Ran aground - sandbar

[98Shabah]

Took the boat out on the mississippi today, near grafton illinois.. I had fixed my dash grounding issue last night and all of the gauges seemed to be working correctly now, including the depth finder (which had been flaky up until now). In my confidence that the depth finder was working, I briefly went outside the channel markers while cruising along at about 25mph (depth finder said it was 29ft) until the boat sudden came to a smooth stop, I killed the throttle and turned the engine off quickly.

So there I sat, with immediate thoughts of outdrive damage. I put the outdrive into trailer position and put on my sandels before taking a shallow step into the 18" deep water. I felt around the leading edge of the lower unit and nothing seemed to be damaged, the prop looked fine, it was just missing a little more paint. When I spun the prop by hand it was so jam packed with sand I couldn't really tell if I'd damaged anything. I shoved the boat off the sand bar and walked into deeper water, jumped in, fired it up, and drove off.

I think I dodged a bullet. I decided to cut my day on the water short in case some damage had been done, and navigating a river with a defective depth finder had already caused an issue so I headed back to the ramp. Upon getting the boat out of the water all I can see is a few more abrasion marks on the bottom of the keel from the sand, and the bottom 3rd of the outdrive is now a really dull black. So, I'll put a replacement depth finder at the top of the priority list!

The only other time I ever ran aground was on one of my jetskis, same river, and that time it was mud, which really sucked.

 

[roncoop75]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

A buddy and I used to go to Savant Lake, ON to fish for a week. It's all fly in, no roads, farms, telephone poles, grain bins or landmarks of any kind.

Before you get a boat the elderly lady that runs the place sits you down with a map of the lake and proceeds to draw lines on it. She then tells you "these are the roads, if you're going fast, stay on the roads, if you get off the roads you should be trolling with someone up in the front of the boat, there are rocks everywhere and if you hit one hard you'll probably end up spending the night on an island, we'll find you in the float plane the next day but you WILL have a bad night if this happens".

So, being young and dumb I tear off between two islands, WOT, not on one of her "roads". About the time I'm thinking "wow, the land off those islands doesn't really "dive" into the lake", I panic and chop the throttle. Good thing I did as just then we slid a good 10 feet onto a rocky shoal.

Moral of the story? When a resort owner tells you something about the lake, you should listen. Depth finder is nice for telling you what's behind the boat, not so good for telling you what's up ahead. From that point forward, if I don't know what's up the "road", I'm trolling with the electric or going reeeaaal slow with the main.

 

[The Hammer]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Thats what I was thinking too, or was your depth finder still reading 29' after you landed in 18" of water and sand?

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Yeah, even when the boat was sitting in 18" of water the depth finder was reading 29'.. Later on the way back the ramp the dept finder hit 146', then 178' which is impossible in that river..

Now the only question is, do I replace with just another in dash depth finder or do I spent a little more and get something that also has GPS capabilities...Hmm.

 

[The Hammer]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Sounds like the tranducer is not pointing straight down. If its off on a angle it will give you those readings. If it is set correctly it time to buy yourself a new toy.

 

[Beefer]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

I agree that it may not be facing perfectly straight down. Another thing to consider, is that many DFs will give crazy readings when at speed because of the air bubbles created by the boat. Mine will read as much as 1200', and all 1200' packed with fish when I'm running, and that's in a channel of about 12'.

Also, if you leave the channel, either know the waters, or slow the heck down. Like roncoop75 said, a DF is only good for telling you about where you have already been.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

It's a thru hull, the transducer is still epoxied in the same place the boat manufacturer put it.. It used to work, even at speed so as was said, time to buy a new toy.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Here is the wisdom from this thread: Depth finder is nice for telling you what's behind the boat, not so good for telling you what's up ahead.

Know your waters. Go slow until you do.

 

[SeanT]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Here is the wisdom from this thread: Depth finder is nice for telling you what's behind the boat, not so good for telling you what's up ahead.

Know your waters. Go slow until you do.

Quoted for truth!

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

I can remember using our lower unit for a depth finder for years until we got to know the bay and set up marks on our GPS.

In our bay you can go from 28' to 6" of water so a depth finder dosen't really help you the first time you hit it.

I'm glad your boat and yourself were not hurt.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

If the boat bottom is in good shape, it should read well. If it's delaminating, or rough and trapping air, then you'll get goofy returns.

They say there's a place in Namakan lake where there is a needle rock 59' high, in 60 feet of water, surrounded by LU's. I can verify I've seen the hazard marker put in by the NPS that seems to be in 60 feet of water.

 

[rbh]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

I did almost the same thing two weeks ago. 29'-2' in a boat length.
I goofed and hit the gas but made it through to the next channel.
Went over to the beach and inspected the drive, skegs were sanded up nice. The props, paint was gone three inches in but the nicks were smoothed out.
lucky. :redface:

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Around here, if you have paint on your skeg, you haven't been boating. But I am eternally grateful to be over mud and sand, and not rocks.

There is a rock known as the Rogue Rock out from one of the bridge-tunnel islands-you can usuall fish up close all around the man made islands except this one that is 100' or more out from the side of the island. it surfaces, just abrely, at very low tide, and can't be painted or marked with a bouy, given its location. You just have to know about it.

 

[ifallsguy]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

They say there's a place in Namakan lake where there is a needle rock 59' high, in 60 feet of water, surrounded by LU's. I can verify I've seen the hazard marker put in by the NPS that seems to be in 60 feet of water.

That rock does exist. Been out there when the marker is dropped on it.

 

[stevenw00]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

My wife and I went fishing w/ a buddy of ours who has a charter business in Atlantic Beach, NC. While sitting in one spot we watched 3 different people get stuck on a sand bar.

One was smart enough to have 2 guys get out, one stayed in and they were able to push the boat off the sand.

Second boat just hammered the throttle and tried to burn the thing up, but finally made it out after a minute or so.

Third boat tried burning up the motor to get out, couldn't get out so they sat there thinking. Then the 3 guys and two girls decided to have the smallest of the girls get out and push the boat while they tried to power out at WOT. Before we could say anything they got loose and the girl didn't fall into the prop when she fell over as the boat took off. She climbed onboard and they drove off not having a clue how stupid they were.

 

[The Hammer]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

Just did the same thing last weekend..With my oldest son..:redface:...Last year we ran a certain line out of the channel never a problem...That was last year.You may want to check engine leg alignment as a precaution..It may have seemed like a " soft landing" but there was a lot of force going on

 

[Mntom]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

I was trolling in a lake north east of here and ran up on a rock. My depth finder said 16'. I was about 40' from shore and the only way off was to put the motor in reverse and turn the wheel so the boat would go 'round and 'round until it fell off the rock. My depth finder said it was 16'+ all the way around the rock. Glad I was trolling at the time.......

 

[DianneB]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

My first boat was a 26 foot steel cruiser on Lake Erie (MANY years ago) and one of my favorite places to anchor for the night was at Potohawk Point (sp?) on Long Point. From the point a sandbar used to extend the 4 miles across the mouth of the Inner Bay to Turkey Point. Sometimes the sandbar was above water and other times there could be 3 feet of water over the sandbar but the government kept a marked channel dredged across the sandbar near the south end, closest top Long Point and just around the corner from the channel was a nice sheltered bay.

One morning quite early I was sitting up on the cabin roof having my morning coffee and I heard two power boats coming out from the Inner Bay FAST. Well everybody with a lick of sense knows about the sandbar and I am sipping coffee thinking "They will be slowing down soon to cross the bar...." which was that day dry between the waves, but the boats didn't slow down. Just as I glanced toward the sandbar the first boat hit at full speed!

It was a most impressive sight! The first boat stopped VERY quickly and the driver flew end over end over the wind shield as the engine and pieces of broken transom made a graceful arch through the air and landed in the water!

The second boat saw the carnage but was going WAY too fast to avoid the sandbar. He tore his engine off but had slowed down enough to not be ejected from the boat.

Muttering about the two idiots who had interrupted my morning I weighed anchor and went to their aid. Neither boat was seaworthy but neither driver was injured so I gave them a lift to a marina some 4 miles away (run by a friend of mine who specialized in marine salvage LOL!). On the trip to the marina I asked them if they had not seen the channel markers (since they obviously didn't know about the sandbar!) - they had - and I asked if they knew what the channel markers were for - they said they did now!

Two boats trashed for going too fast in unfamiliar waters and not even asking about local hazards!

(I now boat Lake of the Woods, a very treacherous lake!) and I don't go anywhere without charts, GPS, and a depth sounder right under my nose. This is a lake that can be 60 feet deep 20 feet off shore and where you can see pelicans "standing on the water" in the middle of open water!)

 

[gravysandwich]

Re: Ran aground - sandbar

On the Cooper River, which dumps into Charleston, SC harbor, there are lots of abandoned rice fields which look remarkably like open water, but are usually safely away from the well marked channel.

Years ago, as a newbie boater, I got outside the channel (unknowingly) and was clipping along at about 30 MPH. Moments before I was in 20 feet of water, but then looked down at my depth finder to see about 1.6 feet! Amazingly, I didn't run aground and had time to throttle back before I beached the boat.

It was pure and simple operator error and I am lucky that we didn't run aground at a pretty high speed. My advice is to always know the channel, and slow down in unfamiliar waters.

Gravysandwich