Need Help: Cracked hull at Faraulep in Carolinas

[wfraser]

David Devlin aboard Yarramundi in the Carolinas at Faraulep island hit a brommie entering harbor and has cracked the hull at the skeg. He has the leak well under control, and has the assistance of local islanders, but is having great difficulty getting a repair pack to him there from Guam. If anyone knows of a boat heading out of Guam in the direction of Faraulep, please contact me at wfraser@mac.com. I will update this post with direct contact information when I have it.

Faraulep Island Webpage:

http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/Caroline/Faraulep.php

David's blog is up to date on the issue and can be viewed at:

Inside view of crack in hull | Towards Sydney

Thanks for any assistance given

[foolishsailor]

David,

I read the blog. What a story. Maybe post here at certain times, morning and evening in both west coast US and GMT +1 time to ensure the whole compliment of sailors see this post.

I have no contacts with any boats in that area, but possibly in addition to asking for boats you could possibly discuss repair options and the inventory you are looking for.

The boat needs to cross at least 1000km and upto 1500km to get to Guam? Maybe let us know where he is located?

This is a difficult repair in the conditions the boat is in!!! Maybe some experts here will go to the blog and look and offer suggestions....

No offence, but this is why people are scared of skeg hung rudders for cruising....

[Cheechako]

what's a brommie?

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

what's a brommie?

Are you messing? I can only assume he meant bommie which is a coral head for non Aussies....

[stacy]

I think it is a coral head

[Cheechako]

Oh! Gday mite.!

[foolishsailor]

Here is an excerpt from the website. I would hope we could as a forum rally to this mans aide as it is a genuine "blue water emergency" and maybe spend less time discussing spelling errors and cultural differences like "brommie". He is in a remote location, and needs to effect a repair that will take him at least 1000km to Guam to effect a full repair. Can we as the most experienced forum on the web help this man?





This photo shows the tear in the hull and the where we placed putty to seal it. The propeller is to the right. The rudder is to the left but out of photo. The putty on the left side was applied afterwards to a hairline fracture and was putty for repairing plastic toys. I don't know why I had it on the boat but it helped reduce the leak. The leak is now down to about 1 litre every 4 hours. We have about half a tube of silicon rubber left plus a tube nurse Thomas has for the roof of his hospital. Unless the leak starts to increase we will save them.

[Cheechako]

Hey, just asked what a brommie was....

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Hey, just asked what a brommie was....

Yea sorry for overreact

[tropicalescape]

There is a Russian man that lives on Yap and he flies back and forth to Guam every couple of weeks,maybe you could talk to him and get one of the guys from the boat basin to fly out and help with the repairs.He is a semi -cheftian as he married a Yapese lady that has lots of stone money in her yard,he speaks good english and is very helpful to visitors...I wouldnt try to make it to Guam with that damage,even if patched up...His name is Alex and everybody knows him,I am sure he can help you,if not PM me and I will get you in touch with a friend on Guam that will..sorry about your misfortune...DVC

[atoll]

once propped up,as a tempory solution find polystyrene on the beach and mix with gasoline, this forms a paste similar to polyester resin that will stick to the hull,use some material or polypropelene sacking to reinforce.

sounds like they need to do a substantial epoxy repair inside and out,grinding out and reinforcing the cracked glass laminate,they are going to need 2-3 gallons of epoxy, 10 kg of csm fiberglass, 5l silicon powder,thinner, brushes and rollers.
disc grinder and 60 grit discs,also acetone.

i reccomend double sided stickytape and heavy polythene for sealing the area between tides whilst on the beach once grinding the hull begins.

it also might be an idea to build a wood dam midships and forward of the crack inside the boat till they can get on the beach to contain the water,builders cement mixed with coconut oil and fresh water will work as a waterproof quick drying cement,to hold it in place.

[minaret]

I would be happy to send a polyester repair kit free of charge from the shop if someone can figure out how to ship from Seattle to the necessary locale in a timely and vaguely affordable fashion. I could send resin, glass, laminate rollers, acetone, catalyst, some filler, grinding discs, etc etc. but no grinder (unless one is desperately needed and shipping it is plausible). Seems like a long shot. Shipping resin and solvents is probably particularly problematic as well.

[rebel heart]

Can that be fixed without hauling out and doing a full glass/epoxy job? Maybe beach the sucker and do it that way? At least a week repair if you hauled ass and had perfect weather.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Can that be fixed without hauling out and doing a full glass/epoxy job? Maybe beach the sucker and do it that way? At least a week repair if you hauled ass and had perfect weather.

i had a cracked skeg,400 miles from antigua on an atlantic crossing once,fortunately my boat has 3 watertight bulkheads so the leak was contained in the aft cabin.

the crack was letting in water every time a wave passed,but once on anchor only seeped slightly.

a passage from faraulap to guam would be hard in 4-6 ft seas at this time of year,puttin alot of strain on the rudder and skeg and almost a beat to wind ward with to current.
yap or palau would be a better bet downwind to lift out properly.

since the tide is so small there( 50cm) it might be an idea to use some heavy flat bar to"V" brace the skeg,thru bolted then to the hull.
then do a heavy epoxy repair on the crack inside.
and as much as can be got at outside at low water.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by atoll

i had a cracked skeg,400 miles from antigua on an atlantic crossing once,fortunately my boat has 3 watertight bulkheads so the leak was contained in the aft cabin.

the crack was letting in water every time a wave passed,but once on anchor only seeped slightly.

a passage from faraulap to guam would be hard in 4-6 ft seas at this time of year,puttin alot of strain on the rudder and skeg and almost a beat to wind ward with to current.
yap or palau would be a better bet downwind to lift out properly.

since the tide is so small there( 50cm) it might be an idea to use some heavy flat bar to"V" brace the skeg,thru bolted then to the hull.
then do a heavy epoxy repair on the crack inside.
and as much as can be got at outside at low water.

This sounds doable..Typhoon season starts in late may early june and aint no fun...head to Yap or Palau and the winds will be with ya,or stay there and bring help to render assistance ...this is bad looking stuff but if you make it to Guam you should be able to go about anywhere as Atoll said it is the hard route but the only place they have any type of boating facilitys that could do a proper job..good luck..DVC