With the increasing rain, melting snow in the mountains, and some help from northern lakes on the Catawba chain, lake levels on Norman and Wylie continue to rise. Boat owners who have watched helplessly all Winter as their vessels sat in the mud are anxiously waiting for the 1-2 feet that will again float their boats. But will these boats float?

As fishing and boating enthusiasts, we all know that boats are not made to sit on the ground. What was once soft mud has become hard ground. The stresses the ground can cause to points on a hull can be extremely hazardous and can cause unseen cracks or holes. Add a dead/disconnected battery and a non-functioning bilge pump to this scenario and that boat will be underwater before it's on top. But do your neighbors know?

In my experience, those who stood by and waited as water receded further and further out of their coves and did nothing about moving their boats to deeper water usually are not the types to check on their boats regularly. We're on the lakes every day and see hundreds of boats hard aground and listing dangerously to one side or the other. Many of these boats are severely neglected and I don't doubt if some of their owners don't even realize that their boats aren't floating.

If boats like this are near you, encourage your boating neighbors to check their hulls and bilges for dangerous cracks or escalating water as the lake rises. Raising a sunken boat is a much more serious and expensive proposition than pulling a boat into deeper water and insurance companies would MUCH RATHER pay to have a professional check or pull a boat off a shore than to pay the full cost of a total loss after a vessel sinks. It only takes one phone call to see if you're covered. Also, fuel and oil lines and tanks can rupture or leak when boats sink which is an obvious environmental hazard, and becomes even more expensive than simply salving a boat.

There's still plenty of time and I'm sure that there will be a few nice days before everybody is floating again.

- Capt. Brian

__________________

Capt. Brian Graves
Director of Operations
SEA\\TOW Lake Norman / Lake Wylie
(24 hr. response) 704-895-8699
(cell) 704-361-4243
(fax) 704-302-1930