Boat crash, what happened?

blank wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
I want to hear that they found the dock and that there is damage to the hull. Hitting a dock with your motor will not cause the bow to rise up and the boat to spin around.
Remember that’s an 18ft tin boat, not a 20+ glass boat like most run. To me it seems he’s covering his tail for over driving the conditions.

It was indeed a 20+ glass boat, not a 18ft tin boat. It was a Skeeter FXR20.
Why are you so hellbent on not believing the story? He later posted another short video to say that they found some floating dock sections a few hundred yards away.

Because his story and the video don’t add up. He’s embarrassed that he lost control so he’s trying to make a cover story. He was flirting with losing control before the crash. You can see the bow trying to lift. Then a bigger wave took him out. It’s advantageous for everyone to learn the truth. He pushed too hard and paid the price. This was avoidable, not a freak accident. This is what happens when you push too hard. Too much power vs weight. Too much of the keel out of the water.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
Hitting a dock with your motor will not cause the bow to rise up and the boat to spin around.

I certainly think it’s possible. Or even probable.

This stuff happens a lot more than you may think. Guys just don’t get it on video and post it on social media.

As mentions, looks like he did everything right. Life jacket and kill switch likely made a bad situation a little better.

-J.

No, hitting something with the motor only will not launch the bow into the air. If the hydraulics on the motor held, it would drive the bow down.
More likely though the hydraulics would give in (40-50mph) and the mirror would simply tilt up.
I’ve hit multiple logs in VNP in my lifetime. Never once had anything close to that happen

Looks legit to me. You’re not going to spin around backwards with the lower unit still attached.

-J.

grubson wrote:

I want to hear that they found the dock and that there is damage to the hull. Hitting a dock with your motor will not cause the bow to rise up and the boat to spin around.
Remember that’s an 18ft tin boat, not a 20+ glass boat like most run. To me it seems he’s covering his tail for over driving the conditions.

I am sorry, I have a question here. Where do you see an 18 ft tin Boat? That sure looks like FXR 20 Skeeter to me? A Skeeter glass boat for sure.

That video does not show any kind of in appropriate driving at all. The second rise in the bow as he loses control is abnormal. Rouge wave, maybe. Something in the water that ramped the boat up certainly possible. There does appear to be odd “splash” area you can see as the boat spins 180 degrees?

grubson wrote:

No, hitting something with the motor only will not launch the bow into the air.

Disagree. If you are trimming down hard while running chop, the bow is going to fly up when you lose your lower unit.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
No, hitting something with the motor only will not launch the bow into the air.

Disagree. If you are trimming down hard while running chop, the bow is going to fly up when you lose your lower unit.

-J.

Watch the video, he wasn’t trimming down hard. He had that thing trimmed up as high as he could, boat barely touching the water. Up until the crash he was flirting with disaster with that bow floating like that.

I’d imagine that boat could do anything when the motor shears off at 50mph. I found a few photos of it.

Attachments:

1. 

   Screenshot_20240813_101041_Chrome.jpg
   

.

Attachments:

1. 

   Screenshot_20240813_101115_Chrome.jpg
   

2. 

   Screenshot_20240813_101054_Chrome.jpg
   

Anyfish2 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
I want to hear that they found the dock and that there is damage to the hull. Hitting a dock with your motor will not cause the bow to rise up and the boat to spin around.
Remember that’s an 18ft tin boat, not a 20+ glass boat like most run. To me it seems he’s covering his tail for over driving the conditions.

I am sorry, I have a question here. Where do you see an 18 ft tin Boat? That sure looks like FXR 20 Skeeter to me? A Skeeter glass boat for sure.

That video does not show any kind of in appropriate driving at all. The second rise in the bow as he loses control is abnormal. Rouge wave, maybe. Something in the water that ramped the boat up certainly possible. There does appear to be odd “splash” area you can see as the boat spins 180 degrees?

My mistake, in Todd Castledine’s video he said it was a tin 18 ft. I couldn’t tell you the difference in appearance just by the video. Just going on info I found.

I don’t think the driver did anything WRONG, it was the conditions he was driving in and anything can happen (hit something submerged, hitting a wave wrong, etc)
The speed just exaggerates the end result…

grubson wrote:

Watch the video, he wasn’t trimming down hard.

Curious how much experience you have running high HP boats in chop?

In any case, we can disagree. I see no reason why this guy would be making up a story.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

In any case, we can disagree. I see no reason why this guy would be making up a story.

-J.

Right? If it was operator error and he wanted to hide that, why even share the video?

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
Watch the video, he wasn’t trimming down hard.

Curious how much experience you have running high HP boats in chop?

In any case, we can disagree. I see no reason why this guy would be making up a story.

-J.

Been driving boats for 34 years. I’ve seen boats hit logs and rocks at speed. Never seen a boat go airborne without hitting the hull on the object. I’ve seen them go airborne from hitting waves though.
The motor fell off from hitting the water sideways. If it fell off from hitting an object he wouldn’t have flown through the air. Boats stop fast when the power is cut, not fly up in the air.

grubson wrote:

Been driving boats for 34 years.

“Driving boats” is not running chop in high HP powered bass boats.

-J.

grubson wrote:

I’ve seen them go airborne from hitting waves though.
The motor fell off from hitting the water sideways.

I bet there are people on this earth that have never see an aircraft fly before as well.

To be honest, why do you care what his story is? What if he said a Sasquatch was swimming in the water, and I hit it causing my motor to fall off?

Why does what he said have any bearing on your life?

The running waterline on a 20’ glass boat is going to be in that 4-6” range. A submerged dock is completely plausible and would likely only damage an outboard. The hull pressure would change in an instant with an incident similar, and the bow could easily porpoise.

Not that I care what he said is the truth or not….

Bass boats typically should be run “bow” high in chop/waves. Now this means you are trimmed up to the point that the “V” on the front is used to cut waves. If you Run trimmed down you will spear the waves instead of cutting them. You do not want to plow through waves in a bass boat, it is not pleasant.

Now, all of this is learned by driving a performance bass boat. There is always a sweet spot of speed, trim, and comfort. These guys, know how to drive their boats. granted sometimes people make mistakes.

blank wrote:

It was indeed a 20+ glass boat, not a 18ft tin boat. It was a Skeeter FXR20.
Why are you so hellbent on not believing the story? He later posted another short video to say that they found some floating dock sections a few hundred yards away.

I agree, why does everyone call foul here? Could be a worse outcome and he wouldnt be here to describe it. Do we always have to find something wrong or find someone lying? Im glad he is OK

dirtywater wrote:

this is stupid to me. It’s easier to unclip a tether than to remove the pfd, and there are more & better reasons to leave it on than to remove it.

I respectfully disagree with you on this one. My tether is a PIA to remove. I always leave it attached and take off my inflatable and leave it on the seat.

Way too many people assuming things in this whole situation. He is a tourney guy, has to have a pfd AND tether on when motor is running. very common practice and habit to do what he did.
Dude coulda died and you question taking his pfd off?????

Very similar incident and outcome last year for this boater running the MS River, but only small ripples on the water so no waves for the bow to bounce off of.

Keep in mind, these tourney guys push the limit far more than normal fishermen. Not saying that is right. Just saying they do. They have far more practice running boats at these speeds in rough water than the average fishermen. When your fishing for Big $’s you tend to get in a few more cast in hoping to catch a additional fish that moves you up to a higher payday. They fish till the last possible minute and then often push way to hard to get into the weigh-in on time. Often on big bodies of water the conditions are different where they are fishing than some of the water they need to cross to get back into weigh-in. He was way lucky this didn’t turn out worse than it did. Rather or not he hit something or not, I have no idea. Either way the speed and conditions played a role in the outcome.

I hit a submerged log in 4 mile bay of LOTW about 10 years ago. I was going 40ish in a 18 ft fiberglass deep v Champion fish finder, following the exact same route as a charter boat in front of me. A stretch I had boated hundreds of times over the years. It was quite the eye opening experience for me and even though I had a 250 hp on that boat, my cruising speed was 30 mph thereafter. Absolutely no reason to pin the throttle to the floor, especially in choppy conditions. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. If you need to be there sooner, leave earlier.

Silly to immediately take the life jacket off after he slammed his head that hard. Not that uncommon to have delayed fainting or loss of consciousness in which case could have ended up much worse. Glad he is ok and posted the video for others to learn.

TillrLife wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
I’ve seen them go airborne from hitting waves though.
The motor fell off from hitting the water sideways.

I bet there are people on this earth that have never see an aircraft fly before as well.

To be honest, why do you care what his story is? What if he said a Sasquatch was swimming in the water, and I hit it causing my motor to fall off?

Why does what he said have any bearing on your life?

It’s a educational opportunity for all. You push too hard, you run the risk of hurting yourself. He was very lucky in this preventable crash.

Dudes flying, at that point your chine is about the only thing walking in the water, you can handle some bow lateral movement with that but when she’s rocking you need to throttle down.

#1 glad to see a fellow fisherman come out alright.

#2 don’t give 2 craps either way here, a guy wants to go too fast by himself ill hold his beer

#3 if I’m a betting man, which I’m not, I’m completely w grubson. Does insurance cover sending it, or just submerged logs?

blank wrote:

Very similar incident and outcome last year for this boater running the MS River, but only small ripples on the water so no waves for the bow to bounce off of.

Perfect example of what will happen if you hit something with the lower unit. Bow drops, boat slows rapidly and in this case when the bow dropped it went lower than the stern causing the most force to be put on the bow therfore causing it to spin around. Losing the engine only made that part worse, less drag and weight in the back. The bow didn’t fly up in the air on hitting something with the engine like others are suggesting.
The waves combined with the his speed and the wind caused the crash. Not hitting something with the motor.

Wait motors snap off by not hitting something ?

isu22andy wrote:

Wait motors snap off by not hitting something ?

Probably not, going airborne and hitting the water sideways at 40-50mph will do it though.
Anyone who’s ever wiped out hard on a tube or skis knows how hard that water hits.

Looking at the Video, I don’t feel like he hit anything. Could be wrong. but my guess was just lost control due to the speeds and a odd wave. At the speed he was traveling and the force of the motor hitting the water sideways its possible that was enough force to just rip it off.

NO one would question what happened if the angler was wearing a furry suit.

wormdunker wrote:

NO one would question what happened if the angler was wearing a furry suit.

Good call.