Running Gear Damage from Grounding

[RProffer]

That is another thing to add to the "must have list" - goggles and snorkel !!!

 

[knotflying]

Definitely!! From my Boy Scout days, be perpared! I even carry a spare prop. The skeg my be good going forward, but see what happens when in reverse and that big rock is hanging out there to get you.

 

[lornec]

Wow, talk about informative , educational ,and down home humor. Best run of replies in a long time.

 

[missnevi]

by RProffer on Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:10 pm: "That is another thing to add to the "must have list" - goggles and snorkel !!!"

For those of you SCUBA certified... Years ago I bought a used dive "hookah" (brand Sea Breathe), essentially a floating air compressor run by a motorcycle-type battery with a regulator attached to a 30 foot hose. It's convenient vs using air tanks and it was useful to untangle tough lines and other debris from the prop, including a lobster trap whose buoy we never saw. More importantly, it was necessary to change zincs and scrape the bottom when needed. It's also fun to use recreationally whenever the boat is anchored over an interesting sea bottom. It's now looking to hitch a ride on a prospective R25, although today I'm using it to scrape very hard black algae from the bottom of our pool!

 

[captain's cat]

Are you saying this is for sale? Don't understand.

Charlie

 

[GulfSailor]

by RProffer on Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:10 pm: "That is another thing to add to the "must have list" - goggles and snorkel !!!"

For those of you SCUBA certified... Years ago I bought a used dive "hookah" (brand Sea Breathe), essentially a floating air compressor run by a motorcycle-type battery with a regulator attached to a 30 foot hose. It's convenient vs using air tanks and it was useful to untangle tough lines and other debris from the prop, including a lobster trap whose buoy we never saw. More importantly, it was necessary to change zincs and scrape the bottom when needed. It's also fun to use recreationally whenever the boat is anchored over an interesting sea bottom. It's now looking to hitch a ride on a prospective R25, although today I'm using it to scrape very hard black algae from the bottom of our pool!

We have one of those, although it's powered by a gas engine. I've never really trusted the floating tube idea so we use it in the inflatable, which is much more stable and it works really well.
Of course, for working under the boat it can just sit in the cockpit.

We always wear a small pony bottle when using it as, unlike a scuba tank, there's no way to tell with a hooka when you're about to lose your air supply.
However, in shallow water you can have a much longer bottom time than with a tank, and it easily supplies enough air for us both.

They're great fun and very practical, but I'd strongly advise anyone getting one to get Scuba Certified as 'missnevi' said. Without knowing what you're doing you can sustain serious injury even at swimming pool depths.

 

[JerryE]

Sailing the Keys and Cape Cod is an experience in shallow water. When you are in average 3-5 feet water, setting the depth alarm at 2-3 feet beneath the keel means it will be on continually. I readily admit to piloting error because I'm human (even long-time cruisers forget to take off their trailer straps when dunking–I'll offer no names). Unless you have that magical "local knowledge" because you only boat in familiar waters, then even cautious good pilots are going to have problems like running aground. Rather than say it shouldn't happen, it is better to be prepared for when it does happen. I keep a 60' inch thick tow rope tucked into the AC cabinet just opposite the helm. TowBoat U.S.' phone number is on my keychain in the ignition, not far from my cell phone which has their application (which shows lat and long) to auto dial them. I wear an inflatable PFD as soon as I'm off the anchor/mooring in water I can stand in, cause that's where I'm most likely to punch a hole in the boat. The ditch bag is nearby too with a portable VHF in it. I review the "hazards" and user reviews/advice on ActiveCaptain before I go anywhere new. It's dangerous out there...

Last weekend, while exploring Waquoit bay on Cape Cod, I ran aground three times within two hours, luckily I just plowed through mud with the Garmin's depth gauge saying –.5 feet. Did you know the Garmin will produce negative numbers? Its true, and you will freak out the first time you see that. I watch the tides, read the charts, etc., etc. but when an extra unmarked set of green/red bouys are added by local folks at the end of a run that is marked on one of the charts on your iPad, and there are no markers at all on the Garmin, it is easy to miss. In fact, how could you know they were there? One of my biggest sources of pilot error is in the Keys when crossing from one side to the other. You see several routes branching off and think you are doing OK but then you find yourself making for markers for some other channel than the one you "think" you heading into. Surrounded by 1-2 feet of water a tiny pilot error is magnified. In the Keys during daylight you can see your mistake. I've hit reverse several times just in time, sending up plumes of stuff from a super shallow bottom, not good if the Federales see you.

Try the St. Johns River which is so tannin laden to be brown and invisible after the first inch. My friend, Frank of Ainokea, advised me to watch the tree height on the banks and stay that far inside the river, as that was a good indication of the distance a fallen tree would have penetrated the navigable water of the river. Who would-a thunk that! That kind of information sure isn't on charts. My point is that good, careful sailers will run aground no matter what, sooner or later if you visit unfamiliar water often enough. So be prepared, and that starts with a Ranger. A Ranger, like mine, with a 26" draft is about as shallow as it gets for an inboard! My new friend, Jim, is awaiting his Ranger 31 on the Eel River just next to Waquoit Bay; he says it's a 31" draft, only 5" more than my R25. Both boats have powerful engines relative to their size and that lets me plow through mud or go into a powerful reverse capable of unbeaching myself. The electronics on the Ranger with the Garmin is as good as it gets for charting and depth watching. Keep an iPad with an alternative charting program; Navimatics for the iPad has that all important ActiveCaptain data on it for hazards and user review information about approaches, anchorages, etc. The skeg on a Tug continues under the prop and provides good protection to the propeller in soft groundings. The semi-displacement hull is less likely to dig into the bottom, and tends to sit on top while you wait for the tide. I don't know about the Cut Water. Being a tug guy you'll have at least two anchors with chain and plenty of rhode to dinghy out and kedge an anchor out if you have to. That windlass may help with that proposition, too.

Now, if you go aground on rocks or coral at least you will not have been going more than 15 knots or so (God knows how fast that R31 will go, though). For that situation, see paragraph #1 above.