On July 31, 2011, at approximately 12:30pm, Officer was contacted by Corp of Engineer Ranger  concerning a sunken vessel in Prairie Creek.  Upon arriving at Prairie Creek, I observed a 1996 Blazer 202 Pro V bass boat capsized near the campside dock.  After retrieving the vessel from the creek and assisting the owner to trailer the vessel, I interviewed the owner.  Operator stated that on July 30, 2011, after a day of fishing, he tied the vessel to the campsite dock for an overnight.  The next morning, at approximately 8:30am, Operator was notified by a fisherman passing by that the vessel was taking on water and sinking.  I asked Operator if there was an automatic bilge pump in the vessel.  Operator replied "yes".  Operator stated that the previous owner of the vessel installed some after market LED lights on the vessel and over time the lights ran the battery down.  So to avoid this power failure on July 30, 2011, Operator turned the main power source off, thus disabling the automatic bilge pump.  Operator also stated that he normally would manually bilge water from the vessel.  After an inspection of the vessel I observed that the drain plug was secure.  I also observed some sealing issues with the vessel between the hull and the cap.
Lowndesboro                   