Abandoned Cat- Sunshine Coast [Archive] - Ausfish fishing Australia, Australian Angling Forums

northernblue

18-01-2007, 04:43 PM

Has anyone heard any more about this boat?

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21077880-3102,00.html

It would have been a "good find", before it was damaged by the beach, but more importantly I hope the occupants [if any] are ok.
From the looks of it it has been moored, so hopefully it has broken it's mooring and drifted off rather than a tragedy having occured.

leezor

18-01-2007, 04:53 PM

Looks like the mystery has been solved, here is a post from Powercatboy in the offshore reports forum of Ausfish:

G'day all,

We were sent some pictures today from Powercat to let us know they had found our boat and they were on this forum.

This was my farther's boat and which broke it's anchor at Days Gutter, Moreton Island in September 2005. No one was on the boat. This was during the big storm we had around then with 100k/h winds and massive swells. They wave indicator of Point Lookout was saying about 4m swell.

Powercat told us the boat wouldn't sink unless the hull was damaged, and they were obviously right. It would have only sunk if it hit rocks, which we would of found it a long time ago or it was going to be hit by a ship. We had also heard of another boat a few years before doing the same thing from days gutter and washing up 6 months later on the north coast of NSW.

Luckily for him he was in the process in upgrading to a new model, so it wasn't to long between boats, but unlucky for a friend who was about to buy it.

To the poster, it would be really great if you could email a copy of the photo so we can frame it for him.

Kiktz

18-01-2007, 05:33 PM

I just cant get over that it has landed back so near to where it left.
You would think that so unlikly...........

AJ

northernblue

18-01-2007, 05:54 PM

Moot point now, but what would the procedure be salvage wise if you had of found it prior to it turning up on the beach?
I mean, the guy who saw it last week off Harvey Bay, reported the boat but searchers were unable to locate it.
If you were unable to take the vessel in tow or affix an anchor, would it be acceptable to affix a 406 EPIRB to the hull? [to assist with relocation, as it is also a navigation hazzard]
Obviously you would notify SAR by radio that it was not an SOS situation and I am suggesting to use a 406 because of it's accuracy [would this allow a "real" emergency signal to be differentiated?]
Sorry guy's this is a bit all over the shop, but I am interested in you thoughts on this sort of situation...

disorderly

18-01-2007, 06:26 PM

Hi northern blue,
If you do an internet search on marine salvage,you will find there are a lot of grey areas and considerations taken into account when determining what you can claim from a salvage.Its just not a simple matter.
Hey Leezor,
Is that suzi still running Ok?

Cheers Scott

leezor

18-01-2007, 07:00 PM

Hi Scott, yeah mate is going ok. Only have one small problem, it's got a miss every second stroke. ;)
Took it in for it's 20 hour service the other day, bit worried about getting a kick in the nads by the dealer though, might have to wear my cricket box when I go to pay for it. :eek:

DaMaGe

18-01-2007, 08:28 PM

Other thread here :- http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=86978 whom reported this boat of Wide Bay..

PinHead

18-01-2007, 08:38 PM

saw that in the news this evening and one comment they made was that International Salvage laws are not applicable inside territorial waters which implied that no matter who found, it was still the possession of the owner with no recourse.

wombie

18-01-2007, 08:47 PM

thats not the one in todays paper a 25 foot catamaran drifted on to coolum beach been in the water about a year.

leezor

18-01-2007, 08:53 PM

Looks like shes Club Marines now, good to hear the payout only took 6 weeks. Wonder how long before we see her up for auction??

Lucky_Phill

18-01-2007, 09:13 PM

This is only my thought, and a thought at that.

If I had seen this ' hull ' while out fishing and obviously seen that it had been in the water for some time, I may have punched a hole in the sponsons to allow it to sink, thereby eliminating any risk of other vessels hitting said hull at night or day and causing danger to that vessel and it's crew. Again, I would take a GPS mark for where the boat sank, to be sure.......to be sure,,

Then again, how would I know there was no-one trapped in the hull /. boat ?

Further, if I punched holes in the hull and sank it, and then reported it, could the insurance company find me liable for costs or something ????

Again, it's only a thought !! Also, knowing the salvage issues, I would not have attempted to claim it.

Phill

Reefmaster

18-01-2007, 09:14 PM

This is an amazing story and i can't believe after we found it on the weekend 60km from the bar that it washed up on the beach a week later. Unbelievable

Good to see the Media get it wrong again. One channel reported the boat was seen off Hervey Bay. They then showed a path the boat traveled which was down the insde of Fraser Island and out the bar down towards Noosa. Idoits have no idea. The other channel had a cop say it was reported to be seen off the Wide Bay bar over a week ago which was correct.

I reported to the CoastGaurd that I had found the boat 60km from the bar which i was then told all the info would be passed onto the Hervey Bay police so maybe this is where the media's confusion began?

Reefmaster

18-01-2007, 09:34 PM

As you can probally imagine you have a million things run through your head when you find something like this. The fact we were 60km from the Bar meant we would never be able to tow the vessel back to the bar and considering we were only in a 5.5mtr boat this was not a good option. The amount of fuel we had on board would have never got us close back to land either. We did think of trying to put some holes in the boat to hopefully sink it but we were pretty sure this boat would be foamed filled and pretty much unsinkable. I also thought of anchoring the boat but this would have a pretty slim chance of working as it would easily pull the anchor free with the amount of weight this vessel would have been carrying. Eventually we just drove away from it and passed all info onto the VMR to look after. What has me disapointed is the fact there was no "notice to Mariners" put out about the vessel being seen. A little slack i reckon.

I have also a little bit of Video footage of the boat when we found it so i will put it onto "Youtube" then Ausfish this weekend for all to see.

Regards
Greg

northernblue

18-01-2007, 09:46 PM

I didn't think of scuttling it.
It must have been a pretty freaky thing to find.
How do you think the EPIRB thing would go over?

disorderly

18-01-2007, 10:00 PM

Reefmaster,I'm a bit surprised that nothing at all was done after you reported it.Its got me thinking a bit as I often leave for the reef well before dark and also travel home in the dark(its quite beautiful travelling by starlight).However, I probobly would not see this upturned hull in time to avoid it.It would not be a good situation to hit this at 25 knots in the dark.
Leezor,surely a 20 hr service is going to cost stuff all,even for a 4 stroke.No doubt you will let us know the damage.
If you need a referral for a Evinrude dealer though,dont be to proud to ask,I'm sure they will give you a reasonable trade in on one of those low maintenance Etecs.

Cheers Scott

Reefmaster

18-01-2007, 10:32 PM

Northernblue
Putting an Epirb on the vessel sounds good in thoery but it has many factors which i believe would make it the wrong choice.

An epirb's purpose is not to high light a floating hazard and It would also be stupid of me to attach an Epirb to an abanded vessel when we would then not have one for ourselves for the rest of the trip (this would also make it illegal for me not to have one) The chances that this vessel came ashore was pretty slim and it has probally been past our coastline many times over the period it was afloat. When i found the boat it was right on the edge of a very strong current line and heading due south. Sometime after that it either came out of that current line at the same time the wind swang around to the ESE sending the boat ashore. Fitting an Ebirb to the vessel could have been a complete waste of time and money if it headed back out into the pacific where it would be to far away to carry out a recovery. I would dare say you would be out of pocket for that epirb then. Just my thoughts.

Disorderly- I often do alot of night driving myself so it sure makes you think what could actually happen out there.

Regards Greg

boatboy50

18-01-2007, 10:40 PM

Hey Guys,

From a search and rescue perspective, there is no point even trying to search for this object, even with the recent co-ordinates given.

The currents (as they have done) would drag it away by the time a rescue vessel got there. It is amazing that in the many months it was missing it was never seen, and i'm sure it must have come near the coast in that time.

There is really not much which could be done to help find it. It's full of foam, so won't sink, and they could put out a notice to mariners, but it would have been no use, as by the time it was issued, it would have been wrong and useless.

Regards

Darren

P.S. I wonder what made it turn turtle? With no weight (people) and idiot driver, it must have been pretty serious seas to turn a floating cat over.

seabug

18-01-2007, 11:43 PM

Seems to be a lot of pussies getting drowned the last year

Getout

19-01-2007, 07:03 AM

I'd love to know who scored the motors!

Noelm

19-01-2007, 07:10 AM

almost any boat of any size will not be that seaworthy if just floating powerless or sea anchorless in any weather, as it can turn back on, side on, anyway on to the swell and wind, you only have to see what happens to ships and big boats and yachts when they loose power, in any sort of sea/storms they are usually doomed.

powercatboy

19-01-2007, 07:22 AM

This was our boat. No one scored the motors there still attached when it hit the beach.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21082543-3102,00.html

see below

seatime

19-01-2007, 07:28 AM

Yeah, may have even been swamped and rolled soon after it broke it's anchor and was carried out thru the bar.
most vessels will end up beam-on to waves and swell if disabled or drifting, if the waves are breaking and enough water gets into the boat to cause a free surface effect, the next wave can put a gunnel under, and she turns turtle.
self draining decks can't get rid of the water quick enough if the boat isn't moving forward.

powercatboy

19-01-2007, 07:41 AM

Plus the waves outside the South Passage bar that night were around 4m (so the wave bouy said) so that wouldn't have helped much

boatboy50

19-01-2007, 10:38 AM

Amazing Story,

Powercat boy, at least now you can have confidence in the new powercat!

Do you have any pics of when she was turned right way up? Is there much left of the cab? That hull will make someone an awesome project.

My guess is she went over that night on the South Passage on the outgoing tide, beam on.

It does seem to be a lot of cats going over lately. I'm guessing this is due to their popularity these days, the more there is, the more that go over. Anyone who has operated a cat in big seas knows how seaworthy they are.

Regards

Darren

Chimo

19-01-2007, 10:52 AM

Boatboy

Sent you a PM but you cannot read it until you get rid of old messages and make room new and important pms.

Cheers

Chimo

bloefish

19-01-2007, 02:03 PM

The report I read in the newspaper said it went out through the south passage...it that sort of storm...amazing....
Bfish

northernblue

19-01-2007, 05:15 PM

Powercatboy, [and Reefmaster] it's a hell of a story, with lots of room for embellishment [as the years roll on lol]
One of the news services made the comment that you had used the insurance $ "to buy a safer boat" Where did that come from and if there was any fact involved what was it, and what did you buy?

leezor

19-01-2007, 05:20 PM

Quote from Powercatboy:

"Yeah bought another powercat 3000 with twin 200 suzuki 4strokes. It's great boat."

boatboy50

19-01-2007, 06:08 PM

Well It would be with those Suzuki's!!!!

fsh00

19-01-2007, 06:58 PM

Good story,amazing stuff.

jimbo59

19-01-2007, 07:32 PM

I picked it to be that cat in reefmasters original post D/i fishing.
I have seen a cat sink before my eyes when the waves break over the transom and fill the boat with water from where the cables come out

Kerry

19-01-2007, 08:37 PM

....It does seem to be a lot of cats going over lately. I'm guessing this is due to their popularity these days, the more there is, the more that go over. Anyone who has operated a cat in big seas knows how seaworthy they are....

Is that right?

....I have seen a cat sink before my eyes when the waves break over the transom and fill the boat with water from where the cables come out....

Yeah! Is that right?