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A lesson for young boat owners


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Hello all,

we are still alive and have dusted off the boat again after a dalliance with the dark side in the form of a speedboat. The kids like tubing and there is no way I can convince them that sailing around is quite the same.

So, we relaunched the boat for the 3rd time since I broke the transom off by pulling it out from under the house with the outboard on the back and headed down river. (the 2nd time was interesting too as we nearly tipped it in a gust due to the crew having his leg over the mainsheet cleat, me having a beer in the non tiller hand and a BIG gust hit us... we luffed up and took a few gallons over the side)

Thinking how nice it was and how much nicer it would be if we could have a nice coffee as well we headed for the large aluminum floating dock out front of the riverside cafe in Ballina.

I made a mental note that last time I did this, I had unclipped the sails and motored onto the dock but thought, 'why not just luff up, up current and gently fall on'...

As the more perceptive readers will realise here was a problem developing. The current was stronger and the wind dropped all at the wrong time just as the crowd assembled. 

Crunch onto the dock... the sharp corner of the dock to boot, we arrived 6 foot too far down (no shouting though by the captain), we then fell off and drifted in behind the pontoon ending up with the bow wedged onto the retaining wall and the motor failing due to cavitation from arresting our drift. I let it gently nose onto the concrete wall, stem first cut the motor, got the rudder untangled and turned the motor through 180 deg and powered out. What a debacle.

Luckily we had some duct tape and all was well.

Here are a few shots of the hole in the side and it is back to the shed for repairs.

sigh

Rob

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Rob,

Sorry to hear about your debacle. Glad to see that there was not too much damage to either the boat or your ego.

One blessed thing about this is that when we build them, we can fix them. I'm quite sure you will be out on the water soon with a repair that is very hard to see.

Steve

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  Rob,

  Sorry to hear about the damage.  I'm glad it's something that can be fixed.  And thanks for sharing the cautionary tale.  I haven't hit anything that hard yet but I'm sure I will - I'd rather break my boat on the water than preserve it on the trailer  ;D

  Last time I took my boat on saltwater I managed to do some damage too - I stumbled off the foredeck and landed HARD on the starboard seat.  I'll post the pics in another thread when I get the chance to get to work fixing it.

  Do I remember correctly that you have sleeve-luff sails with zipper reefing?  If so, how has that worked for you?  What type/size of zipper?  I'm considering cutting up my sails to put some zippers and reef points in...

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Yes, I have done the slip and fall just missing the bit on the end of the centreboard too... not a happy thought getting that up your clacker.

We have the luff pockets etc but I do feel as if I have had to reinvent the wheel a bit with them.

Shall dig out some photos for you... I had some up on the web but not sure where at the present.

You need 2 zippers. That is the bit that foxed me for a while. You have one from the foot to the first normal cutout, then another up to the top cutout. Plenty of reef grommets and it is quite simple.

In hindsight, I think the best arrangement would be the soft luff sail plan ie no battens, so you can roll it up, a track up the mast so you can move it down before you reef and also the track allows easier reefing full stop. End of story.

More than that becomes overkill for the boat. My other thoughts were the balanced lug, like Nigel Irens Romilly. But once again you are at the cutting/bleeding edge reinventing stuff.

Paint it, put the sails up and go. Don't think too much about it. That is my advice.

Rob

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  Keep us updated on the repairs.

  Is the upper zipper to allow the sail to be reefed without removing the snotter?  I'm looking forward to the pics.

  The sun went down again before I found the energy to take my damage pics so maybe I'll be able to post tomorrow.

  If we keep beating our boats up everybody's going to think they aren't tough...  ;)

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Rob, this kind of accident could happen to any one of us, and as a matter of fact if you really ask around you'll find that we all have similar stories! But the question begs to be asked: if the hull had been 'glassed, would that have protected it? I see different approaches on this forum, some glassing the hull, others coating with epoxy. I'm about a week (no, let's be realistic, maybe a month) away from flipping my hull to do the bottom, and am still wondering how much, if any, fiberglass to use on the outside of the hull. I'd love to read some opinions on this.

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  Hi Sukie,

  (my opinion)

  Rob's boat has a puncture wound.  I don't know if the side of the boat is sheathed in fiberglass but I suspect it would not make much difference.  Fiberglass over plywood is really great protection from abrasion but I don't think you gain much strength against a puncture type event.  My boat is sheathed in fiberglass on the bottom panels but is epoxy-coated plywood otherwise.  I covered the bottom with the intent of protecting against abrasion, not hard hits from (relatively) sharp objects.  I'm happy with my strategy based on the way I abuse my boat but different uses might require different solutions.  Even just with epoxy coated sides I've done the normal bumping up against docks without damage.  It's the extroardinary hit on a sharp, immovable object that will hole the boat.  The good news is we all know how to fix that :)

  The most puncture resistant Core Sound in existence is probably the aluminum one up in (I think) Alaska.  Aluminum stretches a lot more than plywood (even glass covered ply).

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Yeah, but aluminum dents. That is a little bit harder to patch/fix. Looking at Rob's damage, I would be willing to bet that the "Tin Bin" would have a really nice dent in it -very possibly a hole.

I agree with Ken. I don't think fiberglass on the hull would have made much difference in this case. It probably would have had a hole in it anyway. When I fell on my Spindrift and "Broke My Boat," there was fiberglass tape on that joint and it tore because the stress was more than it could take. However, fixing it was relatively easy since I built the boat.

It is your choice, but a coating of glass does make the boat stronger and somewhat more abrasion resistant.

Steve

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