[C320-list] WARNING - My boat almost sunk!!

[Louis Spitz]

Wow, Harry, that totally sucks!! A hell of a way to learn such flaws. Hope everything works out for the best.
Lou
#195
Merry Chase

> On Oct 14, 2019, at 8:23 PM, Harry Juris <harry at citron-too.com> wrote:
> 
> Polar Star is a 1998 C320, hull number 541 which I have owned since the late
> spring of 2014. She is kept on a mooring at the Nyack Boat Club in the
> Hudson River just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Last Saturday morning,
> 10/12/19, I received a phone call from one of my fellow club members saying
> that Polar Star was way down by the bow and they were on their way to  bring
> it to one of our docks. I got to the club about 45 minutes later just as
> they were securing her at the dock (having barged her in with one of our
> work boats) She was indeed down by the bow with the water about halfway to
> the deck. Going aboard I found that the water in the main cabin was halfway
> up the back rests of the settees. 
> 
> 
> 
> We have several high capacity pumps at the club and immediately started to
> pump her out. It took a number of hours to get the water below the cabin
> sole so we could start investigating what happened. After eliminating all
> other possibilities, we went to the V-berth and removed the paneling to get
> access to the anchor locker.  We found that the drain hose had split. The
> thru hull drain on the starboard side is just above the boot stripe and as
> the boat bobbed on a windy night, water started to back flow into the hose
> and then start accumulating in the bow at a rate greater than the limber
> holes could transfer it aft. This of course lowered the bow which
> accelerated the water intrusion. 
> 
> 
> 
> I will follow up later with a description and some pictures of the damage
> which appears to be extensive. The only good news so far is that because she
> was so far down by the bow, a preliminary inspection appears to show no
> water intrusion in the engine. It does appear that water did get in the
> transmission and I have already taken steps to try to protect that.
> 
> 
> 
> It is a royal pain to get at access to that hose but I strongly advise
> anyone with an older boat to periodically inspect it. I am considering
> installing inspection access and possibly plugging that overboard discharge
> and running the drain further aft.
> 
> 
> 
> Harry
>