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acreew

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Ok here we go, (cs17 339)

on 2/25  my friend and I were returning from an overnight on shackleford to the oyster creek boat ramp .... winds increased to 20-30.... sailing downwind full sails..at oyster creek inlet (1.5 to 2 miles out). Was about to drop sails and motor in due to conditions but attempted a last tack. Did not uncleat mainsail and friend didn’t get to the line... immediate capsize... wave action drove masts down into bottom..swam to shore..,barely made it...BIG lesson. 

 

Coast guard notified ...tow boat contacted ... couldn’t find boat... search discontinued...2 days later contacted by someone checking their duck blinds who found the boat and towed it to their home approx 6 miles southeast of position on 2/25....boat retrieved  this Saturday.

 

boat in amazingly good shape. I need guidance in repairing the front and rear mast tubes and rear starboard seat. I will send pics and more detailed description when I have more time.

 

obviously I got too far over my skis....I am very humbled and very thankful to have another chance with this wonderful boat. Until my mistake it performed flawlessly.

 

Will

 

 

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Glad you and the boat are OK. Scary. I had a similar situation many years on a Snipe. She barely floated and I had to swim quite a ways to get to shore.

 

Anyway, 20-30 with full sail is probably where things got dicey. I sail a Sea Pearl (while I am building my CS20.3) which is not self recoverable after a capsize. So I learned to sail it a bit conservatively. From that I've learned that performance with the right amount of sail area actually doesn't degrade and can actually increase performance. I'm often surprised how well it sails with significantly reduced sail area. My guess is a reef or two would have led to a different outcome.

 

Again I'm glad you are OK.

 

 

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Glad you and your friend are OK, and your boat as well.  For me it is a cautionary tale to take risk management more seriously.  I am getting older and need to 

reconsider choices sometimes.  I couldn't help but remember Shakleford himself as your recounted your experience.

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Ouch, I bet that water was cold still! Been there, running before 25 mile wind with the boat surfing at 7-8 and you think the fun will never end. In the excitement it is easy to forget the difference between apparent and true wind. To do a gibe in that kind of wind is not for the faint of heart and slow of hand but you learnt that already. Better luck next time PeterP

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The first 2 pics are from above the forward mast tube.

 

the next 3 are the top of the mast tube torn away from the deck... Appears that the king plank snapped just forward and aft of the tube.

 

Next is the remains of mast tube on the step (middle portion of the tube broke away.

 

the last 2 pics are of the split decking on starboard bench at the back,

 

i would appreciate any thoughts on making these repairs... Also there is a crack in the aft mast tube... Mot sure if this needs to be addressed.

 

thank you for your thoughts

 

will

 

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Pretty clear that the foredeck must come off and the structure underneath replaced.  In doing this kind of work, I use a router with a straight bit set to the depth of the outside panel and route around the edge to the level of the inwhale and stem.  Cut out the rest with a jig saw and remove the whole thing.  Clean up so a new foredeck can be built to fit exactly like the old one and replace the mast tube.  Trying to do this piecemeal will probably turn out to be more work and less successful. 

 

I'm surprised the mast was strong enough to do this much damage.  Most of them just break off above the deck with much less damage like yours.

 

Good luck with it.

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Hi Will,

 

I am sorry to hear of your misadventure. The elements can be unforgiving but I am really glad that you got her back.

 

One of the things that I love about this construction is that you can carve out the damaged areas carefully and piece it back together and if you put some time into the cosmetics you, should not be able to tell that anything happened to the boat and be just as strong.

 

I suspect that the mast partially came out of the step to do the damage that it did. There is no damage to the heel which is reinforced to take those forces.

 

Ditto to what Tom said but with some exceptions. As you do not show us the big picture I can only assume that there is no other damage to the bow area. If so I do not see the need to take the whole foredeck off the boat because it is nearly 6' long not counting the radius into the side deck.

 

It appears that the king plank is damaged back to the forehatch and is shot. As you will have to remove it, you will need to get into the hatch coamings. I would cut the fore deck along the red line and glue a 1/4" ply 4" wide butt block (magenta), half under the original deck and start rebuilding the deck forward from there. The grain of the ply butt block should be fore and aft.

 

It goes without saying that all of the surfaces that you are going to epoxy to should have paint or crud removed and freshly sanded so that your bond can achieve full strength.

CS17 deck frame.jpg

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I did not mean that the entire foredeck should come off but only back to the main bulkhead.  How much damage is actually done to the beams in addition to the kingplank is not shown and will probably be clear when you have full visual access.  The forward part of the foredeck would be buckled if there were damage to the stem/bow area so I doubt that is the case. 

 

I devised the router technique to remove a large damaged plywood panel from a 24' trimaran some years ago and the interior frames and stringers were not affected at all.  After installing a new panel and fairing it in, the repair was invisible.  I'd expect the same success with your boat.  How much of the foredeck needs removing will be clear when you get into the job.  There is an obvious point at the forehatch shown by Graham that will be easier if there is no damage beyond that.

 

The bad news is that we sometimes break our boats.  The good news is that, since we built them, we can also fix them.  No boatyard bills involved.

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Thank everyone for the replies.

 

I will know more once I get some material removed...hopefully this weekend. From my initial inspection, it appears that the king plank is affected only forward of the hatch and before the stem. It appears that it broke at the points just before and after the doubler around the mast hole. I does appear that the mast came out partially as the middle of the mast tube was completely broken free of the rest. It is amazing to me  how strong the mast step is.....for a period of at least 1.5 hours the hull had approx. 500 lbs of humans on it in 3-4 foot waves with the masts stuck on the bottom....not to mention what it went through with all of the drifting.

 

Anyhow, thank you Graham and Tom for taking the time to help me address this. I was initially planning on wedging myself in the bow to do this piecemeal which was not going to be good for anybody (I account for half of the 500 lbs). The idea of the router is excellent and I am very happy that (in the absence of further damage) that I will be able to use butt blocks. BTW the bow is completely fine as far as I can tell. I will get my son in the hatch with a camera to get better pics of any further damage and  will hopefully know more when I get some of the deck removed.

 

Strangely, I am looking forward to the repair with the exception of the painting.

 

Again... Thank you all very much...I will send more info as I get it.

 

Will

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  • 1 month later...

You could use a rabbet plane horizontally on the deck edges, possibly a block plane if there's a slight gap above the rub rails.  I mention rabbet plane because it does not need a gap.  Set the plain for a very slim cut, essentially fuzz.  Take it slow, work from aft to bow to allow for the grain.  It should work out well.

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I think you might get away with Paul's idea of a rabbet but you'd need to be careful of the sharp plane edge biting into the topsides.  My first thought would be to attach a guide block to the rabbet plane that rides on the deck.  The depth would of course be set to the deck thickness.  I've used this idea on different jobs and even drilled and tapped a mounting hole(s) in the plane body.  To me, a tool is a tool and I don't mind modifying them.

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Thanks everyone,

i ended up using my block plane finishing up with a long board with paper placed so as not to contact side of the deck...was harder and took a lot longer but no $ for a plane I would rarely use. Thanks again for the ideas!

 

now to save up for masts, sails and hardware.

 

 

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Your post motivated me to go out and check my mast tubes during the spring commissioning of my CS 17.  I did notice a crack in the paint right down the middle of the foredeck and continuing after of the hatch.  This is the seam between the two halves of the plywood deck.  I suspect that water infiltration would weaken a king plank overtime to the point of failure.  I made my kingplank out of mahogany and it is still sound, but I will be sanding down the middle and applying a piece of 3" tape down the seam, then repainting.  Interesting thread, thanks for posting.  

 

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Hey.... I am glad it was helpful. Great that through the process of building we are able to make repairs/improvements. I will also consider the tape. How long did it take before the crack appeared?

 

Unrelated, but constantly on my mind of late...... In redoing the front mast tube, I did not level the boat per the waterline...I noticed from the relative position of the mast step drain hole, that my new tube is approx. 1/4 inch different L to R and approx. 1/8 different front to back. I used the levels method shown by Alan in the video, but of course the boat is in a different position (on the trailer). I know I wont know how out of whack it is until I build the masts and insert them. Too late now, Just hoping for any feedback on if I completely screwed up and will have to redo. Deck is now on and I cannot imagine how to replace the mast tube at this point. Measure twice cut once....phhht!

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If I had to rebuild the mast tube, I would drop it off the trailer, level it, and then plumb the mast to the degree specified.  It appears to difficult to keep climbing ladders and bending in weird ways to get the tube right.  Must be my age and aching bones talking.  I made a small padded cradle that the stern drops into nicely when I push it off the trailer.  The bow is simply supported on a few old life vests.  

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