9_28_08 Downpour

[minuteman]

We launched the boat in the early afternoon and the crappie, perch and sunnies were just busting all over the surface. We didn't come for them and chased bass all over the lake until I finally boated one. We each lost a few and I think some of them might have been crappies anyway.

We finally found them 5 minutes before the deluge and made a run for the dock. Lightning and an incredible downpour made it a very interesting ride back.

When the rain slowed enough to get the boat out of the water it was pretty full of water. Not any serious damage, but it took at least 10 minutes for the water to drain from the bilge and that was coming out like a garden hose on full force.

I was very glad I didn't get stuck on the other side of Marsh Creek with a 45 minute ride in. I chose Hopewell because of its small size just in case. We may well have lost the boat in MC

[tomm]

Can you say "bilge pump". LOL Seriously, I dunno what kind of boat you have but you need to carry something with you to be able to bail the boat. Even a water bottle with the top cut off. You never know when you could get caught in a downpour.

Tom

[minuteman]

Yea, I have 17' Tracker and it does have a small bilge pump I think the old ones were 360 GPH. Most of the rain got in as we were in the car at the dock waiting it out. If it started to go under I would have just got back in and bailed manually.

Lightning or Not, I would have been bailing like that old 3 Stooges Short. Maybe use an axe to put a hole in the bottom to let the water out. ;D