Cracked Water Pump, Overheated, Bent Prop...Ouch

Just a venting post. Went to Oroville on Thurs night to grab a boat-in campsite. Launched boat at 930pm. 20 min later started overheating. After inspection, found I wasn't getting water, of course. Took water pump apart, completely disintegrated impeller. After closer inspection, actually cracked pump housing. Dead in the water. Limped back to ramp, but it was closed down due to houseboat launching that punctured its fuel tank. Had to get towed to another ramp to get boat out. Made 2 hour drive to get home at 0330. Replaced pump/impeller Friday then went back to lake. Weather was chilly most of the weekend but ok. On Saturday, hit a log while boarding. Slight vibration, not bad though. Sunday, hit another log, much worse this time. Couldn't go over 5mph without shaking the boat apart. This happened about 5 mi from campsite. Limped back. Pulled boat out Sun afternoon and found one blade bent 90 degrees forward, and one bent 90 degrees rearward. I couldn't believe how much debris was in lake Oroville...I most likely won't ever go back because of this experience although the area is awesome.

Sorry to hear about your experience, but I wouldn't be too quick to blame the lake and rule it out as a future spot.


The Sierras received a tremendous amount of late snow pack which really raised the run off levels, causing a lot of trees, logs and other debris to wash down into the lakes. The lakes that are first in line to the mountain streams were inundated with stuff.

I know that Lake Folsom had a 5 MPH speed limit on the entire lake for at least a few weeks in April because of the hazards. I suspect that there are a lot of lakes that are the same.

Steve, I was at Oroville thursday thru monday and I know what you mean about the debris. I was launching our houseboat thursday at Lime Saddle and made the trek to Bidwell where the houseboat you are talking about was stuck at the ramp. That houseboat didn't puncture a fuel tank, it got stuck on the trailer. Here is a link to the story. http://www.chicoer.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3871882

They were able to fire up the engines Sunday and got it running.


I was able to find some real nice water Sunday night and Monday morning. In a few weeks this lake will be back to its awesome self.

If I get a chance I will post some pics of us launching our new houseboat on the lake.

I hear ya Rod, it was just frustrating. I kinda figured it wasn't always like that.

Rich,
I figured they punctured a fuel tank because when I tried to load up again, they were yelling at me to turn the boat off because there was fuel in the water. Probably just oil run-off from the motors that were submerged.

Moving big houseboats can be a bitch.

I bought a 55 foot houseboat off a lake in Arizona and paid to have it moved to Stockton, California. Getting the boat on the trailer didn't exactly go as planned. Similar to the story above, the stern sank as the bow came up and submerged the motors.

I got the motors running again once we got the boat up to the parking lot. When the boat arrived in Stockton I paid extra $$$ to have a travel lift sling it off the truck and drop it gently in the water.