Near Death experience crabbing HMB

Wow! Glad every one is safe.

May be Boston Whaler is a ideal boat for the ocean.

"Today, this "unsinkable" attribute is not exclusive to Boston Whalers. All motorboats (and certain other boat types) under twenty (20) feet, manufactured for sale in the United States are required by law to have positive flotation, such that a completely swamped boat will still float.[7] This is accomplished through the use of closed cell foam, or other non-permeable material. Boston Whaler, however, does claim to exceed the Coast Guard requirements."  - Wikipedia re: Boston Whaler

When I worked as a boat salesman & rigger back in Florida (2001-), we carried, for a brief while, one boat brand that had a similar claim & it turned out that their foam was NOT closed cell foam & they would become waterlogged from bilge water.  Had one hauled out & it just continued to "fast drip" water for weeks on end and weighted a substantial amount greater than factory weight.  They have since changed their name & seem to be quite a bit better now.

   Witnessed firsthand a near-death situation at a marina in Florida.  Watched a charter captain become frustrated at the dock hand because they were busy and were't fueling his boat in a timely manner for him.  They yelled for him to just do it himself.  The charter captain proceeded to fill the boat & I heard him yell across the marina a short time later that his boat didn't hold as much fuel as he had pumped into the boat.  I looked over from the boat I was rigging to see he had the fuel nozzle in a gunnel rod holder and had filled the bilge!  With a VERY bad situation in the works because I knew his boat had VERY bad wiring and tons of electrical issues .... he tried to remedy the situation by flipping on the bilge pump in the marina.  Somehow it didn't blow!

Thanks for all of your support.  I'm not sure what they are planning on doing with the boat.  No decisions are made as of yet.  I'll be going out on the Hulicat tomorrow and will be wearing my kayak PFD just in case.

Steve

Wow so fast