Sunday, August 27, 2017

Sailboat almost sinks

Just this last May I helped a friend with his small Keelboat. We planned to sail from the north east end of Hayden Lake to the West boat launch, about a 7 mile sail. We ended up having to moor the boat at a friends dock because it was getting dark and the boat had no running lights. Some logs were tied to the dock that had been removed from floating freely in the lake, as they were a boating hazard. We tied the boat to the dock with the logs between the boat and the dock with fenders down. Not thinking the logs would be an issue the following day on our return we discovered it was an issue as the boat was half way sunk and if it had not been for the flotation in the boat it would have sunk. It was discovered there was a metal spike in one of the logs, that then put several holes in the hull. The fenders that were suppose to protect the boats hull had slipped on top of the logs thus allowing the logs to rub up against the hull. So the moral of the story, do not tie up to logs because even if they appear smooth, they may not be. We were able to temporary patch the boat and sail it to the launch.
Click on pics to enlarge

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