Thru-Hull Nightmares

Funny you should mention the knotmeter.

Your reporter at large has just received an unconfirmed report that the Fluke sank due to a failed thru-hull knotmeter and they carried no wooden plugs.

Stuff a sock in it already.

Not only do I carry a set of tapered wooden plugs, but I'm one of the few people to have actually used one.

The story does not involve any crisis at sea and heroic rescue efforts. Instead, I was performing some exploratory surgery on my sink drain plumbing while the boat was in the water at the dock. Took off the bottom piece and water started coming up like a bubbling brew. D'oh

ARC yacht abandoned


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There was another drama in the ARC rally last night when one of the yachts taking part was scuttled some 1,200 miles from St Lucia after her jury rigged rudder failed and she began taking on water. The crew of F2, a Hunter Legend 450 owned and sailed by British couple Peter and Zara Davis was abandoned at at position 17.01N 040.44Wl. They and their German shepherd dog Ellie transferred by liferaft to Lorriegray II, one of three ARC yachts that had been standing by to assist. Crew and pets are safely on board Lorrigray II and are continuing to St Lucia.

Despite attempts to sink the yacht it is still believed to be partially afloat and a securite alert has been issued.

The situation has been monitored throughout by MRCC Falmouth. F2 lost her rudder last week and was helped by the Jubilee Sailing Trust ship Tenacious, which returned to help fabricate a replacement. This arrangement failed again yesterday and her owners decided to abandon ship when they began making water.

The Davises had been talking by satellite phone to a marine surveyor and their insurance company and, according to rally organisers World Cruising Club, have been told by the company that their decision to abandon and scuttle the boat will not prejudice their claim.

Lorriegray II, a Dix 65 sailed by South African Graham Parkinson, has already been involved in the dramas of the past week, when they put one of their four crew on board Toutazimut, the boat whose crew David Hitchcock lost his brother overboard. Toutazimut was also one of the three that diverted to assist and another was Muskrat. This group of boats has been sailing in the same area and keeping close tabs on each other.

Andrew Bishop, general manager of World Cruising Club, comments: "Making the decision to abandon a yacht at sea, especially when it is ones home, is extremely difficult. Our thoughts are with Peter & Zara at this time. We are pleased that fellow ARC participants have been able to provide support and assistance, and that Peter and Zara are safe well. I am sure that they will get a rapturous welcome when they arrive at Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia. "


Yachting World, 9 December 2002

F2 (another unfortunate name...?) is left floating. Wonder what attempts to keep the yacht from sinking might have produced? Not to beat an old seadog, but abandoned boats end up being found weeks, months later still drifting around - long after the drama has ended and the actors have departed the stage.:(

If one survived ramming that half-submerged boat in the middle of the night, would you sue their insurance company?

[Report from one of the crew of the Fluke follows. Story gets stranger all the time]


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In my words (quick summary)- Again I was relieved by the owner at 4am and quickly fell into a deep sleep very easy to do . The wind had died and we were motoring so the boat motion was very easy. Someone said he was hit in the head by the boom, not quite. Smacked in the nose buy one of the back runners. We had a couple of accidental jibes in 30 knot winds and the boom was starting to crack at the goose neck. He had a bloody nose, thats it. Someone hit the nail on the head with his lack of sailing enthusiam. He had been terribly seasick and the bloody nose was the icing on the cake. He had by this point missed a couple of watches. I can only think he was thinking what have I done left a good job, etc,etc, for this . I can only think when he came on watch he immeadiately fell asleep. I dont think the sinking was planned , because his later actions were not at all captain like(first on the life raft, first on the tanker, and first off Bermuda. I suppose I am somewhat venting whatever . At 7am I was awoken with wake up were sinking. I was in a total daze and could not believe this was happening. We went into a total abandon ship mode. After a couple of minutes I asked what happened did we hit a whale ,floatsam whatever. I think at this point he was not of sound mind. He kept saying dont go below its to dangerous. I have to believe at this point he was thinking I have seriously messed up and at least I dont want anyone to drown. I went below anyway and checked all of the seacocks , everything was fine but the knotmeter was off. This was located right in front of the v-berth. Right away I yelled I got it, at this point approx a foot and a half of water in the boat and everything was sloshing around pretty bad.He kept saying I dont want anybody to die. I put the meter back on and we started bailing. Ater a while he did not want anybody below but his bailing was extremely slow and I jumped back below to help. He kept saying were taking on water somewhere else. I would have thought he would have checked my repair and hammered in a bung . I kept saying theres no way. Me and the other crew member had even pounded a bung into the exhaust. The water was still rising and I said several times the meter must have been knocked off again. I am positive thats where the water was coming in. He went forward and said yes it had fallen off and said he took care of it. We bailed a little longer , but the water was still rising. I cant be sure what he did up there or if we were taking on water elsewhere, but I doubt it. In his mind at that point he had given up.We were already in contact with the Cg and knew a ship was a couple hours away so I was basically like$%^# it. Its your boat . Again all I can think was he knew he messed up and at least knowbody was going to die. I have held my tongue for over a week , and will accept whatever happens for telling the truth. This was preventable, If he had not fallen asleep the water source could have been easily seen,and properly plugged. thanks thomas

:( IMCO

I wonder what this "owner" was doing during those three hours befor dawn. Not only loosing his cookies but loosing his cool too. With careful reading of his crew's account it is patently obvious to me the owner (not 'skipper') lost his marbles as well.

Don't you think the account suggests this guy willfully scuttled his ship?

This guy should loose his freedom. Sounds like fraud and endangerment and what other crimes they could charge this fluke with.

Isn't 'fluke' something you shouldn't get in yer liver?

SOB...perhaps we were right after all.

It sounds like the "crew" had more experience than the "captain" who obviously bit off more than he could chew.

Pete, Where/How did you get that confession?

That was on the Cruising World Bulletin Board. I feel for the guy. He was following the "captain's" orders, but probably should have taken over.

Its been said that a series of mishaps such as seasickness, equiptment failure and injury can set off a domino effect of increasingly poor decisions, if not panic.

This appears to be one of the worst examples.

Often the most important thing is to keep your wits about you.

Sometimes I think its best to grow up sailing boats that are always falling apart.

I have sailed with a lot of owners who weren't the captain , regardless of what they thought . Some of these folks were savy enough to realize it and some weren't . If there is a real crew and they know he hasn't got a clue , they just do what has to be done and ignore his raving . But sadly a lot of crews aren't that savy either . I used to race on a Pearson 42 or 44 (forty something ) with a crew of 8 and all were capable of being the captain if called upon to do so including the owner . I wouldn't hesitate a minute to go anywhere with those folks .
I know some guys I wouldn't cross the harbor with if I wasn't at the wheel .

An interesting contrast is the tale of the Westsail 32 "Satori" that was caught in the "Perfect Storm." The captain was forced to abandon ship by the crew.

On top of that, the captain gets reviled in the book and film simply for trying to ride out the storm.

This is his side of the story:

http://world.std.com/~kent/satori/

Earlier in this thread, I had been talking about building a watertight head compartment. The idea is to contain the water that might enter from a failed thru-hull fitting or hose on the marine head.

I created a "tub"in that area so that any water that enters would fill the tub up to the level of the water outside. Once the tub filled, no more water would enter if none could escape.

I had to do some work on the head, so I removed that first. I then glassed over the opening where the water tank spigot enters. I also smeared some sealant here and there whenever I saw any gaps.

On the port side, I built a partition under the V-berth. I used a triangular piece of 1/4 inch plywood, glassed it in place, and coated it with epoxy.

Then I painted everything with Kilz primer and wrestled the new head and hoses into place.

The starboard side of my boat has the holding tank, so I didn't need to build a partition there. There is a front cover you see sitting loose.

I ran a bead of sealant around the cover and screwed it in.

I did the same with the middle front cover. The middle cover was originally faced with wood-grain laminate. I had roughed that up with 80 grit and painted it with Brightsides.

The level of the water outside the boat is not even halfway up the bowl. Even if the tub were filled with water, it wouldn't lower the boat down very much.

Hopefully, I'll never have to find out if this works.

Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but the marine head uses the two thru-hulls and nine critical hose connections. Failure at any point could otherwise sink the boat at the dock in a matter of hours.

Those with a Porta-Pottie have less to worry about.

'Lo C'Pete,
just for the purpose of discussion here:
If the seacocks were easy to access, and given that one (or two) doesn't use the throne all that continuous, why not shut the valves off as part of the routine?