How tough IS the bottom of our keel?

[willie]

Went for a motor /no-sail today, river trials with the nissan. Ran great, moved the boat right along, decided to do a little exploring across on the Washington side. They put in a new rv park, boat ramp and dock, so thought it would be a good time to check it out. Part of the indian/fish treaty deal out here. Anyway, found out it was at least 6' deep in there, so tied up and checked out the place for summer fun with the kids. All was well, water like glass, so couldn't have sailed anywhere anyway.Upon departure, i was just puttering along at idle, thinking of the Irving Johnson on the beach at Oxnard, and how i ought to maybe head a bit more offshore (can you use that for a river? lol) when sure enough, thumpity thump bump bump. Rocks. About 3' submirged. Depth sounder says 6'. Guess it hasn't seen the rocks yet! (make a note--mount transponder up fwd. a bit more--like 10' ahead of the bow!) Maybe it's a new vent from Mt. ST. Helens! Or just a continuation of the little rock point there to port? More likely. Humm, not on my old chart. Crap. Always wondered what i'd do WHEN this happened. Thought maybe it was just one lucky bugger, so went to the shrouds and rocked her side to side, no luck. Man, how DO you unstick a 5200lb. boat when it's high centered?! Looked like a good time to heat the tea water, and think about it, as i was still upright, and no breakers coming over the side, etc. Rivers are nice, most of the time. And it's actually just a big lake. But i digress.
WEll, i could lighten ship, but kinda looks like the only thing i could pitch would be the stinkin' outboard, which really crossed my mind! Never had this trouble SAILING! ONly other thing was about 200 lbs. of me, which really wasn't an option in 46 degree water. NO way i'm getting wet! So how about swinging the boom out, with me on it, tipping her more? No way am i trusting that little 1/4'' topping lift. (46 degree water enters mind again) So poking around with my 11' sweep, seems like i'm through the worst of it, open water ahead. I WAS heading out, just happend to get in behind this little bit o rock!
So now i'm thinking about blowing up the rubber raft, and hauling out the 25lb cqr a 100 yrds. or so, just like i read in a book somewhere, and winching her on ahead. The thought of blowing it up in the cockpit, and me getting in it, without getting wet (did i mention 46 degrees?) doesn't really sound too great. More tea. Wonder what a good stiff breeze would do? Now thoughts of spending a night out here surface, guess i better call the admiral at home. Glad i left the kids home too. Wonder how they'd react? Maybe some other day! Humm, forgot the cell phone. She'd just worry anyway if i did call. Ok, what are my options here? Call on the vhf? NO way. NOt today. Maybe tomorrow! Well, i think the anchor thing might work. Hey, this little 10 lbs dansforth stuck in here behind the raft bag might do it. I could just give it a good heave, and maybe it will grab good between these ******* rocks!
So that's what we did. And it worked. Ran the line through the bow chalk, back to a winch, and winched her up tight. Tight as i could. No movement. So i go up fwd, and just bend down to grad the line, and away we go! Yahoo!! Hope the dang shoe doesn't hit. Maybe with me up here it won't.
Well, the rudder still works, guess it must be ok. Humm. That wasn't too bad. Guess we better see if there's any water coming in anywhere. Don't see any.
So much for my grounding. (rocking?) Better go motor around some more, out in the DEEP water!

So, do i need to worry about the bottom, or did i just scrape off the bottom paint, maybe a bit of epoxy barrier coat? Guess i'll wait for the water to warm up a bit and find out. Might be August. If there's any water then. Did i mention the Columbia is about 2' lower than it was in August, the last time i was over the rocks? Just a couple factors contributed to my incident (old chart, lower water level, stupidity? lol) HOpe the Irving Johnson is as lucky as i was.

[c_amos]

Bill,

I hate to hear of your scuffing up that beautiful paint job on your hull, but I seriously doubt you have much to worry about.

I read of Zoltan's Commander being bashed against a reef by crashing waves for a prolonged period of time...... making horrible noises...... Him thinking it surely was being torn to shreds the whole time..... and coming away with just a few scratches and a tweaked rudder.

Thankfully, the New River (and most of my sailing grounds) are mud/sand. #226's keel is kept frightenly clean by the method you speak of here.

[c_amos]

I read of Zoltan's Commander being bashed against a reef by crashing waves for a prolonged period of time...... making horrible noises...... Him thinking it surely was being torn to shreds the whole time..... and coming away with just a few scratches and a tweaked rudder.

The account;
”At 0558, I awoke to surf swamping my transom and The Way’s keel grinding through coral. My chart was seven miles off, and the current was much heavier than anticipated. There were only a few minutes before I would be slamming against the sharp cliffs of Gaua, destroying and flooding my yacht.

I jumped in the cockpit and tried to steer the boat through the surf. When I made it to the inside where the breakers were smaller, the water became deeper again but not enough for me to stop grinding. My keel drew 4 feet, but the depth was only 3 feet. With every new wave, my boat lurched atop the coral, sounding the worst crashing noises a sailor could imagine……..”


Read the rest here (post #16 of this thread)

[frank durant]

hi Willie I suspect the only thing damaged was your paint.This past feb. I drilled a couple of 3/32 holes in the forward base of the keel to drain some trapped water...1 1/4 inchs thick ! ! I doubt a little bump and grind did much to that ! Keep motoring. ps..what hp is your motor? Frank#50

[ebb]

Ariel 338 MAY have similar thickness on the very bottom edge of the keel. I would not bet on it. When the encapsulated keel cavity was drained and filled there was plenty of opportunity to visibly see the thickness of the hull.

The thickness of the hull was never more than 3/8".

In the back of the keel forward of the rudder there may be a too high percentage concentration of polyester to fiberglass for good strength.



An Interphase probe was installed low in the stem requiring a fairly large hole for the sensor. The thickness of the stem was just about the same.

[frank durant]

Ebb When I was drilling drain holes on #50 , 2 holes on the side of the keel , both approx. 7in up from the base , showed a thickness of 3/8 - 7/16. I installed a new through hull for a raw water pick up for the sink just before the "turn to the bilge" and it showed 5/8. I suspected the 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 I found at the forward base of the keel was due to overlap of roving . ??? Any thoughts?