An observation about the durability of the 210CC and an interesting story. Hopefully I didn't jinx myself with the title...
I keep my 2002 210CC on a mooring in a not very sheltered bay on Cape Cod bay. When I got it last year, I worried about how it would hold up in the event of a severe storm. I got my answer in September when a 3 day Nor'easter type storm beat the crap out of it. I was just too late to get it off the mooring before the storm hit. I'll risk the boat, but I won't risk my life.. After three days of watching it and worrying, it pulled through. It didn't capsize, didn't sink, didn't break off the mooring, didn't drag the mooring (admittedly much bigger than needed-came from a guy with a 45' sailboat). When the weather finally calmed down, wife baby and I paddled out to check on it. As we approached, it looked fine except the swim platform was submerged when it normally sits a couple of inches above the water. Hmmmm...
Got in and found that the bilge pump had killed the #1 battery which allowed the boat to fill with water-Mega hatch, fish boxes, rear boxes, everything. Even the lower rear deck had about 2 inches of water in it. Gas tank was obviously completely submerged which, as you can imagine, worried me. In any case, primed the engine, turned the battery switch to battery #2 and she fired right up. Got her going at a slow plow with the bow way up and most of the water just rushed out the back over the transom. Then the bilge pump finished the job. I no longer worry about storms, they just clean the boat better than I do.
OK, flash forward to last week. On Thursday afternoon, the weather forecast suddenly turned from rain to a summer Nor'easter. Again, too late to get off the mooring but this storm was quick, mostly gone by morning. Same thing happened, battery died, boat filled with water. This time I took some pix. Unfortunately this is July and there are about 20 boats on moorings out there. Three of them capsized. Come Saturday morning, the Reel Time turned from rough and tumble fishing boat to recovery vessel. She (with the assistance of a few guys) got them uprighted and pulled them up and out enough to refloat and bail out. Then towed (2 of the 3) to a launch a couple miles away where they could be put on trailers. There was an element of risk in the operation, but we all accepted them and in the end all was well.
BTW, to raise a capsized boat, roll it over by pulling from the side. Then have someone sit in the boat and try to keep it balanced so it doesn't roll back over. Quickly hook a line to the bow and start pulling. One more tip for good measure. Don't have a little aluminum boat try to do the side pulling while you simultaneously do the bow pulling. You will swamp the the little boat. Ask me how I know.
Boy I wish I got a picture of that part...
In any case, one of the morals of the story is "yes, the Triumphs do float".
In the pix you see some photos of the boat sitting low in the water and the recovery mission. (plus, for good measure, a photo of a 42" Striper caught from her deck a couple of weeks ago)
I keep my 2002 210CC on a mooring in a not very sheltered bay on Cape Cod bay. When I got it last year, I worried about how it would hold up in the event of a severe storm. I got my answer in September when a 3 day Nor'easter type storm beat the crap out of it. I was just too late to get it off the mooring before the storm hit. I'll risk the boat, but I won't risk my life.. After three days of watching it and worrying, it pulled through. It didn't capsize, didn't sink, didn't break off the mooring, didn't drag the mooring (admittedly much bigger than needed-came from a guy with a 45' sailboat). When the weather finally calmed down, wife baby and I paddled out to check on it. As we approached, it looked fine except the swim platform was submerged when it normally sits a couple of inches above the water. Hmmmm...
Got in and found that the bilge pump had killed the #1 battery which allowed the boat to fill with water-Mega hatch, fish boxes, rear boxes, everything. Even the lower rear deck had about 2 inches of water in it. Gas tank was obviously completely submerged which, as you can imagine, worried me. In any case, primed the engine, turned the battery switch to battery #2 and she fired right up. Got her going at a slow plow with the bow way up and most of the water just rushed out the back over the transom. Then the bilge pump finished the job. I no longer worry about storms, they just clean the boat better than I do.
OK, flash forward to last week. On Thursday afternoon, the weather forecast suddenly turned from rain to a summer Nor'easter. Again, too late to get off the mooring but this storm was quick, mostly gone by morning. Same thing happened, battery died, boat filled with water. This time I took some pix. Unfortunately this is July and there are about 20 boats on moorings out there. Three of them capsized. Come Saturday morning, the Reel Time turned from rough and tumble fishing boat to recovery vessel. She (with the assistance of a few guys) got them uprighted and pulled them up and out enough to refloat and bail out. Then towed (2 of the 3) to a launch a couple miles away where they could be put on trailers. There was an element of risk in the operation, but we all accepted them and in the end all was well.
BTW, to raise a capsized boat, roll it over by pulling from the side. Then have someone sit in the boat and try to keep it balanced so it doesn't roll back over. Quickly hook a line to the bow and start pulling. One more tip for good measure. Don't have a little aluminum boat try to do the side pulling while you simultaneously do the bow pulling. You will swamp the the little boat. Ask me how I know.
Boy I wish I got a picture of that part...In any case, one of the morals of the story is "yes, the Triumphs do float".
In the pix you see some photos of the boat sitting low in the water and the recovery mission. (plus, for good measure, a photo of a 42" Striper caught from her deck a couple of weeks ago)
