Ran aground during sea trial..

[Pete7]

The buyer needs to pay for the survey so that there is a contract between the surveyor and the buyer if it all goes pear shaped down the road.

The cost of the lift out for 32ft yacht is as Dockhead says about E100 for an hour in the slings plus the time for the surveyor to attend and just check the keel inside and out, after all he has already checked the rest, perhaps E100.

I would have no hesitation as a buyer spending this on a E30,000 yacht.

The good news is the contessa whilst fin keel but with a long cord (hull joint) unlikely to need anything apart from a small pot of antifoul paint to touch up,

Pete

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

, cos the boat is just fine. I'd bet my first born on that

Whoa! ok, case closed! I can't top that one.

[Lizzy Belle]

I'm just trying to offload my kid so I can go cruising

[Cheechako]

it's hard to say. A short stop with a bang? Pull it quick, let it sit in the slings, and look for any crack/smile fore and aft of the keel.
Just a bump, bump, but abrupt stop? My guess is it's fine. I have hit hard in a medium heavy laid up hull at 5.5 knots a couple times... with nothing but a scrape (molded keel/ part of the hull.) I know a production hull that hit a rock at about 5-5.5 and suffered $20k damage.

[Pete7]

Time for a video, okay not a contessa but close enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvxhQO4pw2E

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

I'm just trying to offload my kid so I can go cruising

Really? I am trying to train my crew so I can be served my drinks on the poop deck while they sail the boat!

[ericoh88]

A few decades ago, can't and don't want to remember, I was coming out of Ko Pipi bay Phuket just after sunrise. All the fishing boats were heading straights towards an island. After following half way I decided to cut out in 15ft waters.

Shortly the boat hit something and came to a complete halt! My friend who was standing on the deck holding to the mast was nearly thrown off. I put the engine in neutral, open the floor board and checked the keel bolts/bilge for any water intrusion. Nothing .

Turn the boat back to the mooring, dive under to see the damage. Only a scratch even with a hit to a coral head at 5 kts.

That was a 31ft fin keel spade rudder. Strong bugger.

For the sake of your peace of mind, have a look. You dive, another person dive, go pro, haul out, seller pay, you pay, pay half-half then kiss kiss make up whatever. You will not sleep well until you know whether there is any damage, right?

Eric

ps. talk about coral head, last year an aluminium beautiful 70 sailboat hit a rock at 50ft waters in Indonesia! not on the charts

[Jim Cate]

How about this for a solution:

Have the boat lifted and inspected. If there is no damage, the buyer pays for the lift. If there is damage, the seller pays for both lift and repair, and the sale goes through. In either case, the buyer calms his worries (and for a tiny fraction of the purchase cost), and if the seller is correct in there being no damage, he does not loose out on proceeds.

jim

[Jd1]

I am really surprised at all the people saying 'don't worry'.
I am also surprised that the issue of sand is raised as the grounding was described as violent.
If you are willing to take a boat sailing after a mishap like that without a second thought, I for one would never want to sail with you - it is not responsible behaviour. If you are like me (and it sounds like it), it would sit in the back of your mind until you had hauled the boat to see exactly what the damage was. It is insane to suggest you carry ANY of the costs since it is not your boat and since you were not in command.
SO here is my 6 cents worth .... the boat is not yours yet, do not proceed with the sale until the issue is checked out at the sellers cost. To put this recommendation into perspective, I know of a grounding at around 3 knts where the rock won big time. It cost around 20k to fix this. There was no water intrusion after the grounding but there were stress cracks in the hull at both the leading edge as well as the trailing edge of the keel. The boat might not have been as strong as the one being discussed here but are you REALLY going to risk that ????
The nick in the keel on this grounding I am talking about would have been a matter of less than $100 at the next haul but because the structure was compromised the repair was extremely expensive and took a long time.
The thing that everybody always mentions when boat buying - don't get attached until it's yours. You are obviously attached and invested in this boat which is a bad thing. Sit back and rationalize the purchase .... try to remove yourself from the point where you have already decided in your mind that this is your boat and you have already shelled out money for the survey etc etc etc. I know it is real tough to do but that is what you need to do.

[Jd1]

Oh, one other comment, the stress cracks would have likely not been found if the boat hadn't be hauled. You need to make sure that the bilge is thoroughly inspected for stress cracks even if there are none visible on the outside.

[crankysailor]

Thanks for your useful post jd1.. I do find it interesting that at some point in the thread it was decided we hit sand when none of the three people actually there could say that for sure. Neither the owner who lives around the corner nor the surveyor said what it was for sure. One can only GUESS.

So yes.. if it was sand I see what people mean. Like somebody told me on a PM it seems hitting sandbanks is sort of a pastime in the Netherlands but this happened around the corner where the owner has been sailing for 15 years.. he knows the place like the back of his hand.. and he hits something? the only thing he said (after quite a lot of what I assume are expletives in dutch) is that there has been some construction going on nearby. Did they dump something around that bend? were they concrete blocks with steel rods sticking out?.. did somebody dump a car with a corpse last night?. Nobody knows for sure..

Another thought.. I am new to boat ownership.. but I just thought for a second after reading jd1's post.. if this was my own boat.. would I haul her out as soon as possible to assess any damage?.. hell yes!. I would do that 100% for sure. It is only a 100 Eurobucks or so..

The question was more geared at understanding what people's perceptions on the matter is.. i.e. it is unreasonable to make demands from someone else about checking his boat for example.. or is a grounding serious enough. I sort of got my answer which is.. "it depends"

At this point we are all friends and I will ask the seller what his opinion on the matter actually is and what we can do about it.

Thanks to all for the great ideas and comments as always!..

[evbeck]

Unlikely that you have a problem with a Contessa 32, but would haul or send diver down for peace of mind. Very solid boat.

[Bill Balme]

I go for number 4. When you do it again, you can blame the damage on the previous owner!!

[BobLoucks]

That's the stopper "the wife is freaking out"
Personally would have it lifted for a quick visual just on that point.
I have run aground more times than I would like to admit without sustaining anything more than a bruised ego and a few knicks to the keel. However seeing as the seller did the deed why not offer to split the cost before signing up?

[marlinmike]

I agree with this 100%:

Originally Posted by ausnp84

Have the boat re-hauled again (at the seller's expense) just to check. Sure, it might be nothing - but what if he's hit something solid and caused a crack? You don't want that on your dime...

n