I had a close call yesterday!

[haknslash]

While cruising 25-30 mph to a secluded slough for some ballast testing I heard a *thud*. Not a real loud bang but heard and felt a thud for sure. It being the fall season I was already a little weary of things from all the leave and debris in the water. After the thud I came to a stop, walked to the swim platform and inspected the bilge for any signs of taking on water. I looked along the sides of the boat for any air bubbles but didn't see anything. if the water was warmer I would have jumped in to inspect the hull real good with my mask and snorkel but screw that as it's too cold for this southern guy to jump in lol. So I'm about 10 minutes from the dock/launch ramp if I go WOT but I was scared to haul ass back in fear I would hit another one of these suckers!! I tried to pick it up but that thing was a lot heavier than I thought and was about 8" in diameter! Got back to the dock, pulled the boat out to inspect the hull and didn't see any signs of damage. I got lucky it must have just glanced me!

 

[haknslash]

Oh I also forgot that once I got back to the dock to tie up my boat, I didn't notice the freaking nail head sticking out the side of the dock! I hate that people don't do basic maintenance on public docks. When we rented the lake house for our end of summer gathering we nailed in all the nails that were sticking out from the owners dock. Guess I'll be trying my hand at the spectrum paste over the winter. It's pretty deep.

 

[seadude]

That wasn't a close call - you hit it!
Fortunately in a jet drive boat so no outdrive damage (and I agree on the poorly maintained dock situation - even worse when it's a marina or gas dock)!

 

[haknslash]

By close call I meant blowing a hole through the extremely thin fiberglass on these boats!! I wasn't worried about the running gear or lack thereof . I felt it hit near the stern on the port side.

Ironically it was the same slough that I helped another boater trying and dislodge a massive log from his skeg. Ultimately the log ripped his skeg off, lag bolts and all!

 

[2kwik4u]

Whats a "secluded slough"?!?!?

 

[haknslash]

Whats a "secluded slough"?!?!?

Definitions of secluded and slough

secluded: (of a place) not seen or visited by many people; sheltered and private.

A slough is a wetland, usually a swamp or shallow lake, often a backwater to a larger body of water. Water tends to be stagnant or may flow slowly on a seasonal basis.

The reason I and many other water sports boaters go back to this area is water stays very calm back there since it's tucked off the main branches of the lake and channel. The downside is its sometimes hard for the area to get debris out into the channel.

 

[2kwik4u]

Interesting. Never heard the word before. I would've googled, but thought it was a slang or regional term. We call those creeks up here. And we do the same thing for watersports, seek out the calmest spot on the lake, and that usually is far into the tributaries that feed the main lake. Since most of our lakes are formed by damming rivers, most of the shallow areas are full of "stickups" (old trees that haven't fallen over from when the lake was flooded years ago), and are deemed "no ski" zones. That usually forces us to stay closer to the main lake than we might like.

Anywho......Glad to see you dodged that keel mangling log there. That little thing you bonked into looks like pretty normal flotsam for us on the Ohio river in the springtime. I've made it a point that I don't go out on the river before July 4th every year to keep the spring "floaters" from tearing up our boat. Even with that this year I had to "catch" a few logs as I was anchored in front of the city waterfront waiting on the fireworks show this year.

 

[haknslash]

I was just being a little tongue and cheek with you . A creek to us is something you take your canoe up in but not a boat unless you plan on walking out lol since they are usually only ankle to shin deep. Thankfully this lake doesn't have many stick ups but there are sunken logs that come up from time to time. This lake is on a river that is divided into several lakes by hydroelectric dams. The area I was in is generally 20 feet deep in the middle but it gets shallow real quick in areas if you're not familiar with the area. They have some freakin metal benches and rails submerged in that area as well for wake boarders to grind and do tricks off of. I almost hit one from not seeing it until I was right up on it!

 

[Peelz]

regular occurence on the mississippi, particularly after a big rain event. I had one, just about like that, same size and all, but with bark peeling off. heard thud, but then it cavitated BADLY would only idle. It had wedged up against my lower unit(I/O) and hull thought we were stranded Doubt it would have been an issue with a jet.

since then kids are in bow, on stick patrol.

Then, my favorite, had a nice thud our last trip out, turned out to be a mop floating head down, handle up. lol

 

[haknslash]

I was scanning the best I could but I had a slight wind along with riding into the sun making everything hard to spot until you were right up on it. I had an uneasy feeling "ya know, it sure would be hard to spot some debris right about now" .......and then *thud* lol. I crawled under the hull last night just to double check with a flash light and saw no signs of damage or impact.

 

[Zonie]

Ouch! But an easy fix with the spectrum kit. That stuff is great and the color match is perfect.