Drift Boat Recovery: My Sunken Clackacraft Drift Boat

In my last post, I wrote about the incident that led to my beautiful custom Clackacraft drift boat finding itself upside down, underwater, and out of commission. As promised, there is more story to tell, including not only the herculean efforts it took to recover the boat, but also the valuable lessons learned from the experience. It’s a story that lends itself heavily to personal perseverance, collaboration, ingenuity, community, and friendships. And while my last post (as dramatic as it was) was more of a cautionary tale, I hope this one brings a lighter side to the adventure as well as touching on some of the more lasting lessons learned. So without any further delay, let’s get started on the drift boat recovery exercise.

If you recall from my last post “When a Good Day Goes to Hell”, the initial accident that led to the submergence of my drift boat occurred in late February of 2023. To be more specific it was February 25th (a Saturday), which will become more important to note as my story unfolds.

On the evening of the accident I spent the night of the 25th in Lake Cowichan with some good friends, and after retelling the days events a few times I eventually started thinking about the “what’s next”. I was desperate to get the recovery underway and get my poor boat back right side up and on land, to see if she was salvageable or if it was to be a complete write off. Being as I had been unable to assess any damage on scene the day of the accident, I was turning over numerous scenarios in my head. None of them were positive. At the very worst, I was anticipating the boat being hauled up on shore and left where it sat. Just another shipwreck on the shore. What I did know for certain was that to get her back I needed some expert help, and most importantly I would need a ride down river, likely more than once.

Scrolling through my contacts of guides who work the Cowichan River, I reached out again to Alex West of iGuideBC (www.steelheadfishingvancouverisland.com) to see if he could help. Unfortunately he wasn’t available on the 26th, so I tried another guide I knew who frequently drifted the river, Nelson Karger from O’Fishal Charters (www.ofishalcharters.com). I explained to him what had happened, asking (ok pleading really) if he would be able to help out. Fortunately Nelson was able to shuffle some things around and agreed to meet me at his put-in spot on the river the following morning, so that we could see if the boat could be salvaged. Also joining me to help would be another good friend of mine Todd Thomson, who upon hearing of the accident offered to come down from Nanaimo with an array of rigging gear to assist in the recovery. Todd would also be bringing a key piece of equipment, a chainsaw winch, which would greatly aid in the recovery of a very heavy boat in swift water. With help lined up and a plan now organized, I tried my best to get some sleep but I honestly had a very restless night of tossing and turning, anticipating the coming day. Would our drift boat recovery be a success?

At 7 AM on the 26th, I drove from Cowichan Lake to the park and ride at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 18 to pick up Todd and his equipment. From there we headed back to Lake Cowichan and met up with Nelson at the river, and helped prepare his 14 foot aluminum Koffler drift boat for launch. With our recovery gear loaded up and the sun shining on us, we set off downstream to the S-Bends, which thankfully wasn’t a long drift from Nelson’s normal put-in spot. Within a half hour we arrived at the scene.

There she was, as we had left her the day before. The sad looking hulk in the river although with sunshine lighting the scene rather than the previous days gloomy overcast conditions. Nelson and I took a look at the position of the boat, trying to figure out the best way to attach some sort of line to it in order to not only drag it closer, but flip it over. There was a genuine concern that with so much water in the boat, flipping it on its gunnels might crack the hull entirely. Plus the boat was stuck in faster water, making it even more challenging to maneuver. A drift boat recovery of this type isn’t easy and thankfully we had some experience on our side.

We could see we needed to somehow get the anchor line swung around the stern (it had been looped forward the day before) so that we could use it to drag the boat closer. The only way to adjust the position of the anchor line was to get into the water and physically “flip” it over the stern and then subsequently pull it along the upstream side of the hull. Nelson jumped in the river and by using a sturdy stick from the beach was eventually able to move the anchor line to where we needed it, all be it with considerable effort on his part while battling the currents and cold water. I have to hand it to Nelson though, he was determined to get it and had far more patience than I likely would have.

Once the ropes had been repositioned, we were able to get the boat to swing around 180 degrees so that the bow was now pointed downstream. This was critical as we wanted to use the power of the rivers current to assist us with turning the entire boat over. The plan was to use the chainsaw winch to lift the upstream edge of the hull first, which with any luck would then catch the current and flip the boat over, and then allow us to move to step 2, dragging it onshore.

Todd hooked up one end of the winch to a sturdy log on the beach and the other end to the bow. We still needed to get the boat closer to the edge of the river before we could attempt the flip. Cautiously, and using small applications of power, Todd was able to move the boat slowly (still upside down) towards the edge of the gravel bar. Once it was closer, we then repositioned the attach point for the winch and began slowly trying to raise up the gunnel closest to us on the upstream side.

Using the winch on it’s own didn’t do enough to get the results we needed, so both Nelson and I grabbed some thick limbs from the assortment of driftwood on the gravel bank and levered them underneath the gunnel at the stern and mid section. With these levers now applying upwards pressure, and Todd on the chainsaw winch providing additional horsepower in short bursts, the gunnel was freed on the upstream side enough for the force of the water to take effect.

At first the boat started to swing around again, and I had fears of it rotating and then floating further down river. But as the water and current caught the boat broadside it did exactly what was intended and with a gravely bark it rolled back to its right side. We were stoked! With the boat now right side up we quickly repositioned the winch line again to the bow eye, and slowly dragged the water laden boat about a foot onto the bank.

The next step was to pull the plugs out and let the water drain away until enough was released that it would be safe to haul the boat completely onto the shore. Nelson and I also started bailing the boat with buckets we had brought, giving as much assistance as we could to the two drain plugs in the rear of the boat. Given that it had been submerged for 24 hours, there was also quite a bit of sand and gravel that had been washed into various nooks and crannies, including the seat covers and any open storage spaces.

With the boat mostly empty of water, Nelson cut up some logs to make a skid-way, and once completed Todd once again fired up the chainsaw winch and hauled the boat safely onto higher ground. She was now high and dry, but the recovery operations were far from over. I took a closer look at the boat, and the damage she had suffered. This included the following:

• Gone were both oars. Only one small section of my three piece spare oar was ever located.
• The bench where the rowers seat attached was broken and would need fixing to be able to row the boat out.
• The foot pedal release for the stern anchor had been ripped right out of the floor as a result of us using the anchor line to pull the boat. This wasn’t unexpected, but was repairable.
• The rear anchor davit was loose and needed repair. Again, likely from the recovery efforts.
• Cup holders had popped out and floated down river. Oh the humanity!
• Surprisingly the rear casting brace, which sticks out quite high above gunnels was intact. This was a shock to all three of us, as we were all expecting it to have been torn off. How it didn’t happen is a mystery to me.

All in all, the boat had survived better than expected, and even the banged up chines appeared to have suffered only minor damage and were easily repairable. With the boat secure on land and tied up to the same big log we had used as an anchor point for the chainsaw winch, we loaded up the damaged rowers bench into Nelson’s boat and headed downriver to the takeout. We even managed a little fishing on the way. So ended Day 1 of the recovery, a resounding success.

That afternoon I headed home for the night, feeling better that the boat was now out of the river and I was one step closer to getting it out of there. Over the next 24 hours I made some jury rigged repairs to the rowers bench so that I could use it temporarily, and arranged through Nelson to borrow a set of oars from someone he knew in Lake Cowichan who happened to have a set for sale. I once again arranged with Nelson to go back to the river on the 28th, giving me enough time to head back to Lake Cowichan from Victoria, pick up the borrowed oars, and retrieve the trailer from where I had stored in Youbou a few days prior. As it happened Nelson had already planned on drifting the river on the 28th with a friend, so he agreed to ferry the oars down to where the boat was. I on the other hand, would row down in my Watermaster raft, with the rowers bench and seat. Things were coming together.

On the night of the 27th it once again snowed like crazy, in fact worse than it had the day of the accident. I had driven up from Victoria to Lake Cowichan after work, so arrived in the middle of a thick snowstorm at around 9 PM, staying once again with my friends Bruce and Pam. A crappy drive all the way up there, but I wasn’t going to let a little snow stop me from completing the mission. Besides, that’s what 4×4’s are made for right? So begins Day 3 of the retrieval.

On the morning of the 28th, I swung by Nelson’s contact with the oars and picked them up, then headed over to Youbou to grab the trailer. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with the deep fresh snow and morning sunshine making for a winter wonderland. I even had to negotiate a traffic jam of Roosevelt Elk on the way to grab my trailer. With trailer in tow and with some pre-trip jitters, I met Nelson at his spot and we launched both his boat and my raft. Knowing that Nelson was going to be fishing with his buddy on his way down to the beached boat, I went ahead of them on the river and got to the spot fairly quickly.

With time to kill before Nelson would be arriving with the oars, I busied myself shovelling snow out of the boat, and placing the rowers bench back in position. My repair job on the bench wasn’t ideal, but it would be good enough to allow me to row the boat out of there. I still wasn’t entirely sure if the boat was watertight, so I had brought a manual bilge pump with me to take on the raft in case there was a need for bailing.

With the boat now essentially ready to launch I spent the rest my morning looking for lost gear, finding a few small items like my tippet holder and thermos deposited further downstream amongst wood debris washed up on the shoreline. What I really wanted to find were my two Sage rods, but sadly they were nowhere in sight. Then at the very end of the tail-out and just before another deep section I saw something orange a few feet under the water. It was my lost chainsaw, sitting perfectly upright in the current. It was shallow enough for me to grab without getting drench, so I triumphantly retrieved it and hauled it back to the boat. Maybe this is how Robinson Crusoe felt as he was gathering up the debris from his shipwreck! And then in a stroke of pure luck I spotted my waterproof camera in the water and scooped it up. Success!

Back at the boat, and directly across the river I spied the red jerry can of gas for the saw, floating in the log jam. Recovering it would have to wait for another day as there was no safe way to get it and crossing the river in waders would have been dumb. As the sun continued to warm things up, I had my lunch and patiently waited for Nelson and his buddy to round the corner and arrive with the much needed oars.

Just after lunch, Nelson appeared and delivered the missing pieces I needed to attempt getting the boat back down the river. With the oars now in place, and my Watermaster tied to the stern, I launched the boat and prepared to head downstream to the take out, after first sitting in the boat at the shoreline for awhile to see how much (if any) water was leaking in. Much to my amazement, the boat was dry and not appearing to be taking on any water at all. A good sign indeed, and with that I pushed off and started my trip.

Overall the drift went well with no issues and the rowers bench holding up as well as to be expected. I didn’t attempt to fish at all during the journey, wanting instead to just get downstream and on dry land again. Nothing would feel better than having my boat back on the trailer, and headed somewhere safer. At just around 3:00 PM on the 28th, I loaded the boat onto the trailer at the takeout. Given the amount of fresh snow we had received 24 hours earlier, I had to use my tire chains to be able to safely drive the truck in and out of the ramp, and thank goodness I had brought them. Without those chains, there is no way I could have done it. But with the boat now loaded, I breathed a sigh of relief that the most challenging parts of retrieving my boat had been handled with a minimum of problems and with much less damage than expected. None of which would have been possible without the help of Nelson and Todd.

So after three days and two trips down the Cowichan River, that’s the recovery of the boat settled, but what of all the lost gear? Not being one to give up, Todd and I returned again on March 4th in two separate rafts and scoured the river banks. I ended up finding a number of lost items in the log jam where the boat had sunk, including my friend Pauls waterproof backpack full of his flys and assorted gear, some Yeti mugs, rod tubes, two fly boxes, neoprene gloves, and of course the wayward jerry can of gas.

Much further downriver I also found my propane heater and 20 lb propane tank, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to retrieve either of these safely. My friend Paul also spent many days walking the riverbanks looking for lost gear in the weeks to come, even making a dredging hook to drag through some of the deep pools below the accident to try and locate missing rods. But nothing was ever found. Then unexpectedly Nelson once again came through, having located not only Pauls lost fly rod in some undercut bushes, but also the box that sits under the rowers bench! While not a complete recovery of gear, I felt that given the situation we came out pretty well. Rods and reels can be replaced, but lives cannot.

Repairs

About two months after the accident I hauled the boat home and repaired the foot release, did a more thorough repair on the rowing bench and corrected the issues with the rear anchor davit.

Lessons Learned

Following the misadventure, here are some things that I learned from the experience:

• Obviously wearing a lifejacket on the river is key. I can’t say that I wouldn’t have survived without it, but it sure helped. Not only that, it is the law.
• Pack an emergency blanket, lighter, and some dry tinder in a ziplock bag or some other water tight container and put it in your jacket or waders. It takes up no room and could be a lifesaver in cold conditions.
• If you have one, pack an In-Reach, SPOT or some other satellite emergency signalling device. Something that can send a distress signal regardless of cell phone coverage as this is not dependable. At the very least pack your cellphone in something waterproof and on your person.
• Always tell someone your plans. If you don’t arrive by a certain time, they can start searching for you and if needed alert the first responders. This is something I practice already as I am often on my own when I fish.
• Stay with your boat if it’s feasible. In our case I am not sure if we could have, but if we had ridden the boat downstream a little we may (and I say “may” with caution) have been able to steer it to shore and bail it out, without losing the oars in the process.
• Don’t be stupid when it comes to hypothermia. It can kill you as just the same as a heart attack. If you are fishing rivers in the fall and winter (even from shore), educate yourself on the symptoms and how to deal with them. A fall into the river can soak you just as badly as a capsize, so don’t fool yourself in believing you are safe just because you are not in a boat.

I hope that this post gives you pause for thought, and more importantly the realization that if it weren’t for the kindness and generosity of friends and strangers both the rescue and the drift boat recovery exercise would not have been possible. I want to personally thank Nelson Karger and Alex West for their help and guidance and faith we could get the boat back. Also Todd Thomson for coming to help both recover the boat and help search for missing gear. To Bruce and Pam Milne for being such great friends and allowing me to crash at their place Lake Cowichan on multiple nights. And of course a special note to Paul Zozula, and his friendship of over 20+ years

And one final heartfelt mention to my wife DeAndra. Believe it or not this is the second time in the past 12 years that she has dealt with me being in some situation related to fishing and water. The last time was in October 2013, when I got stuck in a flash flood which believe me was much more terrifying. If you want to read that account, go to my post (click below) from 2015 titled “Surviving a Harrowing Night on the Northwest Coast of Vancouver Island BC”. My poor wife never knows what drama will unfold next! But she never says no when I tell her I want to go fishing, so I am always grateful for that.

Here’s hoping that this is the last of these types of posts from me!