Our Boat Sank!!! It Can Happen to You. Be Prepared. #boatsinks #boatsinking

what's up bassin' friends this is Mr. Bass and  today I'm gonna talk to you about how to keep   yourself safe for at least a great tip to keep  yourself safe when you're out on the water I used to not worry a whole lot about sinking a boat  or boat taking on a lot of water until it happened   to me back in 2014. It was a BASS Open event at  Lake St. Clair I was fishing as a co-angler and   the pro that I fished with his name's Chris Flint  great guy we've become really good friends since   then he was driving a Triton boat - nice bass boat - and if you've never fished Lake St. Clair they   call it the sixth great lake because it's so big  it's a it's part of the great lake system and it's   a it's a big piece of water and it's large enough  that you can go out into the middle of it and you   can't see land anywhere around it and Chris had  been practicing all week and he had some good   spots where there were fish and we had a great day  of fishing but we rode a long way out in fact he   planned on he gave us an hour and 15 minutes to  ride back for weigh-in that day which shows you   how far out we were there's a major shipping  channel that runs through in this lake and   it has some massive buoy markers on them really  big and that proved to be really helpful for us   that day because our boat took on water and for  all intents and purposes capsized and we had to   bail we had to jump off we thought the thing  was going to go completely under it filled up   with water so quickly so we got to a buoy marker  (buoy marker number 26) and hopped off on that buoy   marker and the Coast Guard came and saved us U.S, Coast Guard coming to save us We are trapped on buoy 26 "How's it going?" had better days so what happened that day? the water was I  wouldn't say crazy rough but it was rough   there was a lot of wind that day it  was a beautiful sunny warm summer day but the waves were you know just average size  for the Great Lakes which is still bigger than   probably any inland lake for sure and the bilge  pumps pretty much ran all day long pumping water   out and no big deal but towards the end of the  day one of the bilge pumps quit working and it   looked like we were taking on more water and we  thought it was because this bilge pump probably   was had quit working and we fished all day we  both had really nice limits of fish we were   excited about going to the weigh-in we fired  up started heading back towards the weigh-in   and immediately just... it was too heavy it  wouldn't get on plane and Chris was like man   there's something going on this thing feels weird  and he kept trying to get us on plane couldn't get   us on plane looked back and he said hey open the  battery compartment there in the back of the   boat and see if we're taking on water and I open  that battery compartment and it was completely   full of water and we were like holy crap so he  started working on the bilge pump trying to get   it going now there was there's more than one  bilge pump and the one was going crazy it was   overloaded he worked on trying to get the other  one going and while he was doing that I found a   big plastic cup and started bailing and I bailed  and bailed and bailed and bailed and bailed and got   the water down about halfway and he said okay  let's go and see if we can get on plane he starts   to take off and we couldn't get up so I got up on  the bow of the boat and that and that was enough   weight up front to get us up on plane and we got  on plane and we went I don't know 100 yards maybe   not very far at all and then back back again  ran back there pop the lid open full of water   again bail bail bail bail bail tried it again  then we realized we got on plane kind of went   through that exercise again filled back up they  were like man we're taking on too much water and   we kind of made the decision we better get rid  of as much weight as we can so we hated to do   it but we tossed out our fish emptied alive Wells  and bailed and bailed and bail and did everything   we could to try to get the thing back on plane and  we just never had any luck and then a few minutes   later first it was just a battery compartment and  then a little you know literally I don't remember   how long it took but it wasn't very long and the  water just started coming up at the in the floor   through the floorboard drains and it the boat  just completely filled with water completely and we were like, what are we gonna do? you know so I was up on the bow waving  my arms trying to try to attract other   boaters we really only saw one pleasure  boater they never saw us never stopped   anyway Chris's phone was completely dead  and I had less than 10% battery life on   mine and we were out in the middle of  nowhere and I had one bar and it kind   of went in and out and so I had a friend  that what came with me to that tournament   and he was not fishing in the tournament he  was fishing with my boat just fun fishing I sent him a text message does that help we  need rescued we're near the channel and and   then I got on the phone and started calling  911 I called and called and called and called   and finally it went through and connected  and in the meantime we were close to that   channel where the buoy markers were and we  were able to idle over to the closest buoy   marker which was number 26 as I said we both  hopped off onto the buoy marker that's where   I was able to while we were on the buoy marker  I was able to connect with the coastguard and   within about a half-hour the Coast Guard and  the Sheriff's Office showed up on different   boats and they came and got us and luckily  the boat did not go completely under so we   were able to tow the boat in and that's a  story for a complete different story but   what we could we have done what happened what was  the cause well what the cause was is that the cap is screwed to the hull of the boat the top cap is screwed to the hull and the front around the   bow had started to separate and I don't know  why it started to separate but it did and as it   started to separate the screws around the front  all broke and the boat started separating and   of course we couldn't see that we didn't know it  and what was happening during the day is anytime   he went forward especially with the waves we  had water was coming in through that through   that one inch gap where the boat was separated  from the cap and so even though we could bail   when he started going forward we didn't realize  we were forcing more water into the boat there   was no way to keep the water out and so it was  a bad situation so there's not a lot you can   do in those circumstances but there are some  things you can do to be prepared one you can make sure you've got a fully charged phone at all  times a way to communicate in addition to a fully   charged cell phone I went and purchased this bad  boy here and this is a VHF marine radio that can   contact the Coast Guard in case you're stranded  especially if you're on big water if you're on   big water you should have something like this it  could potentially be a lifesaver so when you've   got a means of communication the next thing you  got to make sure of is that you've got a really   solid lifejacket that works and think about you  know the potential downsides Lake St. Clair is   big enough yet if the boat had completely sank  and we were out there floating around in the   water just with our life checks jackets holding  us up the waves are high enough that you could   Bob around underneath the swells of waves and not  be seen by boats for a long time and you got to   kind of think think about that if you just have  a basic cheap life jacket will it really keep you   afloat for hours and hours and hours and maybe  even days it's something to seriously consider   especially when you think that'll never happen  to me another thing that I have done is I have   purchased and made my own portable bilge pump  kit so my boat you know we I've got two nice   bilge pumps that pump a lot of water out but  what happens if those pumps fail then you're   led to you know bailing bailing bailing well I've  got some baling options I've got a bailing bucket   I've got a bending bucket in my boat I've got  a bailing sponge also that will absorb a ton   of water but man the reality is if it's really  coming in you need a bilge pump that's what you   need so you can get hand-bilge pumps and that's  one option what I've done though is I've gone   ahead and just bought a separate standalone bilge  pump and this is 1,100 gallons per hour so it's a   pretty high-capacity bilge pump and then I've  got me a separate bilge hose that I attached   to this and then in addition to that I've got a  couple of basically battery leads so that I can   actually connect this little kit to my cranking  battery or my trolling motor batteries whichever   one and instantly have a separate bilge pump this  is a great idea and I think it's a something that   if you own your own boat all you got to do is put  this little kit together throw it in a box or you   know any kind of a box this is a nice little  waterproof box it all fits in there you're   good to go and no no worries well a lot less  worries anyway and it's not that I'm afraid to   be on the water but you need to be cautious you  need to be careful and you need to ask yourself   what if everything goes wrong what if it all  hits the fan and this bad boy is in a sinking   situation am I prepared there are probably some  other things you could do as well depending upon   how rough the water is and how high the waves are  you need to have a very solid solid anchor with   a very very long rope because that's the best  way to keep yourself from capsizing is attach   a long anchor to the bow of the boat let the  current swing the boat around so that the bow   is facing the waves and your boat can withstand  really rough water for a long period of time even   if it's completely out of commission if you've  got it anchored properly if you don't have it anchored properly though you're screwed Chris had  a similar event happened the next year where it   wasn't that the boat had separated or anything  like that he was in a different boat at that   time but his motor completely died and the water  was so rough that what happens when your motor   completely dies the boat gets shifted and when  the boat gets shifted the wrong direction here   your boats going to take on way too much water  and then you can have another capsized problem   so it can happen to anybody just taking a  few basic safety precautions like this can   absolutely save your life or the life of one of  your passengers you know you don't want to be in   a situation where your lack of preparation has  killed somebody so these are just good things   to keep in mind it does happen boats do sink  they don't happen very often thank goodness but   just being prepared having a few little things in  place can really be a game changer so I hope that   helps and until next time happy fishing remember  fishing is fun please subscribe like share see you

Channel: Mr Bass

Views: 291,815

Rating: 4.5044246 out of 5

Keywords: bass boat sinks, boat sinks, boat sink on great lakes, boat sinks on lake st clair, boat sinks in big waves, boat sinks in waves, boat sinks in tournament, coast guard rescue, boat capsizes in great lakes, boat capsizes in big water, boat capsizes in big waves, boat damaged sinks, triton boat sinks, bilge pumps fail, boat capsizes on lake st clair, bass boat sinks rescue, boats in rough seas, boat fails, huge waves, inside sinking cruise ship, branson duck boat capsizes

Id: Q0UqpiYoGhc

Length: 15min 14sec (914 seconds)

Published: Mon May 25 2020