Folks - everyone is well shaken up about this and thinking about our own boats I guess - I certainly am!
Without responding to any one particular post / forum (and I've looked at a few!!) grateful if you would consider the following collated suggestions - not all my own - but which I tend to concur …
1. The initial
leaks were caused by a few (maybe 2or 3??) failed keel bolts?
2. Reason for bolt failure...I don't buy into this "previous grounding" argument I'm afraid
3. More likely metal fatigue?
4. Should we treat our keel bolts like our
rigging? Like, change every 5 years?
5. Probably not...but on a production cruiser /
racer which has been thrashed for (I've heard) ten years?
6. The British are responsible for recovering the wreck and the MAIB for analysing the cause
7. They should (ASAP) look at boats of the same type (and track record) as CF and draw some keel bolts
8. That said – metal fatigue is almost impossible to detect
9. Until that time, constructive (and non – abusive) discussion on forum such as these can only be a good thing
As a living (and to keep my darling boat as she's is accustomed) I do risk assessments on ships for a
marine insurance company…it’s all about how to stop something bad happening but when it does, how to recover from it.
As for Loss of Keel – I’ve never drawn the bolts and the boat is 20+ years old. Are the bolts
stainless steel? No idea. Last
survey report “not able to access keel bolts – water in bilge”…duh?
Recovery Measures - still working on that one!
Something good comes from most maritime incidents and will for this I’m sure – hey – we’re all talking aren’t we?! x