On Aug 16, 10:59 am, "rom" wrote:
"Steve P" wrote in message

...







"HK" wrote in message
...

I've been boating for more than 50 years in salt water, and I have owned
and been on dozens and dozens of boats with "full," notched or perfectly
straight across transoms. Not once in any of those waters have I
encountered a situation made dangerous by the height of the transom.

I browsed around my HD and found this .wmv of my boat in what I'd guess
were 2' to maybe 3' following seas. I'd put my transom in the same class
as Harry's.

http://www.monkeybutler.com/boat/temp/Movie.wmv

Not exactly survival conditions but no wet feet either.

What if -

1- You were just drifting and not under way?

or

2- You suddenly had a crab trap line wrap around your prop, stalling the
engine?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://www.monkeybutler.com/boat/temp/Movie_1.wmv

These movies were taken while we were bucking an outgoing tide at the
entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. We were idling which usually gives us
around 3 knots. My GPS was indicating 1 to 2 knots SOG but in this
case I believe it was actually reporting our backwards progress.
Notice that the waves are overtaking us.

1- You were just drifting and not under way?

A1. - Well, we did stop several times to mess with our lines. No water
came into the boat. My boat, like most other boats I've been on, will
tend to lay broadside to the waves when not under power. As you can
see in the clip, it takes quite a bit of wheel input to keep on
course.

2- You suddenly had a crab trap line wrap around your prop, stalling the
engine?-

A2. - In this situation if the line was still anchored to the bottom I
think that the current would have carried us backward and the bow
would have swung around and would be pointing into the waves. If the
line were free then I'd probably end up drifting broadside to the
waves. I agree that having a disabled motor does introduce a whole new
set of opportunities for the situation to get worse.

Steve P.