On 07-03-2010 at 9:50 PM CPO were notified of a boat accident that occurred earlier in the evening.  We received the report at 9:50 PM while we were towing in another boat.  At 10:15 PM we found the boat that was involved in the accident in the Rend Lake Marina.  They were bilging out the boat and had plugged the hole created by the accident.  

I found that the operator had been was leaving the Marcum Bay Area about 8PM and was bringing the boat up on plane when he hit the bottom of the boat on the bottom of the lake.  Operator stated that he was about 20 yards from the Marcum point that comes out into the lake from the north shoreline.  Operator stated that after he felt the boat hit he pulled back on the throttles so he could assess the damages.  He stated that his depth finder was registering 2 feet of water.  When he went back to assess the damage he noticed that his engine compartment was filling up with water and that his starboard engine was broke.  

Operator stated that people came and helped him and advised him to get the boat back to the marina if he could.  Operator stated that he was able to get to the marina on his port engine.  Once at the marina in his slip he was assisted in patching the hole that was causing the water to get into the boat and was also able to remove the water from the engine compartment so that the boat would stay afloat until it could be removed fro the water and get fixed.  

the owner operator of Rend Lake Marina was on board when we were conducting our investigation.  When we asked Operator how much damage dollar wise was done to the boat he stated that he did not know.  Operator stated that from what he could see that the V drive was destroyed.  That with all of the components would run about $16,000 to fix, and he stated that the starboard side rudder was damaged but until the boat was out of the water they did not know the extent.  Operator stated that when they got back to the Marina they called the Corps of Engineers to report the accident.  I completed the information section of the BAR form and gave it to Operator and instructed him on what his requirements were.  

Benton                        