This story originally appeared in the April edition of Flotilla 78's award winning newsletter, Waterways. These stories are always useful as we discuss operational risk management and responding to issues while underway - particularly when the stories involve members we know and facilities we've crewed upon.
The author, Wayne Monroe, offers a lesson learned. What would you take away from this case?
Routine Patrol … Until
Saturday 27March2010 AUXFAC CHESSIE (242325) departed Steamboat Landing Marina for a Safety Patrol on the Columbia River with our target area of operation defined as CRM 85 to CRM 115 and WRM 0 to 8. Since it was spring salmon fishing we expected the river to be crowded and our focus to be “Make Way”.
We started downriver at 0848 and inspected the damage at Donaldson's Marina from a previous boat explosion and then continued downriver. We monitored traffic from the stern wheeler Columbia Gorge about to enter the Columbia at Kelly Point and decided that the large number of fishing boats warranted running to meet her and escorting her upriver. Bob Wilkinson was at the controls and proceeded to advance the throttle to get CHESSIE on plane. CHESSIE seemed to be struggling and didn't respond well to the advanced throttle setting.
Our first thoughts were that some equipment was not operating properly; maybe the trim tabs or the trim of the outdrive. After trying different settings and still not getting favorable results Bob finally said, “It feels like she’s heavy with water”. I immediately stepped into the cockpit and raised the engine cover to discover about 6” of water in the bilge. The belt was flinging water and knowing the bilge pumps had been running I felt like the water was probably gaining ground.
I told crew person Betsy Allen to contact Sector Portland and alert them to the situation and ordered Bob to head for the beach at Terminal 6. We did beach the boat and the pumps removed most of the water in about 10 to 15 minutes. A thorough search failed to expose the source of the leak. By this time Todd Mains arrived in Red Dog and, assuming the leak was coming from the engine while it was running – the water was warm, we decided to tow the boat to Sells Marine Repair in North Portland Harbor.
Once underway, more water entered the boat but the pumps were keeping up with it and we had manual pumps deployed to supplement the electric pumps in case we lost power. More searching finally revealed that the water filter for the built-in live tank had sustained a crack and was leaking only when CHESSIE was making way. By the time we discovered the through-hull that supplied the live tank pump we were almost to Sells but we were able to close the valve and the water leak stopped instantly. We were able to make our way to the dock under our own power. We monitored the situation and satisfied ourselves that with the valve closed the problem was neutralized and we felt confident leaving CHESSIE unattended at Sells until Monday when they could make the necessary repairs. We secured our patrol at 1151.
Lessons learned: Check out the worst case scenario first and then work backwards to the lesser possibilities. (Look in the bilge first.) All repairs have been made and CHESSIE is again fully operational and awaiting her next scheduled service for the Coast Guard.
Respectfully submitted, Wayne Monroe, FSO-NS FL78
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