Recognizing Swimmers in Trouble
There is a common misconception that when someone is
drowning, he or she is going to yell and maybe even wave their
arms. If you have swimmers near your boat this summer, it’s
important to realize that someone drowning lacks the lung
capacity to call for help. A drowning victim acts instinctively,
moving his or her arms as though climbing a ladder, taking
quick gulps of air, and then slipping underwater. With an adult,
this reflexive behavior lasts about 60 seconds before the victim
sinks underwater for good. A child will exhibit the reflexive
behavior only for about 20 seconds. The struggle is quiet, and
often looks “playful.” If you have any doubts about someone in
the water, ask if they’re OK. If they can’t answer, they need your
help immediately.
Photo: Mick Cooper
Raising and Wrecking Outdrives
It seems that every summer, droughts
in various parts of the country have
dramatically lowered water levels and
made skippers’ boating lives much more
difficult. Water—lots of it—is essential
to boating.
Owners of some I/O’s cope by raising
their outdrives to pass through shallow
water. The lower the water, the higher the
outdrives are raised. While it’s acceptable
to run with an outdrive raised to the trim-level limit, using the trailer switch to raise
it still higher puts excessive strain on the
spline teeth and can lead to costly repairs.
As the outdrive is raised beyond the
limit (with the prop just below the
water surface), the steel input shaft
pulls slightly out of the aluminum
coupler. This results in a sloppy fit
and excessive wear between their
respective spline teeth at slow speeds
(the softer aluminum teeth tend to
wear more). Worn spline teeth make
noise at slower speeds and will be
even louder when the outdrive is
turned hard over to either side. If you
hear such a noise, have the outdrive
pulled for inspection; wear and tear is
not covered by insurance.
It All Starts with a Good Battery
Of all the reasons to have to be towed, perhaps the most
easily avoided is a dead battery. The key to avoiding the
frustration, hassles and lost time on the water is to replace a
battery when you first notice it isn’t holding a charge as well
as it used to.
Some things to think about, should you ever have to buy
a new battery: First, if you have more than one battery in
parallel, replace all of the batteries, not just the one that’s
going bad. Make sure they’re the same size and type; mixing
new and old or different sizes results in one battery draining
back into the others, which ultimately shortens the life of the
new battery. Use a deep-cycle battery to run the ship’s lights,
stereo, etc. and a starter battery to start the engine. “Dual
purpose” batteries do a serviceable job on smaller boats with
minimal electrical needs, but on larger boats they tend to
be iffy (the exception is AGM batteries, which are capable
of both.) Finally, whenever you anchor overnight, turn the
battery switch to the house battery (deep cycle), so the
starter battery will still be strong in the morning.
Q: Who Could Confuse Water and Gasoline?
A: Just About Anybody
It’s hard shelling out money to fill up gas tanks, but one member
was surprised at how cheap the fill-up was on his 32-foot
powerboat—until he realized that the dock attendant had
pumped the gasoline into his boat’s freshwater tanks. The good
news is that someone realized the mistake and the member
didn’t just motor off, only to be shocked the first time he tried to
have a drink of water. Fortunately, the marina also owned up to
what they had done and took care (great care) to remove the
gasoline. Once that was done, the entire freshwater system—
tanks, pumps, hoses, fittings—had to be replaced.
While the marina was responsible for the potentially dangerous
mistake, in the end, the boat’s owner ultimately has to make sure
that refueling is done correctly. Refueling is a job that should
be done by you, the boat’s skipper, and not a dock attendant
or guest. Deck fills should be clearly marked (different colors
are available for different fills) and not right next to each other
(Claim #0909425).
