On Mon, 5 Oct 2009 11:48:53 -0400, "mmc" wrote:

Vic,
I met a guy that had holed the hull on a 22' fishing boat (rebar on new
county ramps), drove the boat out to thier (Central Florida, Atlantic side)
bottom fishing spot on plane (hull hole above water). It was a calm, flat
day.
Once at the fishing spot, boat drops off plane and water starts coming in.
They (owner +2) had time to get and write down a position fix from the Loran
(this was late 80s), call the Coasties on VHF, disconnect and pack
electronics and fishing gear in a big cooler and don life jackets before the
boat sank.
2 of the 3 were sport scuba divers. I'd have jumped in and plugged the hole
with t-shirts/extra life jacket/neighbors cat/whatever, bailed and kept
bailing while motoring home. But then, I'd hope common sense would have led
me to putting the boat back on the trailer to see what the heck all the
noise was from when launching and hitting the rebar.
He didn't admit it, but I suspect copius amounts of beer was involoved. I
hoped there was an excuse for this dumbassedness.
I don't think it was for insurance, the owner wanted my shop to recover the
boat, old hull with a new motor and all the bolt on gear. He offered the
hull in exchange for the offshore salvage.
I told him to go find the boat and mark it with a bouy and then we'd talk
about what it was going to cost but we weren't going to do it for an old
hull with a hole in it.
He never came back. Don't know if he found it or even tried to.

Interesting. Were/are you a diver?
Seems most boaters don't think much about hole patch kits.
Common in the Navy and Merchant Marine.
Reminds me of the captain of the Rocket, an old Cleveland Tankers
oiler I did a few trips on as a watertender.
Think we were in Lake Huron when the captain put us dead in the water,
donned his scuba gear and went overboard with oakum and a fid.
Apparently somebody had spotted some leakage from the hull plates, so
he sealed them up with oakum.
A patch kit for a small boat shouldn't be hard to put together.
Maybe a sheet of visqueen and some glue/gunk that will hold it on
under water.
If I had a boat I'd look into it. Nice being prepared.
Of course when the **** really hits the fan it's a new ball game.
"What?!!"
"What do you mean the patch kit is in the garage?!"

--Vic