Falling over board...What's your plan

[gone fission]

Assuming you are alone, the water is cold and you have a lot of heavy clothes on. It may be a surprise how difficult it is to re-board especially with these high sided boats now a days. Triton's "ResQ" feature looks ok if you are strong enough to climb it. How about a rope ladder kept in arms reach around transom area? Any ideas?

Good '08 to all.

[CatFan]

I have a ski ladder.

You can hang a rope ladder off a cleat, or if your OB is big enough, you can stand on the cavitation plate and trim up to lift yourself.

[Jerry Blake]

Plan A: DON'T FALL IN!

Plan B: I have a fold down swim ladder on my transom.

It's probably a good idea to always take someone with you to help out in any emergency.

[kycreek]

Climb that motor.

[ekim22]

I read a story a while back on another forum from a guy who grounded his boat....he thought he was on a hard bottom so he stepped out of his boat and quickly sunk into mud up to his knees or higher......in cold water.

He was able to hold onto the motor and trim it up to "lift" himself out of the water and into the boat.


There are 2 dangerous situations I've come across that could throw you into the water (outside of when your running your motor and hit something)..

1) Standing on the bow and an unexpected wake comes through....ie you're not paying attention and some boat goes by, pushing a big wake. Easy to get caught off guard.

2) And this one almost happend to me: Stepping on the trolling motor pedal expecting it to go one way and it goes the other way....I was fishing in the James River 2 years ago in VERY cold weather....I stepped on the trolling motor pedal to send my boat right and it was actually facing left. It threw my balance off so bad that if I hadn't had my bass fishing pedastal seat up I woulda fell in...In desperation I reached out and caught that seat, falling onto the deck instead of in the water.

I always wear my PFD when travelling and always have a dry set of clothes in the boat.

[ShortStorie]

Practice climbing the motor or using the rope ladder before you have to do it in cold water. Cold water saps your strength QUICKLY. I tried getting back into my bass boat after a swim with some kids last summer. Couldn't climb the motor. Had to swim to shallow water. Guess I'd have to use the TM or the big motor to drag myself to shore if I could hang on that long. (Can reach the foot control). Still looking for a ski ladder narrow enough to mount on the tiny transom area of my older Mean 16 Champ (The coffin shaped ones)... Barely had room for one before adding a jackplate.

[crip47]

Here's the unplanned way. I tripped over an old man. Went in and he could not help pull my in. Got on the motor and with one arm I still couldn't get back in the boat. Used my co pilot to get me to shore. He was able to take pictures though..LOL

[bentpole]

Assuming you are alone, the water is cold and you have a lot of heavy clothes on. It may be a surprise how difficult it is to re-board especially with these high sided boats now a days. Triton's "ResQ" feature looks ok if you are strong enough to climb it. How about a rope ladder kept in arms reach around transom area? Any ideas?

Good '08 to all.

Put your head between your legs,& kiss good-by. :D

[LBM]

I have always thought that if I ever fell into the cold water that I was a goner and that the shock would just stop the old heart.

After watching the video posted on the Ice Fishing Forum http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=52672
I now think there is a possibility for a slight chance of surviving if I could make it through the initial shock stage of gasping and hyperventalation without taking on a lung full of water.

[CRAPPIEDENTIST]

i'm getting ready to install a tilt button on my old rude just for that reason...
my old mercury had one to make it easier to install the transom saver,
and after i went on a unplanned swim the other day,,, i realized how handy that was....
JAKE