Check the through-hull fittings

[Tom]

This is sad ... a neighbor's boat hasn't moved from the dock in some years. I looked out the window today and this is what I saw. The husband passed away a few months ago, and presumably his wife didn't/couldn't check for leaks at/in the through-hull fittings )or operation of bilge pumps).

 

[Octodad]

Hopefully it's insured, but still not something that anyone wa to have to mess with after a death.

 

[Tom]

Hopefully it's insured, but still not something that anyone wa to have to mess with after a death.

I made the same comment to Chris. I called the neighbor who told me he couldn't get anyone to respond because it wasn't his boat. I called USCG and got the attention of several helpful people. Hopefully we don't have a spill.

 

[WILDEBILL308]

Had a experience like that a while a go. Went to check om our boat and the one in the next slip was only showing the bow cleat above water. The sad part is it was a vintage Chris Craft speedster/runabout. Don't remember the exact model but they had just finished a keel up restoration. I realey realey hated to be the one to call them and tell them.
Bill

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

No one noticed it sitting kinda low in the water for a while? Would seem the marina folks would think something is amiss and at least try to contact whoever is paying for the slip.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Tom]

A couple of days, a diver, air bags and a couple of submersible pumps, and the boat was re-floated. Haven't heard the story of what happened.

 

[Isaac-1]

This is one thing I like about owning an RV vs a boat, they are harder to sink. Before buying our current coach we had a 28 ft sailboat, that is until a major hurricane hit and the entire marina went away. I still don't know exactly what happened to the boat or where it ended up, either sunk or washed ashore and turned into rubble.

 

[OldWEB]

No one noticed it sitting kinda low in the water for a while? Would seem the marina folks would think something is amiss and at least try to contact whoever is paying for the slip.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

That was my thought, guess people only look out their windows to gossip 'bout the neighbors, don't want to approach them for fear you might have to speak to them. Maybe the boats tied up are only for show, not knowing how to use them.

 

[Isaac-1]

It doesn't take much a hose clamp rusting through, and then you have a thousand gallon per hour leak, the bilge pump keeps up with it until the batteries die, then within a couple of hours the boat sinks. I knew a guy that had bought a new to him trawler and was bringing it home down the intracoastal waterway some years ago, it developed some mechanical trouble so he stopped at a transit dock along with way, got a ride home, and planned to come back the next week to fix it. Mid-week there was a torrential storm, with something like 10 inches of rain in 2-3 hours which was enough to sink the boat while it was tied up to the dock.

 

[Tom]

I don't spend a lot of time looking at my neighbors across the bay, but I do notice significant changes. The USCG asked me when I last saw the boat afloat, and I said "Sunday or Monday". I'd been out all day Tuesday and Tues evening, and noticed the boat when I looked out on Wed morning.

I didn't ask the neighbor of the boat owner when he noticed and tried calling for help and notified the owner.

Although we have a marina in our neighborhood, this boat was tied to a dock behind the owner's house.

 

[Tom]

It doesn't take much a hose clamp rusting through, and then you have a thousand gallon per hour leak, the bilge pump keeps up with it until the batteries die, then within a couple of hours the boat sinks. I knew a guy that had bought a new to him trawler and was bringing it home down the intracoastal waterway some years ago, it developed some mechanical trouble so he stopped at a transit dock along with way, got a ride home, and planned to come back the next week to fix it. Mid-week there was a torrential storm, with something like 10 inches of rain in 2-3 hours which was enough to sink the boat while it was tied up to the dock.

All possibilities.

A rusting hose clamp may not have caused it. In this case, the boat hasn't moved from the dock in several years. Apart from the fact that most of us use stainless steel hose clamps (mine we double-clamped), you could remove my clamps and the main hoses would take a lot of effort to break their seals.

OTOH my hoses eventually showed signs of deterioration, and I had them all changed. With the boat plugged into shore power, my 6 bilge pumps would have kept running unless we had an extended power outage.

I got in the habit of closing the sea cocks for the engines and generator when the boat sat for long periods. Open or closed, they'd take some effort, and I doubt this surviving spouse would have known &/or been able to do it.

Too bad she wasn't full time at the house.

 

[OldWEB]

I had let my bad day dictate what I typed above, sorry for that. But maybe the lady could/should have had the boat moved if she had no more interest in it.

 

[Isaac-1]

Tom, all too often such boats have absentee owners, who live some distance away from the marina and never come to check on the boat. I must admit to being one of those to a degree as I live 50 miles away from the marina where our sailboat was kept. However compared to some / most owners at the marina I was down right attentive. In the over a decade I had my boat in the same slip at the marina, I saw the owners of the 32 ft sport fisher next to it a total of maybe 3 times, and I never saw the owners of the 25 ft sailboat on the other side, much less ever saw them leave the dock.

 

[Tom]

Tom, all too often such boats have absentee owners, who live some distance away from the marina and never come to check on the boat. I must admit to being one of those to a degree as I live 50 miles away from the marina where our sailboat was kept. However compared to some / most owners at the marina I was down right attentive. In the over a decade I had my boat in the same slip at the marina, I saw the owners of the 32 ft sport fisher next to it a total of maybe 3 times, and I never saw the owners of the 25 ft sailboat on the other side, much less ever saw them leave the dock.

Aye, we saw some of that when we kept a boat at a marina for 12 years. We've lived at this house on the water for 22 years (2 years part time and 20 years full time) and, like most of our neighbors, have boats berthed behind the house.

The 'sunk' boat has been at the dock all the years we've owned here. I don't recall seeing it gone from the dock, although the owner's neighbor told me it had been 3 years since he saw it move. They were part timers at this house, and I was told the husband passed away 3 months ago. What we've seen with other part time couples in this neighborhood is that, when one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse doesn't visit here very often.

 

[Tom]

I had let my bad day dictate what I typed above, sorry for that. But maybe the lady could/should have had the boat moved if she had no more interest in it.

Haven't talked to her, but she still be in the grieving process after losing her husband. Maybe she didn't know what to do with the boat. Maybe it was a matter of 'out of sight, out of mind'.