CarolinaBurt
Active Member
Well, yes - I've made some dumb mistakes....many in fact. Fortunately, I've lived through them and learned from nearly every one. There are those though, that I had some help with in making and here's one that relates to the Allison. I'll tell my story and ask you guys to tell me how you fixed it and/or changed to prevent a reoccurrence. As you read, please ask yourself what a new owner, your son or neighbor would do if they had your boat.
I have never tournament fished and I've always practiced "catch and release". I can count the number of bass I've kept in the last 30 years on 1 hand, so my livewell is empty space. I've had this 1997 XB2002 for 20 years now and I started adding a plug to the livewell overflow outlet almost that long ago - reason was is that I didn't need or want the water inside the livewell and to block-off all possibility of a hose failure at the bottom of the boat and area under the fuel tank which has absolutely no access. On the XB2002, that outlet is to the left side of the main bilge plug (both accessed from the outside at the rear of the pad). My cable operated valve flap (close/open) at the top of the livewell has always leaked. It lets water in and it lets water out - albeit slowly, it still leaves a nasty film inside the livewell - especially in the Spring when I love fishing the most and pollen is covering the lakes.
This added plug has allowed my boat to ride higher in the water (I have 12" of setback on a short shaft Merc), and it added peace of mind that I didn't have a 1" hole pouring water in with a failed hose. Well, that PLUG BIT ME!!! Either during launching or perhaps weeks before, I inadvertently touched the lower Bow Panel switch to "ON". Neither of the 2 switches are labeled - the top is the up/down trim and the lower is the Fresh water feed/aerator switch. These are not nor have they ever been labeled. Well you've probably guessed the rest of the story.....We left the ramp, he drove the Allison up to about 45 mph using the trim and I schooled him on the virtues of power trim and the Hotfoot. All was good. After 20 or so minutes on the water, we stopped to change drivers and the boat was really low in the water. I could also hear the faint sounds of a pump running and then the obvious water over-flowing out of the livewell and into the main bildge area behind us.
My Allison was Filling with water! I quickly stepped back, raised the center lid to see the bilge was over 1 foot deep in water with more coming. I calmly asked my neighbor to go to the bow and I quickly went to the console and started turning OFF switches, but nothing was having any affect on that freshwater pump - Water kept pouring in. I wanted to hear that damn freshwater pump stop, so I intentionally did not turn on the bilge pump. I started pulling fuses from the console panel 1 at the time until the pump was silent. I then switched on the Bilge Pump and luckily - I mean luckily - the bilge pump was on a separate circuit. We headed to the ramp.
While I know that I created the environment that would allow for the Livewell to over-flow, but the cable-activated drain valve could have done the same thing and prevented draining (without the plug). A new owner, my neighbor, my son, or anyone could have been out on the water and not known what to do.
That bow-panel switch (unmarked) had absolute priority of the console panel and no console switch was going to stop it. I think it should be secondary.
If the Bilge and Freshwater Pump had been on the same circuit - No bilge pump.
I have Perko switches and the Allison has a master switch just under the right, rear locker lid - but those kill everything -Bilge included.
The boat is undamaged and we cranked and got the Allison up on plane just fine and by the time I got back to the ramp - my bilge pump was catching air with 99% of the water on the outside of the boat. The problem is now that I want to solve this and hopefully keep someone from making the same mistake.
I'd love to see boats come with instructions and wiring diagrams (been fussing about that for many years).
I'd love to see a "Fishing Panel On/Off Master Switch" - allows for pleasure boaters and Sunday users to shut-off the fishing pumps.
I darn sure want my console (drivers seat) to be Master control - I will fix that issue immediately. When I tell the pump to shut-off at the helm, I want it off. Because that bow-panel switch was on, the pump had power until the fuse was pulled.
All of this matters because this was my neighbor's first boat launching lesson. He has purchased an older Norris Craft boat and we're in the process of rebuilding the flooring and flotation boxes at the rear. Anyway, two objectives were discussed before leaving my house - First decide if he wanted the Hotfoot and Second - decide how he wanted to control his driving trim. I'm not sure our first class was the way to get started.
Comments and Ideas - Please!
Thanks, Gordon
I have never tournament fished and I've always practiced "catch and release". I can count the number of bass I've kept in the last 30 years on 1 hand, so my livewell is empty space. I've had this 1997 XB2002 for 20 years now and I started adding a plug to the livewell overflow outlet almost that long ago - reason was is that I didn't need or want the water inside the livewell and to block-off all possibility of a hose failure at the bottom of the boat and area under the fuel tank which has absolutely no access. On the XB2002, that outlet is to the left side of the main bilge plug (both accessed from the outside at the rear of the pad). My cable operated valve flap (close/open) at the top of the livewell has always leaked. It lets water in and it lets water out - albeit slowly, it still leaves a nasty film inside the livewell - especially in the Spring when I love fishing the most and pollen is covering the lakes.
This added plug has allowed my boat to ride higher in the water (I have 12" of setback on a short shaft Merc), and it added peace of mind that I didn't have a 1" hole pouring water in with a failed hose. Well, that PLUG BIT ME!!! Either during launching or perhaps weeks before, I inadvertently touched the lower Bow Panel switch to "ON". Neither of the 2 switches are labeled - the top is the up/down trim and the lower is the Fresh water feed/aerator switch. These are not nor have they ever been labeled. Well you've probably guessed the rest of the story.....We left the ramp, he drove the Allison up to about 45 mph using the trim and I schooled him on the virtues of power trim and the Hotfoot. All was good. After 20 or so minutes on the water, we stopped to change drivers and the boat was really low in the water. I could also hear the faint sounds of a pump running and then the obvious water over-flowing out of the livewell and into the main bildge area behind us.
My Allison was Filling with water! I quickly stepped back, raised the center lid to see the bilge was over 1 foot deep in water with more coming. I calmly asked my neighbor to go to the bow and I quickly went to the console and started turning OFF switches, but nothing was having any affect on that freshwater pump - Water kept pouring in. I wanted to hear that damn freshwater pump stop, so I intentionally did not turn on the bilge pump. I started pulling fuses from the console panel 1 at the time until the pump was silent. I then switched on the Bilge Pump and luckily - I mean luckily - the bilge pump was on a separate circuit. We headed to the ramp.
While I know that I created the environment that would allow for the Livewell to over-flow, but the cable-activated drain valve could have done the same thing and prevented draining (without the plug). A new owner, my neighbor, my son, or anyone could have been out on the water and not known what to do.
That bow-panel switch (unmarked) had absolute priority of the console panel and no console switch was going to stop it. I think it should be secondary.
If the Bilge and Freshwater Pump had been on the same circuit - No bilge pump.
I have Perko switches and the Allison has a master switch just under the right, rear locker lid - but those kill everything -Bilge included.
The boat is undamaged and we cranked and got the Allison up on plane just fine and by the time I got back to the ramp - my bilge pump was catching air with 99% of the water on the outside of the boat. The problem is now that I want to solve this and hopefully keep someone from making the same mistake.
I'd love to see boats come with instructions and wiring diagrams (been fussing about that for many years).
I'd love to see a "Fishing Panel On/Off Master Switch" - allows for pleasure boaters and Sunday users to shut-off the fishing pumps.
I darn sure want my console (drivers seat) to be Master control - I will fix that issue immediately. When I tell the pump to shut-off at the helm, I want it off. Because that bow-panel switch was on, the pump had power until the fuse was pulled.
All of this matters because this was my neighbor's first boat launching lesson. He has purchased an older Norris Craft boat and we're in the process of rebuilding the flooring and flotation boxes at the rear. Anyway, two objectives were discussed before leaving my house - First decide if he wanted the Hotfoot and Second - decide how he wanted to control his driving trim. I'm not sure our first class was the way to get started.
Comments and Ideas - Please!
Thanks, Gordon
