Took the family up to La Conner yesterday by way of Saratoga Passage and the Swinomish Channel. Fantastic trip up there! The channel is interesting. Narrow, but scenic. And we did not go past La Conner.
However, on the way back, we had an oops. We got out of the channel and headed south. We were topside when it looked like a bit of rain coming so we headed down to main salon. My father in law took the helm once he went down, then I went down. I was bringing our navigation unit down and I am not sure why the depth sounder did not warn us, but we found some sand.
Yup, we got stuck. Churning up sand and seaweed trying to move. We were not completely grounded, the boat still moved, but not much. But we could tell by the sound that we weren't on rock. I was trying to bump it in and out of gear, which was moving us, but not very much. Had the crew (family) go up to the bow as we tried to back out, but no dice.
Right about the time I gave in and called the Coast Guard on the radio, another boat came by and stopped to check on us. A pretty stout aluminum boat with a 225hp Honda outboard. We tried tying up a few different ways but it wasn't going well. However we finally found the right angle and he got us to deeper water. Engines sounded good, temps fine, and no strange noises in gear, so we headed home.
When we got out of the water we got to take a look at the props... See below.
They typically have that grey to them like the first pic as an example, which is a neighbor boat, or the upper part of our rudder. However after this trip they are perfectly polished. Does this count as "wet-sanding" at this point? Ha! They still ring like a bell and we did not notice any chewed up edges.
Thankful for sand and not rocks, as well as the boaters that stopped to drag us out.
Attached files
However, on the way back, we had an oops. We got out of the channel and headed south. We were topside when it looked like a bit of rain coming so we headed down to main salon. My father in law took the helm once he went down, then I went down. I was bringing our navigation unit down and I am not sure why the depth sounder did not warn us, but we found some sand.
Yup, we got stuck. Churning up sand and seaweed trying to move. We were not completely grounded, the boat still moved, but not much. But we could tell by the sound that we weren't on rock. I was trying to bump it in and out of gear, which was moving us, but not very much. Had the crew (family) go up to the bow as we tried to back out, but no dice.
Right about the time I gave in and called the Coast Guard on the radio, another boat came by and stopped to check on us. A pretty stout aluminum boat with a 225hp Honda outboard. We tried tying up a few different ways but it wasn't going well. However we finally found the right angle and he got us to deeper water. Engines sounded good, temps fine, and no strange noises in gear, so we headed home.
When we got out of the water we got to take a look at the props... See below.
They typically have that grey to them like the first pic as an example, which is a neighbor boat, or the upper part of our rudder. However after this trip they are perfectly polished. Does this count as "wet-sanding" at this point? Ha! They still ring like a bell and we did not notice any chewed up edges.
Thankful for sand and not rocks, as well as the boaters that stopped to drag us out.
Attached files



Comment