Hi Bill, I appreciate the discussion, no quarterbacking concerns from me. In answer to your question I vote, had I had a working radio, I believe the first thing to do was to do a securite call as PascalG suggested. Hopefully this would have gotten the attention of the ship and the USCG at the same time. However, that said, I would have hated making that call and then run for the anchor leaving the airways with silence. Maybe my wife would have been able to stay on the air and answer the ensuing questions that were bound to start coming from ship, USCG and near-by boats offering assistance. I can say she was quite shaken by the event and may not have been able to respond clearly and thoughtfully or.... maybe it would have given her something to do and keeping her busy would have helped her from getting so scared. Could have gone either way, hard to say.
Close call on the Chesapeake Bay
- Thread starter poqman
- Start date
I have to repeat what Tom said "...and it will never fail at a good time"...or what I have said a number of times, If something is going to fail, it'll likely fail under the harshest of conditions. and wiring is a weak link on any boat, moreso with salt water but water in general and electricity are not compatible.
Now that this problem has been uncovered, a preventive fix may not be needed but just incase an electrical problem comes up, try connecting a "Hot Wire" system independent of your ignition switch. You'll need a push button for the starter and a toggle switch for the ignition.
and Toms answer about calling the CG, My engine stopped about 30mi from the launch when I called vessel assist and the CG came on. It took over 30 min standing by the radio to answer questions but took less than 5 min to find a corroded (+) coil wire.
Now that this problem has been uncovered, a preventive fix may not be needed but just incase an electrical problem comes up, try connecting a "Hot Wire" system independent of your ignition switch. You'll need a push button for the starter and a toggle switch for the ignition.
and Toms answer about calling the CG, My engine stopped about 30mi from the launch when I called vessel assist and the CG came on. It took over 30 min standing by the radio to answer questions but took less than 5 min to find a corroded (+) coil wire.
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Usually the USCG will not respond to a securite call but you bet they will respond to a pan pan or mayday and bombard you with questions 
I like what if threads... Forces you to think and consider what you would do in that situation. Accidents a usually not the result of a single failure but a series of problem. Good reminder to show your crew how to handle certain task, including releasing th clutch on the windlass.
I like what if threads... Forces you to think and consider what you would do in that situation. Accidents a usually not the result of a single failure but a series of problem. Good reminder to show your crew how to handle certain task, including releasing th clutch on the windlass.
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quote:
Originally posted by PascalG
Usually the USCG will not respond to a securite call but you bet they will respond to a pan pan or mayday and bombard you with questions
I like what if threads... Forces you to think and consider what you would do in that situation. Accidents a usually not the result of a single failure but a series of problem. Good reminder to show your crew how to handle certain task, including releasing th clutch on the windlass.
I have it from a credible source that all but the first 4 or 5 questions usually come from 'people' on the other end of a phone far detached from the situation, who wouldn't know saltwater from dog piss.
If you are dead in the water within one mile of and on a collision course with a tanker moving at 16 knots, radio calls, flares, waving your arms and jumping up and down are not going to do much for you, your fate has been sealed, you are a "dead man floating". The only real thing you could have done is to sound the danger signal (which it sounds like the tanker was signaling), so that your heirs/survivors could at least take solace that you were in compliance with Rule 34 (d) at the time of your death. Try as hard as they could, the crew on that tanker could not do much to alter course or reduce their forward speed to prevent a collision. I'd say you used up your lifetime allotment of Lucky Mojo that day.
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"The switch that failed was a Blue Sea e-series rated 350A continuous. This switch only sees the load coming from the DC power panel distribution. It never sees a cranking load from the engine starters, just the starter solenoid voltage from the key switch and the engine fuel shutoff that's located in the DC panel. "
It sounds like your system is the same as mine. I have a similar switch under my helm seat. In trying to figure out what this switch does I found when turning it to the off position my engines shut down and will not restart or even crank. In addition, the helm goes dead. Including the sea-fire suppression system. I have tried shutting off the switches that are between the batteries and starters with no changes. I am not sure why this setup is as it is but I can see the potential for failure.
Billy is right, corrosion from inactivity is probably the biggest reason for failure. Maybe if this happens to anyone try rotating the switch several times to see if you can make enough of a connection to re-fire.
While I agree that a hand held VHF is essential, I would also have the app installed on my smartphone from boat us and tow boats. Both give rudimentary position as a fail all. And offer a direct click call complete with info right there on the phone.
It sounds like your system is the same as mine. I have a similar switch under my helm seat. In trying to figure out what this switch does I found when turning it to the off position my engines shut down and will not restart or even crank. In addition, the helm goes dead. Including the sea-fire suppression system. I have tried shutting off the switches that are between the batteries and starters with no changes. I am not sure why this setup is as it is but I can see the potential for failure.
Billy is right, corrosion from inactivity is probably the biggest reason for failure. Maybe if this happens to anyone try rotating the switch several times to see if you can make enough of a connection to re-fire.
While I agree that a hand held VHF is essential, I would also have the app installed on my smartphone from boat us and tow boats. Both give rudimentary position as a fail all. And offer a direct click call complete with info right there on the phone.
John, It's interesting our systems are similar. I've had several people at the marina duplicate my symptoms by starting their engines and electronics and then turning off the mains on their DC power panel. The results have been the same. Their engines shut down along with all their electronics. So I'm convinced a single point of failure does exist on many boats where the DC power is supplied through an A/B/ALL switch. This is an easy test for other boat owners to discover if this "could" happen to them.
I've come up with a plan to make this problem better on my boat. I'm installing an "Emergency DC Power" breaker in my DC Panel. I plan to run a #6 wire from my gen battery to the new breaker and add a jumper to the DC buss that powers my ignition switches. If this ever happens again, the results will be the same with a complete shut down, but I can run to the DC panel, flip the "Emergency DC Power" breaker, restart my engines and go home!
L. Kieth, My entire family are boaters and I personally have 44 years boating experience...we all agree that I used up my lifetime allotment of Lucky Mojo that day. Interesting enough, one option I had, but never considered at the time, was to abandon ship and wait to be picked up. Somehow I just couldn't let her go without a fight.
I've come up with a plan to make this problem better on my boat. I'm installing an "Emergency DC Power" breaker in my DC Panel. I plan to run a #6 wire from my gen battery to the new breaker and add a jumper to the DC buss that powers my ignition switches. If this ever happens again, the results will be the same with a complete shut down, but I can run to the DC panel, flip the "Emergency DC Power" breaker, restart my engines and go home!
L. Kieth, My entire family are boaters and I personally have 44 years boating experience...we all agree that I used up my lifetime allotment of Lucky Mojo that day. Interesting enough, one option I had, but never considered at the time, was to abandon ship and wait to be picked up. Somehow I just couldn't let her go without a fight.