Boatagain
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 252
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-24 C
- Non-Fluid Motion Model
- Cutwater 30
- Vessel Name
- Gatsby
From the Stupid Boater Trick file comes this tale of woe.
While I'm not a complete newbee, my beautiful wife came very late to the boating world and, while she loves our new toy, she finds parts of it nerve racking. For example, docking. With me at the helm she is the one who jumps off to make the initial contact with land and begin securing our dock lines. Since the boat is new and I haven't gotten around to buying more lines yet, we've been working with what came with Tug Dawg at delivery - just enough to secure her in her slip. This means that when we go somewhere, we bring the lines with us so we can tie-up at our destination. I've gotten into the lazy habit of simply uncleating the lines from the dock and tossing them into the cockpit and letting them lay there in a sloppy pile, with the other end still attached to the boat's cleats. My rationale was to save her from having to re-cleat at least one end of the lines at the next tie-up. I'm sure some of you can tell where this story is going. As the title says, I Should Have Known Better.
Yesterday, we were out for a Sunday afternoon cruise and were about six or seven miles from our dock when we decided to anchor in a quiet little cove. Dropped the anchor, let out the rode and put her in reverse to set it in the muddy bottom. All was fine for a few seconds but then a mighty commotion arose from the prop with a terrible accompaniment of heavy vibration. We were in about five feet of water but my first reaction was that we had either run aground or hit some underwater obstruction so I immediately put it into foward to move it the heck out of there. That was a mistake as the noise and vibration got worse. Cut the engine and came astern to see what was going on. One of our dock lines was tightly attached to a stern cleat with the other end disappearing under the swim platform. One tug on the line and my heart sank. The line was obviously wrapped around the prop, so tightly that I could not budge it. Somehow, one of the lines sitting on the cockpit floor had found its way out of the cockpit and was trailing behind us as we cruised. Not a problem until I reversed to set the anchor. Cutting it off the cleat didn't help much and fishing around under the swim platform in the 44 degree water yielded nothing but a very cold hand and arm. There would be no jumping in that water today. Going into Mcguyver mode, I zip tied and duct taped a sharp knife to the boat pole and tried poking around at the prop. Didn't help at all. Aggravated, ashamed and feeling very stupid I began to get nervous. This was a cold November Sunday with nary another boat around and sunset was about an hour and a half away.
After calming down I began weighing my options. Call for a tow? Maybe, but first I tried restarting the engine, hauling the anchor and gingerly putting her in gear. The vibration did not seem as bad this time and I experimented with several speeds until I found a smooth spot at about 1500 rpm and 8 knots. And so we limped home and survived to tell this story.
This morning, I called a couple of dive outfits. One said they were "understaffed" and couldn't help me until next week and one never answered their phone. I've got a free haul-out that came with my slip fee, so I guess that's what I will do.
Now, what damage might I have done? What should I look for? And will I ever get over my embarrassment? 😳
While I'm not a complete newbee, my beautiful wife came very late to the boating world and, while she loves our new toy, she finds parts of it nerve racking. For example, docking. With me at the helm she is the one who jumps off to make the initial contact with land and begin securing our dock lines. Since the boat is new and I haven't gotten around to buying more lines yet, we've been working with what came with Tug Dawg at delivery - just enough to secure her in her slip. This means that when we go somewhere, we bring the lines with us so we can tie-up at our destination. I've gotten into the lazy habit of simply uncleating the lines from the dock and tossing them into the cockpit and letting them lay there in a sloppy pile, with the other end still attached to the boat's cleats. My rationale was to save her from having to re-cleat at least one end of the lines at the next tie-up. I'm sure some of you can tell where this story is going. As the title says, I Should Have Known Better.
Yesterday, we were out for a Sunday afternoon cruise and were about six or seven miles from our dock when we decided to anchor in a quiet little cove. Dropped the anchor, let out the rode and put her in reverse to set it in the muddy bottom. All was fine for a few seconds but then a mighty commotion arose from the prop with a terrible accompaniment of heavy vibration. We were in about five feet of water but my first reaction was that we had either run aground or hit some underwater obstruction so I immediately put it into foward to move it the heck out of there. That was a mistake as the noise and vibration got worse. Cut the engine and came astern to see what was going on. One of our dock lines was tightly attached to a stern cleat with the other end disappearing under the swim platform. One tug on the line and my heart sank. The line was obviously wrapped around the prop, so tightly that I could not budge it. Somehow, one of the lines sitting on the cockpit floor had found its way out of the cockpit and was trailing behind us as we cruised. Not a problem until I reversed to set the anchor. Cutting it off the cleat didn't help much and fishing around under the swim platform in the 44 degree water yielded nothing but a very cold hand and arm. There would be no jumping in that water today. Going into Mcguyver mode, I zip tied and duct taped a sharp knife to the boat pole and tried poking around at the prop. Didn't help at all. Aggravated, ashamed and feeling very stupid I began to get nervous. This was a cold November Sunday with nary another boat around and sunset was about an hour and a half away.
After calming down I began weighing my options. Call for a tow? Maybe, but first I tried restarting the engine, hauling the anchor and gingerly putting her in gear. The vibration did not seem as bad this time and I experimented with several speeds until I found a smooth spot at about 1500 rpm and 8 knots. And so we limped home and survived to tell this story.
This morning, I called a couple of dive outfits. One said they were "understaffed" and couldn't help me until next week and one never answered their phone. I've got a free haul-out that came with my slip fee, so I guess that's what I will do.
Now, what damage might I have done? What should I look for? And will I ever get over my embarrassment? 😳
