[C38] Hit a ledge, hard

William Knowles whk1965 at gmail.com
Mon Jun 27 11:44:55 EDT 2011


A friend of mine sailed his T-10 into an underwater ledge on the Cleveland
breakwall going 6.5 kits. He drove the keel through the aft end of the boat.
He was close enough tot get back to the yacht where they had the travel lift
ready. If this had happened out on the lake he would have lost the boat. I
do think our hulls are much stronger (heavier built) then a T-10 but check
back there any way. Funny thing the lake had been so for so long no one knew
there was a second ledge down there.

Bill

On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 9:35 AM, Charles <charles at finn.ws> wrote:

> **
> All,
> I have hit hard a couple of times.  First was motoring about 6 knots on the
> Champlain Canal.  Right in the middle, when I was stopped dead.  I did not
> have the hatchboards in and did land in the cabin!  I was pretty banged up,
> but at least it wasn't far to check the bilge!  No leaks.  At the next lock,
> I reported the hit and the lockmaster did not react until I told him I had
> been hurt!  There was a whole group to see me at the next lock!
> They then investigated and the findings were I probably hit a car or truck
> rolling down the canal bottom.  When we pulled the Mighty Quinn, there was
> no damage to the keel and as the rigging was on the deck (I was in the
> canal), there was no problem there as well.
> I also hit hard in a storm with big waves in an area I had safely sailed
> over many times with at least five feet below the keel.  The awful part of
> this one was after the very bad scare of bottoming the first time.....  I
> knew the trough of the next wave was going to result in another hit and
> there was nothing I could do about it!  Again, no leaks and tight keel
> bolts.  A dive over the side the next day revealed a gouge/slab out of the
> keel bottom.
> I spent a long time fairing this one the next time I pulled the boat, but
> there was no damage to the hull or the rigging (surveyed).
> My conclusion is we have very tough boats and they can take some surprising
> hits.
> I would check the bulkhead under the sink as Phil is correct about the
> compression loading.  It certainly should show there if there was any
> damage.  In fact, I would suggest everyone check this area as it seems to me
> that this bulkhead is probably the weakest structural point as far as I can
> tell.
>
> Chuck Finn
> Mighty Quinn #114
> Great Lakes
>
> On 6/26/2011 11:29 PM, Phil Gay wrote:
>
>  I am not speaking from personal experience, but I understand, on many
> boats that have experienced hard grounding, that the bottom of the boat at
> the aft end of the keel takes the brunt of the damage.  On many boats this
> area where the keel attaches is mostly flat and is more easily pushed up in
> a grounding.  Our boats have an unusual amount of dead rise even at the keel
> attachment area.  That means that the bottom is more V shaped and can
> withstand those in line (non-transverse) compression loads at the back end
> of the keel.  I would guess that the smile might have opened up a bit
> though.****
>
> ** **
>
> Phil Gay****
>
> C38 049 Que Linda****
>
> Everett, WA****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* listserve-bounces at catalina38.org [
> mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org <listserve-bounces at catalina38.org>]
> *On Behalf Of *Steven Ribble
> *Sent:* Sunday, June 26, 2011 5:22 PM
> *To:* Catalina 38 Listserve
> *Subject:* [C38] Hit a ledge, hard****
>
> ** **
>
> 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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-- 
W H Knowles
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