So the other day I rowed out to the boat and immediately noticed that something was wrong when I tried to motor back. I had my little 4.5 HP outboard at full throttle, yet I was barely moving. I had a weird, random jerking in my tiller and steering control was greatly diminished. Once at the dock, I discovered the problem... Massive amounts of Hydrilla jammed on the swing keel and rudder.
I cleared the rudder and pulled up what I could from the sides but it didn't help much. Lifted the keel and tried moving the boat back and forth but that did nothing. It was clear that I was gonna have to go under. I once had to fix a broken keel cable underwater just by holding my breath and working a few seconds at a time. It was a nightmare and it took an hour. I was also 15 years younger then so not gonna happen that way this time. Off to the dive shop to rent some scuba gear!
Visibility was terrible, only about a foot! The amount of weeds was incredible, it was like some kind of giant sea monster tangled in my keel. I had to use a fillet knife to cut it all free. Thought I could get some video of it but I kicked my Gopro off the dock
so my weed slashing mission soon turned into a salvage operation. Visibility at the bottom was non existent, couldn't even see my fingers, but somehow I found it.
So what are your best weed stories and how did you deal with the problem?
I cleared the rudder and pulled up what I could from the sides but it didn't help much. Lifted the keel and tried moving the boat back and forth but that did nothing. It was clear that I was gonna have to go under. I once had to fix a broken keel cable underwater just by holding my breath and working a few seconds at a time. It was a nightmare and it took an hour. I was also 15 years younger then so not gonna happen that way this time. Off to the dive shop to rent some scuba gear!
Visibility was terrible, only about a foot! The amount of weeds was incredible, it was like some kind of giant sea monster tangled in my keel. I had to use a fillet knife to cut it all free. Thought I could get some video of it but I kicked my Gopro off the dock
so my weed slashing mission soon turned into a salvage operation. Visibility at the bottom was non existent, couldn't even see my fingers, but somehow I found it.So what are your best weed stories and how did you deal with the problem?
