The drowned boat and a small amount (lol) of drowned tackle.
Case you didn’t know, I live in New Jersey, usually an unremarkable state except for its crazy crowdedness and the TV shows made with folks that really do live here and really do dress and act that way. Anyhow, as you might’ve seen, NJ was one of the ground zeroes for Hurricane Sandy.
Everyone around where I live did okay. Lost some stuff on or around the house, some trees or branches down, some still without power. But since we didn’t get nearly the amount of rain forecast, that helped…which brings me to my What Would You Do question:
My folks have a house at the Jersey Shore (beach area), which was hammered by the storm. Some folks lost entire houses, formerly blacktop roads are now sand – that kind of hammered. Went down there yesterday to help them clean up. It’s like a mini-Katrina there, btw. Long faces, tears, scavengers, helicopters. Crazy.
Anyhow, another reason I went down was to check out my bay boat down there. It’s a 17-foot center console with an old 50hp Johnson on it. First thing I saw was that the boat, which is on a trailer, was still there. My mother and a neighbor had lashed it to a tree.
That was good because some folks lost their boats or had to retrieve them from dry land: a neighbor’s 25-footer on its trailer moved 4 houses down before it got stuck in some bushes, if that tells you how much water was there – about 5 feet in the streets.
So: When I went up to the boat, at first I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. The gas cans were upside down, had water in the oil – had there been a lot more rain there than at my house? Then it hit me: the boat had been under water!
Here I am thinking the thing was floating, but I always leave the drain plugs out because of rain – it’s stored outside, a common thing down there – and I wanted them out for the hurricane because of the forecast 10-12 inches of rain. But because there was so much water in the streets for so long, basically my boat sunk. So…it’s toast.
I mean, the hull is fine (seems to be, anyway), but the outboard and everything else in there is junk.
Started to wonder if maybe I should’ve kept the drain plugs in, but not sure there was a right decision to be made – drain plugs out vs. plugs in. Let me know if you would’ve down it different. Either way, I hope the insurance man sees it the right way and funds me a new outboard….
Oh yeah: My folks have a ground-level (sea-level) garage where a lot of stuff was stored, including all my saltwater tackle. If you’re ever forced to go through all of your tackle like I did, if you’re anything like me you’ll be shocked at how much you have vs. what you through you had. And that was my saltwater stuff, which isn’t nearly as much as my bass stuff. Yikes….
Shot of the garage showing some tackle, the water line and yep, that’s a fridge – floated around, then filled up. Stank!
7 Comments
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Scotty Melvin
November 1, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Glad to hear you made it thru the storm. I don’t thnk an insurance guy who comes around is gonna bring up any kind of “plug/no plug” issue. I probably would have pulled it too. Your big problem is gonna be explaining to them how expensive some of that fishing tackle is…..cuz no one ever believes us….
Bill McElroy
November 2, 2012 at 5:07 am
Jay,…Really glad that you and your family are OKAY!! I was thinking about all of you when the storm was in full swing,….what a mess! My buddy has a house in NJ on the barrier island and he still doesn’t know what shape it’s in…or if it’s even still there!! I can’t imagine the stress….anyway..boats and tackle can be replaced!!
Again,..glad you’re OKAY!!
Mac
Wackoman
November 2, 2012 at 6:47 am
Yep, what Bill said. Glad you and yours are OK.
Allen Cirard
November 2, 2012 at 9:16 am
For maybe the first time on Monday and Tuesday fishing was NOT on my mind….hoping I was alive to make the next day was my priorty. Fellow members of our club were the 1st Responders (cops,firefighters,medics and 911 dispatchers) taking the beating during this disaster. Hopefully after a few weeks we can together and tip a few colds ones and get back to the fun things like FISHING!
Keep the east coast people in your thoughts please
Allen Cirard
911 Bass Anglers
Bucks County PA
admin (mostly Jay)
November 2, 2012 at 9:25 am
Thanks Mac and Wacko. Allen and buds, stay safe. It’s nuts!
Mike Fillmer
November 2, 2012 at 11:20 am
Jay, so glad that you and yours are OK. Like it was said before, ‘things’ can be replaced So sorry for your troubles. Best of luck with the insurance folks!
Chad Keogh
November 2, 2012 at 1:05 pm
I keep my boat on the trailer, and under a towable cover. I probably would have chained the trailer loosely to a tree with the drain plug in. That way it would float up and stay put on it’s chain leash, while the cover kept it from filling up.