Funny story. I will try and describe everything so you can understand the predicament I was placed in today.
I noticed last year a bit of water getting into the bottom hull through a small crack. Not enough to get under it and start a week long sanding glassing project, so I came up with a solution that worked fine until today.
Imagine the drain pug hole in the back of a boat.
Consider the size of a Honda 750 shock bushing. Now imagine taking a 1 ft piece of bicycle tube and putting that around the shock bushing and just squeezing it into the drain hole around the bushing. Perfect fit!
Now tie a short string line from the end of the tube so you can set up the tube as a drain when it is hooked up correctly, and closes off when you pull it up. Simple right?
Well .........1st day out on the boat today. I actually pulled my wife aside in the driveway and showed her where to hook up the looped string when we were stopped or when we were in motion.
So We start off with the string in its high position crimping the hose, all is well.
We get going and I ask her to hook it up at the spot on the engine that lowers the tube so water can freely flow out.
I look back and see she has just thrown the string into the water !!!!!!!! There is now enough room for the string to get caught in the prop and I immediately put it in neutral. She pulls it out of the ocean and hooks it back up for the drain action. But there is an unknown problem now.
1/2 hour of bombing around no worries, then we slow down to cruise through a large marine area in Nanaimo so I ask her to pull / crimp the hose back up again. She reaches down and tugs and tugs but no go. It’s stuck on the motor. I am now in a 5 knot limited area and realize the hose is now allowing water to just fill the boat up.
The reason it was stuck comes from the the fact she had let it out free to get caught on the motor earlier.
I finally jump out of my seat to see what is holding it up., trimmed the motor all the way up and went to the back. When I saw the tube floating away from the boat I immediately realized we were now a sinking boat with just a hollow cb750 shock bushing with the hole in the drain !!!!
I jumped to the right side of the boat and reached down to my shoulder and stuck my finger in the drain hole. I’m now the dutch boy holding the dike.
Yeah, good times. I am lying in the most uncomfortable position you can imagine, stretched out and my head is in the water with a finger holding back doom. Time to think, and think clearly. I have 2 spare plugs in the engine well, but I have to figure out how to get the CB750 bushing out of there before I CAN GET IT IN.
I ask Kathleen to go into the tool box to find a slotted screwdriver, remove my shoes and empty my pockets, I know I’m going in. The screw driver was one of those magnetic adaptor drivers. My fear was the dam end would fall off and I would be screwed. I only have one chance at this. I HEAR A BIG MOTOR, but I can’t see anything so I ask if someone is coming along side to help or what?
They must have seen me hanging off the back of the boat with my head in the water.
They had a nice long single slotted driver , I slide over the side into the water and with a bit of prying I get the bushing out and replace with the stock plug.
Good times.
