very VERY sad day.... :-(

[Frog]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to give everyone some bad news... I am no longer a boat owner..I am now a submarine owner...

This weekend was a family gathering at a local lake so I brought my boat out.. we were wake boarding and tubing all day Saturday. Sunday we were pulling kids on the tube and noticed we needed gas so we headed back to shore to fill up.. We get to about 50ft from the 5mph/no wake zone I stop and we pull in the kids and tube. after we just cruise into the no wake zone at about 3mph or so.. at this point a random wave hit us from the side and went into the bow (I think it was from a close by jet ski doing donuts).. At this time I put on my bilge on since it was a nice chunk of water.. all of a sudden another smaller wake hit us and somehow got in the boat at this point I'm like WTH(since it got in and was really small) then the nose started dipping. I tried to give gas to get the nose back up but no success at this point the whole bow went under water within 10seconds.. in a rush we told all the kids to jump off the boat and down went the boat... we were able to get it to the shore but it is under water...

Local sheriff seen the whole thing and he is dumbfounded on how it happened too since he's never seen anything like that happen so fast.. his first question was did we have our drain plug in back in and the answer is yes...

Now at this point I called my insurance and asked them to recover it... after waiting 30minutes I got a call saying they had no one to recover it for me to ask the local sheriffs to assist/pull it out of water and any damage that may occur while they are doing this they would accept on their behalf... so I let the sheriffs know.. they TRIED to pull it out/to dock.. and this is the results..

now you see it...

now you don't...

The red buoy in front of the sheriff is currently where my boat is resting at the bottom of the lake...

they are getting a salvage yard to recover the boat within the next 2 days and then I will go pick it up..

It sucks is all I can say since we did nothing wrong for this to happen. I can see if we were messing around and were doing something stupid and it happened then ya I would deserve it. but I had kids ranging from 9-14 on the boat so I was safer than usual. On the bright side I do have Full coverage which I am so glad I purchased since a buddy was trying to tell me to just get liability... Does anyone in the bay area recommend any Malibu dealers/Professional shops for me to take it to so they can examine and fix/repair any damages that occurred? San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont or Newark areas are preferred.

[MalibuNation]

So sorry to hear about this and hope you have good insurance. Glad to hear everyone is ok.

What lake?

[Frog]

Since it was my first boat i went all out on my insurance and got a lot of extra stuff. Its currently insured for 30k for any total loss that may occur as long as i have my policy. The boat is currently on the bottom of woodward reservoir :-/.

[brad72]

Mate that is horribly bad luck and you must feel gutted but as you say no one was hurt and your insurance will help take some of the stress away.

I've watch boats sink when idiots do stupid things and though serves you right but this sort of thing happing to careful folk just sucks.

[mnhays]

oh man, that's so sad to hear what was the ballast situation at the time?

thumbs up everyone's okay and hopefully the insurance company can help you sleep easy in the next few weeks.

once again those pesky PWCs ruining our days out on the lake. let's just keep the blame on that jetski.

[Falko]

That really sucks. I would assume at this point they will total out your boat. Sorry.....

[tvano]

was she ballasted?

[UWSkier]

Boat should have had enough foam in the hull for it to be neutrally buoyant. Should never sink to the bottom like that, though I wonder with the tower, speakers, etc... (dual batt)?

That really sucks. Was anyone riding in the bow at the time?

[cbmalibu98]

Those are pictures that no one wants to see, I am glad everyone is OK. Having good and full coverage is a blessing. Good luck on the recovery.

CB

[wakebrdr94]

At least everyone was ok, as painful as it is, boats can be replaced. Really sucks, sorry man.

Edited July 29, 2013 by wakebrdr94

[WakingMeHappy]

Wow! Glad you loaded up on insurance. Now let their adjuster handle it. They can do all the legwork on estimates. Once they're done and tell you what it will cost to repair tell them you want the full replacement value and go buy new boat. I have my boat insured for about 10k more than its worth for that very reason. Probably the best thing in your favor is the sheriff seeing the whole thing as the insurance adjuster won't be able to say you did something wrong.

[WakingMeHappy]

.. at this point a random wave hit us from the side and went into the bow (I think it was from a close by jet ski doing donuts)..

Wait a minute. I just realized a stinking jet ski downed a Malibu. There is just something wrong with that!

[Levi900RR]

[wakeparadise]

Really sorry to see this. Not something I like waking up to... I can only imagine how you feel. Nobody hurt and full insurance with witnesses... I'd say you're in a better situation than most.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[RTS]

I am sorry this happend to you. I wish you the best on on the insurance front. I hope you come out whole.

But I am SO curious about how that boat can end up on the bottom of the lake. I was under the impression that because they were USCG Aapproved, they were required to float at the gunnels, or at least float with some portion of the boat out of the water, even if hey had a large hole in them. Guess I was wrong about that.

Glad no one got hurt.

[Indyxc]

Boat should have had enough foam in the hull for it to be neutrally buoyant. Should never sink to the bottom like that, though I wonder with the tower, speakers, etc... (dual batt)?

That really sucks. Was anyone riding in the bow at the time?

Not sir. All boats under 20 feet require positive flotation by the coast guard, but 20 feet and over do not. Have you looked inside your malibu? All that I have looked have do not have foam, hence they sink as above.

[Indyxc]

Really sorry hear this happened to you. Luckily you had insurance and no one got hurt. All the people that have died lately boating, really puts boating in perspective.

This story you can laugh about one day. Not funny at all at the moment, but at the end of the day everyone is safe, and that's the best part.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Indyxc

[happypappy]

Not sir. All boats under 20 feet require positive flotation by the coast guard, but 20 feet and over do not. Have you looked inside your malibu? All that I have looked have do not have foam, hence they sink as above.

Does Malibu still fill the cavity between the hull and the floor?? I thought that caviity was filled with either foam or tanks...with the foam used for floatation and sound deadening?

[Nitrousbird]

Wow, I am wondering how something like that happened.

I hate to be the "Monday Morning" quarterback, but I think I would have handled the tow back a bit differently. You were obviously near shallow water - I would have drug the front into the shallows as much as possible and started bailing water. Get enough out to make her float normally again...an over the side aerator pump would be ideal in this situation. Get her fully floating then tow her back in. That would have been a several hour process and may have been difficult but worth it. Poor boat.

BUT - there may be some damage to the boat hull if it sunk to the bottom. I wonder if you hit anything and perhaps tore a hole in the hull.

If they do total it I'd like to buy that shift knob off of you. Perhaps a couple other parts as well.......

[RTS]

The picutres of the boat full of water and the stuff floating around in the cockpit, as well as the ones as it's being towing and leaving a debris field just turn my stomach.

[Ndawg12]

Glad everyone is safe.

But I'm not buying the story (as told) that a couple jetski waves sunk this boat, there's always 2 sides to the story, I'll wait for the boat to chime in.

[Skier007]

Since it was my first boat i went all out on my insurance and got a lot of extra stuff. Its currently insured for 30k for any total loss that may occur as long as i have my policy. The boat is currently on the bottom of woodward reservoir :-/.

thought i recognize that shoreline..either that lake or Modesto reservoir..... I would call Boat country in Escalon..Malibu dealer that you probably drove right by to get to Woodward, very good guys there.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Skier007

[wakebrdr94]

Glad everyone is safe.

But I'm not buying the story (as told) that a couple jetski waves sunk this boat, there's always 2 sides to the story, I'll wait for the boat to chime in.

Water had to have been taken on somewhere else. But everyone was ok and accounted for. I'm curious as well

I'm surprised the cops tried to tow it vs putting up on shore. Pretty lame on their part for even trying.

Edited July 29, 2013 by wakebrdr94

[ktrent]

Wow, I am wondering how something like that happened.

I hate to be the "Monday Morning" quarterback, but I think I would have handled the tow back a bit differently. You were obviously near shallow water - I would have drug the front into the shallows as much as possible and started bailing water. Get enough out to make her float normally again...an over the side aerator pump would be ideal in this situation. Get her fully floating then tow her back in. That would have been a several hour process and may have been difficult but worth it. Poor boat.

BUT - there may be some damage to the boat hull if it sunk to the bottom. I wonder if you hit anything and perhaps tore a hole in the hull.

If they do total it I'd like to buy that shift knob off of you. Perhaps a couple other parts as well.......

i would try to make the sheriff that thought it would be a good ideal to pull a sunk boat into deeper water (dumb a**) be liable for some of the damage. if there was no hull damage while it was still a little above water some pumps and muscle could have re floated her without a problem.

was the boat full with ballast. i have had lots of water in the floor of a boat before and this didn't happen. something else had to go wrong.

o well thats why we carry insurance, super glad no one was hurt. try to put some blame on the tow boat driver for the total loss and cost of recover.

[ToeCutter]

I find it hard to believe a jetski can produce a wave big enough to do that. As per numerous previous posts - was there a lot of ballast?