Unfortunately my luck ran out the other night on Lake Erie.
After a great night of shooting we pulled up shop and headed for the mainland. This was about 3AM. I trolled about 300yds out from the island we were fishing around and fired up the big motor. Got her on plane and settled in for the 10 mile ride back to shore. I was about 2 minutes into the ride when all of a sudden the boat sounded like it got hit by a bomb. Anybody who has ever ran into a shallow rock bar can attest it's one of the most horrific sounds you can hear-especially when it's your boat.
I was well off shore, and had run through this area many times without incident. Turns out I had ran into a very small point that came straight off the bottom of the lake. The guy who ran the tow service told me this-he scuba dives in that area frequently. If I would have been 20yds to either side I wouldn't be writing this. Just plain bad luck.
As soon as we hit the rocks I ripped the motor into neutral and trimmed it up. My first thought was to look back at my prop; when I did I got the most sick feeling....the entire gearing was showing in my lower unit! My next thought was 'I need to get to shore ASAP!'. With the severity of the impact, I was afraid the hull might have been damaged, and the last thing I wanted was to lose my rig to the depths, so I dropped the troller and made haste for the beach. From what I can tell there isn't any major damage I can see, but I'll water test it after the motor gets fixed.
Above anything else, I'm glad nobody was injured. Things could have gotten bad really fast, and had we gone over it's doubtful we would have made it-the water temp in Erie is still around 50 degrees.
Anyways, the only thing that is gonna have a lasting effect is the cost of the whole mess. It cost me $750 to get towed back to shore (ins. only covers $500 of that), and the estimates are running around $3,000 on the motor. My insurance company says they will cover it, but I still have to pay the deductable, which sucks!
So here's the pics-and when I get back on the water I'm taking a GPS and charting a 'clean' course of escape from that island-I've had enough of rock bars!
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After a great night of shooting we pulled up shop and headed for the mainland. This was about 3AM. I trolled about 300yds out from the island we were fishing around and fired up the big motor. Got her on plane and settled in for the 10 mile ride back to shore. I was about 2 minutes into the ride when all of a sudden the boat sounded like it got hit by a bomb. Anybody who has ever ran into a shallow rock bar can attest it's one of the most horrific sounds you can hear-especially when it's your boat.
I was well off shore, and had run through this area many times without incident. Turns out I had ran into a very small point that came straight off the bottom of the lake. The guy who ran the tow service told me this-he scuba dives in that area frequently. If I would have been 20yds to either side I wouldn't be writing this. Just plain bad luck.
As soon as we hit the rocks I ripped the motor into neutral and trimmed it up. My first thought was to look back at my prop; when I did I got the most sick feeling....the entire gearing was showing in my lower unit! My next thought was 'I need to get to shore ASAP!'. With the severity of the impact, I was afraid the hull might have been damaged, and the last thing I wanted was to lose my rig to the depths, so I dropped the troller and made haste for the beach. From what I can tell there isn't any major damage I can see, but I'll water test it after the motor gets fixed.
Above anything else, I'm glad nobody was injured. Things could have gotten bad really fast, and had we gone over it's doubtful we would have made it-the water temp in Erie is still around 50 degrees.
Anyways, the only thing that is gonna have a lasting effect is the cost of the whole mess. It cost me $750 to get towed back to shore (ins. only covers $500 of that), and the estimates are running around $3,000 on the motor. My insurance company says they will cover it, but I still have to pay the deductable, which sucks!
So here's the pics-and when I get back on the water I'm taking a GPS and charting a 'clean' course of escape from that island-I've had enough of rock bars!
