Oh yeah- almost forgot this one.
I fooked up! Swift river, approaching from upstream to a railroad trestle (no prob going upstream under power earlier).
Big backwater just upstream, where the stream hit a rock embankment and made a 90, immediately above the trestle.- plan was to beach there and line the boat down through the trestle and motor on. Misjudged current strength, missed the backwater, went head on into the rocks, then sideways into the trestle. An 18 foot boat does not fit well through a 12 foot trestle span, sideways.
As the boat filled with water, I was pinned against the side by the 1" heavy walled iron pipe lift handle as the boat was sucked under. I got out.
On the far side of the trestle, I retrieved the boat (lost almost all my gear), while the Lab retrieved the lunch, took it to shore, and ate it. Survival situation!. Floated down to the lake, hooked a tow back to the landing, and proceeded to repairs from there.
Had to replace that iron pipe, I put a helluva a bend in it by sheer manual strength getting it away from me enough to escape.
Still using the boat, now known as "Sneer". did not get it quite flat when we were welding it back up, and the right front corner has a bit of lift to it.
I absolutely thought I'd bought it that time, pinned against the boat as we went under.
Last edited by las; 12/02/19.
