[C320-list] Grounding

[Mark Calisti]

Scott - Did you clean out the filter on the intake? I am in the habit of cleaning it every couple of weeks as we often get seaweed in it that can impact the flow of water and raise the temp.

 

Mark

Wayward, 749


 
> Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:10:18 -0400
> From: surprise at thompson87.com
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.org
> Subject: [C320-list] Grounding
> 
> 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