[C320-list] Grounding

[Scott Thompson]

Yes, that's what I did first.  There were a few small pieces of grass, 
but basically it was clear.  I also removed the hose from the intake 
through hull to make sure there was no blockage there.

Mark Calisti wrote:
> 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
>  		 	   		  

-- 
Scott Thompson
Surprise, #653