Electrical issues

[2manyboats]

A friend thought it a good idea to fill the inside of his Hobie Cat mast with closed cell expanding foam to keep the boat from turtling when we, at times, dipped the mast in the water when barreling along. One unusually windy July day we decided to test the theory with me hiked out on the wire and him driving. Funny thing how my position fore or aft on the flying hull controlled the wet hull's displacement. Just a little further forward- oops! Buried the bow...off I go like a tether ball for a complete aerial tour around the boat. Owww!, the skipper yelped as I landed on him like a 200 pound bowling ball from on high. What? That didn't hurt so much. He writhed in self pity long enough for me to unwrap my tether and off we go again.

The closed cell foam was not too god an idea for a couple of reasons. One, it made the mast really stiff and affected the sailing performance and two, the boat turtled first chance it got. Dammit, now what? Big PITA, this turtling. I could hear wafts of music from the band tuning up at the marina a couple of miles away. Visions of frosty beverages danced in my head as we bobbed about, exhausted from trying to right the boat ourselves. A kind motorist came by and lent us some mechanical advantage, so back to the marina we blow.

He kept his boat in the yard right there by the boat ramp, so since we would be sailing later, or tomorrow, I pulled her out, rigging and all standing, to park her while we refreshed ourselves. I heard another yelp, but more like an "oh crap" yelp. Looking back to see what Skipper was whining about this time, I noticed a large black cable laying across the back of the boat, then falling to the ground. Damn electric gate stopped only half way open, so I decided it was important to slip through quick before it closed. Parked the boat, got out the car- hey, what happened to the music? Why didn't the gate close? Why was the marina manager running up the hill toward us all red-faced? Why was the marina so quiet, except for some distant profanities? After all, it held over 500 boats and it was the Fourth of July, and a hot one at that.

The rest, as they say, is history...and so might have I been, had I gone seeking that frosty beverage. With no electricity, it was probably hot by now anyway...

[River Cruiser]

Hobies are a lot fun though;-)

[Miniyot]

Good story but I have some questions...

How high was the mast? Didn't you feel a jolt when you hit the line drop? How bad did it bend the mast? The reason I ask is even tractor trailer drivers pulling 80,000 pounds can tell when they hit a line drop...You know..the 1,000 pound tension that they have...

[witzgall]

Wow, and I thought that was something that did not happen, but disclaimed on every boat. Kind of like "Don't turn your washing machine on with a kid inside".

[2manyboats]

In my defense, we had pulled the boat in with rigging standing before. The marina was undergoing a renovation and had rigged a temporary line while waiting on a new transformer. The temporary line was slung pretty low, so I should have seen it. It wasn't flagged or marked, otherwise I might have seen it. No damage to the boat. Pretty embarrassing just the same.

[bobofthenorth]

You were lucky. A buddy of mine was lowering his mast on his trailerable boat under similar circumstances. He woke up in the hospital and had to buy a new mast. I guess he was lucky too.