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Bought my first Whaler, a Super Sport 130. Almost got swamped first time out!
Hi guys, my first post here although I've been reading up on this great little forum for a while.
I just picked up our freshly ordered 2014 Boston Whaler Super Sport 130 last month and it was time to take her out on her maiden voyage last weekend.
My wife and I took her out from the Channel Islands harbor and cruised around the harbor for a couple hours to break-in the Mercury 40HP according to the dealer. We took her out to the break wall area for a little bit, when we were out there a Motor yacht flew by us creating a huge wake. The wave crashed over our transom and filled the boat up with about a foot of water. I admit I panicked, since we were just out testing the boat, I didn't bring anything to bail the water out. The foot of water just splashed around inside the hull, I read somewhere to pull the plug and gas her to get the water out. So I told my wife to give her some gas but the boat struggled to get on plane with that much water inside, it just kinda porpoise with the nose all the way up and the engine trimmed all the way down, I couldn't get the nose to level out. I pulled the plug and MORE water started gushing in, I seriously thought we were going to capsize!
I finally found a plastic bag and an empty Pepsi bottle which I used as a makeshift bailer and went to work. I finally got most of the water out after about 20 minutes but that was quite a nerve racking experience.
After coming home I'm seriously thinking about installing a bilge pump, anybody have one on a smaller Whaler? I'm pretty sure it will stick out like a sore thumb because there is no where to hide it. I've never had to deal with this kind of situation before because our Seaswirl Striper 2301 has a self bailing hull and 3 bilge pumps.
How would you experience smaller Whaler owners deal with a situation like this, where a big wave would nearly swamp your craft?
A swamped boat can be hard to control, it can react much differently than a boat with no water sloshing around the deck. First, always wear your PFD's , as you have discovered a 13 foot boat can feel very small, even a whaler. I would also practice pulling the plug in calm water, so you get a feel for how much water will come in during calm conditions. It may be advisable to add a bilge pump, to remove the water faster than using the scuppers alone.
Turn into big wakes. Have bilge pump. Bailing gear is required where I live.
I have 2 pumps. 1 500 on a float switch and one 700 I inherited on its own manual switch. Total overkill but what good is equipment that isn't installed and maintained.
Hope that doesn't shy you away from small boats... They either didn't see you or were being "you-know-whats"... Pretty scary either way.
