft going about 15mph. Some bruised ribs, but nothing too serious. It was at dusk and a kind boater towed us back to the big boat. Later that year we hit a whale with the big boat which tore off the pod drives (made this way to avoid hull damage). We towed it back to the marina with the Mastercraft. Now we've added an ipad with the Navionics app to the sport boat (already have this on the big boat) and we're much more careful.
 
A few years ago my Mastercraft with my boat partner driving hit a rick ledge. It pushed the prop shaft up and broke a stringer under the floorboard. Luckily we were close to the marina and could idle the boat back. It cost us a new prop shaft, new prop, and some fiberglass work. I was sittting in the back seat and it was a real wake up call for me.
 
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