Bad Situations On Rivers

redsquid2

redsquid2

Free-Range Cheese Baby
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Aug 31, 2011
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You are 200 miles from the nearest town, 10 miles from your cabin, piloting your 16-foot motor boat up a river, when the propeller falls off. You have no radio, and there are no trails going back to your cabin. What do you do, besides cuss?

I like the innovation shown by this boat captain, but I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201309/ponder-fishing-captain-ralph-putahow-river.aspx

Reminds me of a canoeing story. These two guys are in an aluminum canoe, and the hull gets punctured. A small puncture can let in lots of water. The one guy surprises the other guy by doing the following: after the boat is ashore, he says Turn it over. So they turn it over. He pulls some plastic knives and forks out of a bag, and with a cigarette lighter, he starts melting, and dripping melted plastic to seal the hole. The melted plastic isn't a perfect seal, but better than nothing. He then takes some duct tape, and a piece of plastic tarp and puts an extra layer of water protection over the patched hole. They turn the canoe back over and slowly, carefully make their way to the take out point. Survival is about, skills, training, and intuition. Am I right?
 
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Step 1: dog-paddle like hell to the shore.
Step 2: Start walking along the shore back the way you can. Hopefully a bear, wolves, or a sasquatch doesn't get you before you make it back.
 
El Bandit0 said:
Step 1: dog-paddle like hell to the shore.
Step 2: Start walking along the shore back the way you can. Hopefully a bear, wolves, or a sasquatch doesn't get you before you make it back.
Click to expand...
Don't forget about Indians!

Get to shore, find a good piece of wood and make a paddle. Then paddle my way back to the cabin. Might take a lot longer but probably better to travel in a boat than walk it out.

Good story though, you have to have some MacGuyver in you when you're in a situation like that.
 
Depends on the current. If the currents are light one could paddle with a hand made paddle or pole ones way up the river if it is shallow enough, and better if the wind is in ones favor. Otherwise I would walk on foot back to the cabin, trying to paddle a motor boat against a stiff current or with a head wind might not go well.
 
In the story that I linked to, there are some details left out, but I get the following impressions: 1) the captain had just himself and two fishing clients on board, 2) he was only a little way up the river, 3) that river emptied into a very large lake with nothing but jagged, rocky shores, and, 4) he had to get out onto that lake in order to encounter other boats and get a tow back to the cabin.

If it was my boat, and I wanted to float it downstream to the lake, I wouldn't know what to do, other than give everybody a pole, and try like hell not to run into obstacles.

The part about constructing the sail was pretty cool, IMO. Looks like good thinking, and required some lashing skills and sailing skills.
 
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