Well back in November we had a nice warm day out. So I decided to test out my brand new 1960 5.5 horse Evinrude Fisherman motor on my boat. Yes thats right me with a motor, shocking! Well with the temperature in the high 60's and the sun shining it looked like a promising test run.
I launched the boat as usual and fired up the bilge pump to start spitting the water out of my livewell. Then I fired the motor and was on my merry way. Well to my surprise I had started taking on massive amounts of 49 degree water after I was already a good 300 yards out. So i turned around and cracked the motor wide open. Now any one of you could have probably told me this wasn't a bright idea but of coure you do dumb things when you panic.
At about 250 yards away I watched the transom slowly get lower in the water, so I did the smart thing and killed the motor. As I yelled for help I had shifted to the front of the boat in a sad attempt to balance it out. Boy another idea that wasn't so good!
As people watched from the docks my boat began to take on ALOT more water and then it did what I feared, began to go bow up. I jumped straight in to the freezing water with my life jacket clutched in my hands. Putting it on wasnt a problem but starting to swim was. I could hardly breath because the cold water had put me straight into shock. I swam 200 yards for the pier and made it. By this time the ambulance was on its way. Some people helped me on the pier and waited with me. Most of what happened that day after this pont is still foggy but I was told that because of my training and abilty to survive I had saved my own life along with my life jacket. So remember always have a life jacket for everyone in the boat! What happened to the boat you ask? A nice man had towed it for me to the shore and my motor was not harmed.
The cause of all the problems though was a hole that was in the livewell and a new one had formed in the cockpit. My bilge had failed and would not spit the water out which weighed down the back end. I am redoing and repairing the boat and we will be back in action soon!
I launched the boat as usual and fired up the bilge pump to start spitting the water out of my livewell. Then I fired the motor and was on my merry way. Well to my surprise I had started taking on massive amounts of 49 degree water after I was already a good 300 yards out. So i turned around and cracked the motor wide open. Now any one of you could have probably told me this wasn't a bright idea but of coure you do dumb things when you panic.
At about 250 yards away I watched the transom slowly get lower in the water, so I did the smart thing and killed the motor. As I yelled for help I had shifted to the front of the boat in a sad attempt to balance it out. Boy another idea that wasn't so good!
As people watched from the docks my boat began to take on ALOT more water and then it did what I feared, began to go bow up. I jumped straight in to the freezing water with my life jacket clutched in my hands. Putting it on wasnt a problem but starting to swim was. I could hardly breath because the cold water had put me straight into shock. I swam 200 yards for the pier and made it. By this time the ambulance was on its way. Some people helped me on the pier and waited with me. Most of what happened that day after this pont is still foggy but I was told that because of my training and abilty to survive I had saved my own life along with my life jacket. So remember always have a life jacket for everyone in the boat! What happened to the boat you ask? A nice man had towed it for me to the shore and my motor was not harmed.
The cause of all the problems though was a hole that was in the livewell and a new one had formed in the cockpit. My bilge had failed and would not spit the water out which weighed down the back end. I am redoing and repairing the boat and we will be back in action soon!
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