Doug Smith
Member
Back in 1989, but buddy Mike and I decided to build a duck boat. After looking at a number of different designs, we decided a Black Brant was the best for us. I think our construction pictures are still posted here somwhere. This is the 20th year for the ol' craft - and it's served us well. Now - on to the story...
Mike got picked for an opening day blind site in the Missisquoi NWR, so... up at 3:15 and off we go. On the river by 5:30. Who's going to drive the boat? 99% of the time I do but for some reason Mike's at the helm.
Anyway, we zoom on down the river, me and Cosmos in the front, Mike driving the boat. When we get near the East Branch of the river, I'm thinking all kinds of wild thoughts ("this turn sometimes has a sandbar", "hope the water level is high enough", "does Mike know to hug the shore", "are there any trees in the water"), when all of a sudden - the prop hits something, the boat hits something, we're flying through the air, and then WHAM we come to an immediate stop! I go crashing backward into the front deck crossbrace and then get hit with decoys, guns, dog, netting and everything else in the boat. Oh my God! Did I break my back??? The pain is almost unbearable!
Well, I moan and groan for 5 - 10 minutes and then move my toes, feet, legs. Finally get myself untangled and straightened out. Guess I'm going to live (but not sure if I want to). What the hell happened? Where's Mike? Then I hear Mike asking if I'm ok. Since I've be writhing around in pain for 5 minutes, "ok" isn't what comes to mind, but I might be able to sit and stand up.
As we assessed the situation, we were in shallow water sitting on top of a log, with a 4 inch thick branch sticking 18 inches up through the bottom of the boat. Looks like we hit a partially submerged 'Y' shaped log, slid up along it going toward the bottom of the Y, flew across to the other side of the Y and came down on a vertical branch, which punctured the bottom of the boat and then ripped a 4" wide, 30" long hole, and finally stopped when it got to the transom. Oh boy, what do we do now? I can hardly move, the boat is stuck and we're 3 miles from the boat launch!
Well, we had to get the boat off the branch but not let it sink, so Mike unloaded everything up onto the shore (about a foot away, by the way), and then took off the motor. Then we lifted the boat off the branch and slid it up onto the log. I stood in the water, holding the boat from sliding off while Mike tried to figure out what to stuff in the hole . Parkas, netting, gloves, life jackets all came into play. After numerous attempts of stuffing the holes (turns out there were two smaller holes, each about 3x3), we thought we could keep the flow of water into the boat slow enough that we might be able to bail continuously and drive back to the boat launch. OK, everything goes back into the boat, put the motor back on, start it just to make sure it works, and off we go! Mike's bailing with two coffee cans, I'm driving and keeping one foot on the 'stuffing' as best as I can. Uh oh, somethings wrong with the motor (other than the banged up prop and a chunk out of the cavitation plate). It's only running on one cylinder. Oh well, we can't stop now! We're almost staying up with the water seeping in, but about 1/2 mile up the river the life jackets do what they're designed to do - float. Up out of the hole they come and down we go... By the time we limp in to shore, the top of the boat is at water level (at least the floatation works). We're screwed. By now it's 8:30 on a sunny morning - and we finally catch a break. A Federal warden in a 20 foot SeaArk comes by! We tie the submerged boat to the SeaArk and climb aboard.
A hour later we're all back at the boat launch. Oh yeah, the Black Brant looks like a goner. Mike thinks he can repair it but it won't be quick or easy.
It's been a week now and my back is slowly getting better. At least I can move around with less pain. Sure hope the rest of the season goes smoother!
