June 29, 2007                                       

On the weekend of May 17-20, Combatant Craft of America sponsored an Armed forces Day event at Lake Union Park, Seattle WA. On Tuesday May 22, 2007 about 14:30, during the return trip to our moorage in Everett, WA we struck a submerged object immediately after passing the Snohomish Channel Railroad Bridge and the two State Highway 509 bridges. We were operating at an idle speed of about 3 kts. Dan Withers was at the helm at the time of the incident. The visibility was clear and the weather warm. The river was flat and the tide was at a medium height.

The crewman in the engine room recalls hearing about 5 thumps coming down the length of the hull, then the major hit when the object struck the prop and rudder. I immediately put the engines into neutral and ran down to the engine room to see what may have happened. The engineer reported that water was coming in the lazerette at a high flow rate.

I returned to the bridge and immediately turned the boat around and headed back through the 3 bridges toward the Everett marina. When it became apparent that the flow rate was too high to be maintained by the existing bilge pumps I selected a muddy beach to run the boat upon. At the same time I notified the Coast Guard on Channel 16. There was an immediate reply from the Snohomish County Sheriff that they could be there in 5 minutes with a large pump.

It appeared that the rudder had hit the object and had kicked astern, but had immediately   snapped back to its normal position. This action pushed the plank directly behind the rudder post back about 10”, leaving a 4” by 10” (approximate) hole in the bottom. Now that I had seen the problem I went over the side into our small boat with a bath towel and stuffed it in the gaping hole and that reduced the flow rate by about 80%. With that in place we continued to stuff rags into the hole from the inside of the boat. 

During the night we ran one of the gasoline powered pumps to maintain the flow rate at a safe level. We had a second pump at ready in the event there was a primary pump failure. I stayed on the boat to tend the pumps overnight.

At 7:30am (5-23-07) Philip Nichols, the recommended diver, was contacted and he was onsite within 30 minutes. He dove and added additional materials to seal up the leak. This reduced the flow-rate to a level that the 12v on board pumps could easily manage. 

Our intention was to be moved to the Everett Shipyard about 5 minutes away for a quick haul-out to fix the problem, but they refused to take on the project due to pressing military contracts. They indicated that they could not possibly get us in the schedule until late July.

As scheduled on June 20 at 10:00 I met with Larry Montgomery of Montgomery Maritime Survey, on behalf of International Marine Underwriters at the vessel and discussed the new game plan. We then agreed that the most practical action was to tow the vessel to Seattle or Port Townsend for repair since the local yard was not interested in the work.

After multiple discussions with Larry and  Rick Brenden from Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op we decided to get the boat ready for a tow to Port Townsend, WA, the west coast Wooden Boat repair capital. This required getting the bottom totally sealed for the 6 hour tow. We called in Global Diving and Salvage, Inc. to epoxy the damaged areas to secure it from any movement.

Tied off shaft

Rudder post tied to bulkhead

Fuel tank vents capped off

Picking us up at Everett

Arriving at Port Townsend Bay

At about 12:30 I saw them out in the bay getting rigged for the last leg into the marina. We tied her up to the long dock at the entrance to the travelift.

Wednesday morning (7-25) we will meet again with the shipwright that will be doing the work for his assessment of the project. More info then.