Page 1
Blessing– a 26ft Mako center console as late as May 2002
Here is her story:
“The
boat was anchored off of Egmont Key while Westbayou and my sisters boyfriend
(his friend) ran over to another boat anchored near by. Eventually someone
looked back and noticed the boat was leaning to one side. They ran over, but by
that time it was late. Westbayou fired up (1 i think) engine and tried to jump
it on plane. This did little as soon the whole side and tower was ripped off.
The boat was completely done for by this point. The tower was a gunnel mounted,
and it ripped right through. The whole side was gone and the boat underwater or
flipped I think. They got it towed home late at night and never found out why
the incident happened.”
Chapper
“Man,
I can't believe my eyes! I knew that somebody, somewhere would probably end up
salvaging her, but what are the chances that I would end up seeing her here on
the forum owned by somebody local? Already she looks night and day from the last
time I saw her. The glass work looks great! As I remember, the major damage to
the hull came when the tower ripped out, leaving about 6-8 inch square holes,
and one of the holes also tore out a pretty good chunk of the internal gunnel
but left the external hull intact. When that happened the center console was
totaled, and there was some pretty significant damage to the rear fish boxes as
you mentioned. Most of the hatches also managed to disappear during the whole
fiasco. Even the engines look great. The original covers were completely smashed
from banging on the bottom when the seas got a little heavier. Looks like
somebody has done a bit of work on them, all the lines leading into them look
brand new! I am glad to hear that she is gonna be fishing once again, but it
sure makes me miss that boat. We would take it to the Keys every year by water,
and she sure ran great even in some really heavy seas on the way down. Even had
her out over 80 miles without a worry.
The
best we can figure on what happened is definitely tied to the bilge pump. There
is no question that it failed. The real question we had was how all of the water
managed to get into the hull. When we were anchored at Egmont Key, the seas were
relatively light. The only idea we have been able to come up with is tied to the
in-deck livewell (the only thing I never really liked about that boat, almost
broke my leg in it too many times!). My guess is that the livewell had somehow
become separated from the deck and was overflowing into the hull. When resting
in the water the livewell would automatically fill itself without turning on the
pump. Fatal design flaw I guess. It wouldn't be a problem if the livewell was
sealed to the deck, but my guess is that after 15 years of running, something
gave out allowing water to freely flow into the bilge. When the bilge pump
crapped out, we were done.
All
in all, I think you scored a great deal on that boat, especially if the engines
are running well. I know that the marina we brought the wreckage to immediately
filled the engines with diesel fuel to protect the internals from corrosion.
Quite a bit of sand was packed into the carbs, but once I realized we were going
over, I did shut down the engine I had started. As far as I can tell from your
picture, somebody rebuilt the engines. She served us well for 15 years, I hope
you get as many great days outta her as we did! If you have any questions, feel
free to e-mail me. westbayou@hotmail.com Good Luck!
Westbayou
The
boat changed hands and eventually ended up in Pete's. The glass had been
repaired, and the tower, console, and bow rail had been removed. The
results are shown on the next page.
