Why did the boat sink?

[spiro]

Hi, I figured some of you here might be able to figure out what happened to a friend's boat that seemed to sink mysteriously. He had just put 2 brand new Mercury 4 stroke 175 HP engines on a Bayliner Trophy 26ft boat (walkaround). He asked me to go with him to test the boat and we decided to take it out to Um Almaradim island around 25 miles from shore. Everythings seemed fine although I thought that the engines seemed a little bit too back heavy because it seemed like the boat was pointed way too front high before it managed to plane. We cruised at around 32 mph and all seemed fine. We anchored about 2 miles from the island and I decided to spearfish. About two hours into my spearfishing I heard the engines rev but really didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe they were just relocating the boat. But then on one of my top checks to see my position to the boat ... there was no boat anymore. So after an hour or so I figured something serious must have happened and decided to swim to the island. Needless to say it was a tough swim because the tide was quite strong and I even thought of ditching my spearfishing gear and fish ... but that was not necessary and I managed to get there. Once there I found out that my friend had noticed that the boat was sinking and decided to turn the engines and go full speed to the island where he ditched the boat (with one engine already out) into the coast guard's concrete ramp. Fortuantely nobody was injured and all is well that ends well.

The coast guard tried in vain to figure out why the boat started to have water get into it. The boat had 3 bilge pumps but apparently they were overwhelmed when water flooded the batteries. There were 4 holes (2 at each side) which had rubber flaps and seem to be some sort of drain. When we were pulling water from inside the boat I could feel negative suction there from outside the boat ... so I plugged those with cloth and that seemed to alleviate the problem when we pulled water out ... but water always managed to get back in in large amounts. Couldn't really figure out where. When the tide went the boat totally drained all the water but when the tide came back in ... again it filled inside with water. The coast guard had no idea what the problem was. At first they thought the main drain plug had somehow fallen out ... but that was firmly in.

I wonder if any of you guys have experience with this boat. Personally I think that the engines are way too heavy for that boat and somehow they unbalanced the automatic drains. Those drains with the rubber non return valvle just seem like a horrendous design flaw. Rubber will generally become less pliable with time and it seems like this little thing actually managed to sink the boat. That is my theory ofcourse ... but the coast guard checked the hull and could not see any visible damage and we did not hit anything ... it was actually a very smooth ride to the island. If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful. Today the coast guard will send a big ship with a crane and they will pull the boat out. It hurt to see those brand new engines totally under water and I wonder if any permanent damage was done to them. Today I found myself looking at high capacity bilge pumps. I definetely want to add a redundant system for my boat (have a 36 foot boat) and make sure an extra battery is setup high above the water line just in case.

Thanks in advance for any information you might have.

 

[The Fran Sea]

Bet it was the deck drains....... I bought a used 22' Chris Craft walkaround a few years ago and almost sunk the boat the same way. 1st time I put it in the water fortunately I used some caution and stayed at the ramp for awhile to check things out. After only a few minutes, my wife wanted to know why so much water was in the boat!!!! The deck drains on the Chris was "normally" totally below the water line and only worked when the boat was on plane! Amassing how much water entered the boat before we noticed, and with a double hull (unlike the C-Dory) there was a lot of space for water before it showed up above deck! :cry

Ditched that boat and got a C-Dory and never looked back! :smiled

 

[flagold]

Bet it was the deck drains....... I bought a used 22' Chris Craft walkaround a few years ago and almost sunk the boat the same way. 1st time I put it in the water fortunately I used some caution and stayed at the ramp for awhile to check things out. After only a few minutes, my wife wanted to know why so much water was in the boat!!!! The deck drains on the Chris was "normally" totally below the water line and only worked when the boat was on plane! Amassing how much water entered the boat before we noticed, and with a double hull (unlike the C-Dory) there was a lot of space for water before it showed up above deck! :cry

Ditched that boat and got a C-Dory and never looked back! :smiled

I bought a Whaler 13 (Dauntless) with scuppers. Every time you'd come off plane a big wash of water would come right in. Sold it quick.

 

[Spike]

Spiro
Up until 9 months ago I owned a 20ft Trophy, [ smaller version of the boat you are asking about] with the same scupper set up. Bayliner really screwed up the design on that one. With the wieght of the engine, a 150hp, batteries, fuel, and every thing else the scuppers were under water at rest, or trolling speed. I had to buy 4 big corks and stuff them in the holes

Chuck
Bootleg Hooch

 

[flagold]

Spiro
Up until 9 months ago I owned a 20ft Trophy, [ smaller version of the boat you are asking about] with the same scupper set up. Bayliner really screwed up the design on that one. With the wieght of the engine, a 150hp, batteries, fuel, and every thing else the scuppers were under water at rest, or trolling speed. I had to buy 4 big corks and stuff them in the holes

Chuck
Bootleg Hooch

Exactly what I did with that Dauntless in the brief time I had it.

 

[Papillon]

Flagold:I bought a Whaler 13 (Dauntless) with scuppers. Every time you'd come off plane a big wash of water would come right in. Sold it quick.

DRAIN TUBES
All Boston Whaler boats are self bailing. The 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17-foot models will accumulate some water if all drains are left open. The amount of water will depend on the weight distribution and engine size. Once stabilized, additional water from rain or wash down will actually exit the boat through the open drain tubes because of the hull's buoyancy. The water level will not exceed the height of fuel tanks or battery boxes. This feature allows the boat to be left unattended on a mooring or slip without the need for bailing or bilge pumps. An optional bilge pump is offered on 17-foot models as a convenience for dewatering. Water is quickly "run out" of the boat through open drain tubes once underway. Drain plugs can then be installed to keep the boat dry.

If your 13 footer had scuppers then it is my openion that the previous owners put them there and did a poor job of it in the process.

 

[spiro]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It seems that it was something to do with deck drains. What an amazingly idiotic way to design a boat. I was thinking how easy it would have been for us to actually die if we had gone way offshore to the Dorra or Garo oil rigs. There are deep reefs there that we always go spearfishing. It is about 110 miles offshore and if the boat sank there I think that chances of finding any of us would be very small.

 

[flagold]

Flagold:I bought a Whaler 13 (Dauntless) with scuppers. Every time you'd come off plane a big wash of water would come right in. Sold it quick.

DRAIN TUBES
All Boston Whaler boats are self bailing. The 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17-foot models will accumulate some water if all drains are left open. The amount of water will depend on the weight distribution and engine size. Once stabilized, additional water from rain or wash down will actually exit the boat through the open drain tubes because of the hull's buoyancy. The water level will not exceed the height of fuel tanks or battery boxes. This feature allows the boat to be left unattended on a mooring or slip without the need for bailing or bilge pumps. An optional bilge pump is offered on 17-foot models as a convenience for dewatering. Water is quickly "run out" of the boat through open drain tubes once underway. Drain plugs can then be installed to keep the boat dry.

If your 13 footer had scuppers then it is my openion that the previous owners put them there and did a poor job of it in the process.

Bought new from Whaler. I've owned many of them.

 

[thataway]

Agree that the "rubber flapper valves" get stiff and do not prevent water from comming back into the cockpit. Sometimes, the tubes from the deck to the side of the boat, have tubes (some of the CD's have this) if these tubes come loose or have a defect, then water comes in the boat's hull.

The heavy 4 stroke motors (often several hundred pounds more than the 2 strokes), made the situation worse.

You were in a very dangerous situation where the person left you diving without a partner or extra floatation in the water and put the boat on the beach. Glad you survived.