[C320-list] Grounding

[Chris Burti]

If the bottom was hard sand or mud, you are likely to be ok.

The problem with your pump is that the sand and grit scored your pump cover
plate an probably the back plate as well. You can try to sand the cover
plate flat by using a very flat sanding block and wet/dry 120 grit paper
then polishing with 400 grit. We did this on our old ODay after a similar
experience and even though the pump worked fine after we polished the plate
reasonably smoot, we ordered a spare pump JIC.
On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 2:10 PM, Scott Thompson <surprise at thompson87.com>wrote:

> We got back from a week on the boat Sunday night.  On Sat afternoon my
> attention wandered as we left the West end of Knapps Narrows and next thing
> I knew I was out of the channel, hard on the bottom.  (Warning to other
> Chesapeake boaters -- stay close to marker 4 when coming through the West
> side of the Narrows this year. I wasn't very far from it.) Very concerning
> to see the depth sounder reading 4.0.
>
> I was able to pivot the boat back towards deeper water, but could not get
> off, and called BoatUS for a tow.  They arrived in less than 30 minutes and
> pulled us out a short distance into deeper water.  ($491 for the tow, by the
> way, so the BoatUS insurance paid for itself this year!)  During that time
> we were bouncing gently on the bottom in 1-2 foot sees.  Normally I wouldn't
> be too concerned except the rudder was aground also once I got the boat
> turned around, and I'm sure it was dragged through the bottom at least a
> little bit getting off.  The bottom was probably a mix of sand and mud --
> mostly the latter.  I was bouncing for maybe 45 minutes total.
>
> Afterwards I saw no signs of water coming into the boat and steering seemed
> normal.  I'm curious what others would do in this situation in terms of
> follow up.  Should I be getting the boat hauled for a survey? What do
> insurance companies want under these circumstances?  (I haven't called them
> yet.)
>
> One other thing.  I ran the engine pretty hard trying to get off, in
> shallow water obviously, and probably sucked in some silt.  The engine was
> then left to idle while we waited for the tow and while we were towed off.
>  However, shortly after that (ahead slow, doing the paperwork) the engine
> overheated with no water coming out the exhaust. We shut it down and hoisted
> sails and I spent the rest of the afternoon with the engine while the crew
> sailed the boat.  I could find no damage to the impeller (but replaced it
> anyhow) and no blockages.  With the outlet hose disconnected the water pump
> produced copious amounts of water.  I took the end off the heat exchanger
> and confirmed that all of the tubes were clear by poking with the end of a
> straightened out coat hanger.  I was able to blow air through the heat
> exchanger easily, and also through the hose from heat exchanger to exhaust
> elbow.  Eventually I got water flowing through the system again by just
> running the engine hard for a few minutes.  I suspect it was a priming
> problem, but don't know why it overheated in the first place.  Any thoughts
> on what might have happened?
>
> p.s.  I was very fortunate to have replaced the audible engine alarm just
> the day before this happened.  My old one has been failing slowly, and I
> switched from the 24v part to the 12v part as recommended by others on this
> list.  What a difference!  The new one will wake the dead.
>
> --
> Scott Thompson
> Surprise, #653
>



-- 
Chris Burti Farmville, NC