After giving some exams up in Newark this morning I shot home and took out the boat. Weather wasn't what it called for so I was looking forward to some time on the water. Went to a spot and played with some fish before taking a ride. I decided to anchor up at first then just drift. With my eyes on the lookout for some BAM!!!! I hit this rock all kinds of wrong. Lucky the jet was trimmed up but the bottom to a hit and my spine got realigned. That did it for that.
So I went into some softer water and anchored up. As I readied my fly rod and stripping basket I noticed the bow was up more than it should have been. A quick glance back and my stuff was floating in the stern of the boat. No worries. I'll pull the anchor. Make the bigger is on and make my way home.
I flew home and hurriedly got my truck and got it back on the trailer. This was reminiscent of the "Charlie I forgot the plug" out in Montauk in 2014. When I pulled the plug, no Bobby I didn't forget it,
water gushed out for some time. I looked around and tried to figure if there was some topside that went a miss. Plug was in. I must have done some damage when I hit that rock. Before I left I decided to back the trailer down and see what would happen it if sat for some time in the water. Back up top I pulled
the plug and let the water drain once again. Delaware Joe doesn't live to far away so I gave him a call and took a ride. I got under to see if I could see where the water might be coming it. There was a
some aluminum missing from the rock strike and the only thing I could see was a space in the chine where the metal was freshly scraped away. We went through things and found the liver well motor nipple had broken and wasn't connected to the hose which fed the tank. But each time it was wet the live well tank was full. On the test I had left out the plug in the live well. It had us perplexed.
While there I gave Joe his own new custom fishing hat. No more baseball caps, no more car names, now he has a Delaware Joe hat. He's getting older now so if he forgets all he has to do is spin it around.
Joe went over to his own battle wagon and looked it over if we would have to go and use his boat. That boat has seen a lot of time on the water, a lot of nights, and a lot of bass. When I got home I tested
the bilge pump and while it made sounds it didn't eject and water I had put in the boat with a hose. We reconnected the live well pump, and just have to get rid of that, and made sure there were no leaks there. Even thought the chine was the only thing that looked wonky I covered it with JB Weld and use a sledge hammer to straighten back out the metal.
So what happened. Hit a rock yes. Maybe jolted the live well pump enough to break the nipple and connection. Did I switch the live well pump on and that's what filled the boat with water? Was it the seam on the chine? I won't know till I get her went again hopefully in the morning. I'll stay in the soft water until I figure it all out.