[C38] Hit a ledge, hard

[les]

On Sun, 2011-06-26 at 20:21 -0400, Steven Ribble wrote:
> Hi Folks, need some insight.  I tried hard to move a ledge this
> weekend: from over 5 kts to dead stop & stuck...3 min, 20 sec to the
> start....worked it off the ledge and started exactly on time!  Anyway,
> after the race I jumped in and took a look...a bit about 1" deep and
> 8-12" long on the leading edge of the fin, about a foot up from the
> bottom.  There also has to be some scraping on the bottom of the keel
> due to working the boat off the hard.
> 
> 
> In my 32 year at the helm I have never hit anything...and was
> certainly freaked out by the bang (still playing in my head 36 hours
> later) and that it threw me on my butt up against the companionway
> boards. I was in front of the wheel, fortunately the boards were in to
> keep the light rain out or I would have been all the way down on the
> salon floor.  Anyway I inspected for leaks and that the keel bolts
> were tight (all was good) and now have the boat back "home" to a yard
> to be hauled and inspected on Tuesday.  
> 
> 
> I assume that when designing a boat with a deep fin like ours there is
> some thought/anticipation given to hits and groundings and that there
> is some structural integrity built into the boat to compensate for
> same. So the question is, Does anyone have experience with something
> like this and are there things specific to our boats I should be
> looking at (stringers, motor mounts, Catalina smile, etc. ...anything
> in the rigging?) given the type of hit?
> 
> -- 
> Steve Ribble
> Tittravate
> 207/852-0971
> 
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> Listserve at catalina38.org
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I've plowed some ground once in a while, but not hit hard.  If you
haven't updated the standing rigging or spreaders, you should really
have them looked at.  When we had the rig done several years ago, one of
the spreaders had corroded nearly in half.  If yours were in that shape,
you might have some "less than deck visible" damage that could affect
the rig integrity.  Look carefully at the junction of the spreaders and
mast.  

Hope all is well for you, and hope you were not hurt.  Thats a pretty
abrupt fall and occasionally things get in the way of a clear passage
for good reason.  Glad you had the hatch boards in.  Bet you felt lucky
on that one.  We often sailed here in sunny CA with the boards out.

Regards,
Les H