Once I caught a fish alive ................

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rgsmg53

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I've been in the habit of leaving the cooling water inlet sea-cock open for 24 hours after a day's running. I believed that it helped the engine cool down 'gently' - I think I read that in this forum.

After my last trip I came to shut the sea-cock and also glanced into the strainer. And yes, you've guessed it, there was a live eel in there!

No amount of banging the hose and strainer would persuade it to leave so I shut it in and of course then had to clean out dead eel from the strainer a couple of days later.

Am I just unlucky or have others had the same problem? I don't want to risk decomposing fish in my raw water cooling so I'm going to shut the inlet sea cock as soon as I've shut down the engines in future. I wouldn't mind if I was on a mooring but I'm in a marina.

Can't help wondering what's going in the outlet from heads where presumably there's a rich source of nourishment...................
 
Cooling down gently sounds like an old wives tale. Water cannot pass the impeller unless the engine is turning, cooling is down to convection and radiation mainly.


I must say that an eel rescue mission would have been on my agenda, as I could not leave one to die like that. A plastic bag would have done the trick if you are uncertain about handling fish.
 
I'd have happily rescued the damn thing but I couldn't get the lid off the strainer. It was dead by the time I'd bought the required tool.

And yes before the animal rights faction murders me, I could have left the sea-cock open but frankly it suffered less than those flapping their last in dry buckets used by the barely competent fishermen round here.
 
Live aboard friends noticed an unpleasant smell in the galley. Investigation revealed a decomposing eel in the salt water tap inlet hose!!
So the things do like hull openings.
 
rgsmg53 said:
I'd have happily rescued the damn thing but I couldn't get the lid off the strainer. It was dead by the time I'd bought the required tool.

And yes before the animal rights faction murders me, I could have left the sea-cock open but frankly it suffered less than those flapping their last in dry buckets used by the barely competent fishermen round here.
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You mean that you go out on your boat without the ability to open the raw water strainers? :eek:
 
CLB said:
You mean that you go out on your boat without the ability to open the raw water strainers? :eek:
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I usually use a strap wrench but this time the lid was too tight for that - lesson learned as this is a new-to-me boat and I had neglected to check my usual method worked beforehand. Although the 'special' Vetus tool is expensive, I have to say it is very effective.
 
Fantasie 19 said:
..and don't forget to ask him how many flares he caries and whether they're in date....:rolleyes:
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I'm not sure whether the sarcasm was really necessary but I carry a full Offshore set purchased new this year. The youngest of the set that came with the boat were more than 10 years old!

Unlike the strainer lids, it's one of the things I checked even prior to sea-trial.
 
rgsmg53 said:
I'm not sure whether the sarcasm was really necessary but I carry a full Offshore set purchased new this year. The youngest of the set that came with the boat were more than 10 years old!

Unlike the strainer lids, it's one of the things I checked even prior to sea-trial.
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Errr.... aimed not at you but (gently) at the chap who posted before.... it made me chuckle that a harmless post about an eel stuck in an inlet pipe could accelerate so quickly to alarmist... it was only a matter of time until someone pointed out your anchor type was wrong as well.. :D

Slightly more seriously - it's a trend I've increasingly noticed on the forum(s) - it'll get to the point where the newbies won't want to raise their questions, or post comments and observations, for fear of the numerous negative/acerbic/accusing* (*delete as appropriate) responses they get back ... just an observation.. :)
 
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Once had the boat hauled out on a slipway trailer. As we got to the top of the slipway and while using a broom to scrub the hull an eel (live) plopped out from the exhaust and wriggled away back to the water.
Swiftly followed by a fit of the heeby-jeebies from SWMBO.
 
Fantasie 19 said:
Slightly more seriously - it's a trend I've increasingly noticed on the forum(s) - it'll get to the point where the newbies won't want to raise their questions, or post comments and observations, for fear of the numerous negative/acerbic/accusing* (*delete as appropriate) responses they get back ... just an observation.. :)
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It is better to ask the question and be a fool for 30 seconds than to not ask the question and be a fool forever.
 
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