Worst Case Scenario: Hitting A Sunken Container - What To Do!??

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I agree , I reduce sail at night , I was merely commenting that hitting a container at 5 knots or 7 knots ain't going to make a lot of difference

Da d

Actually it likely will make a lot of difference. The energy available to a collision is proportional to the square of the speed times the mass of the vessel. At 7 knots the kinetic energy is almost twice the energy available at 5 knots. If I had to hit something I would a lot rather do it at 5 knots than 7.

[hellosailor]

"Divers have to add air to stop sinking. There is nothing like that in a container. "
You're missing the point. Once trimmed to hover at a certain depth, they stay and hover.
If you think a wave washing over a container will always compress it enough to "change" it and sink it, consider a rubber duck, or a Styrofoam cup. they'll float forever, even after repeated waves wash over them. You need to permanently compress the air spaces in order to affect the buoyancy. Will that happen to a container? Eventually, usually. And then there's the reefer cube of taco chips that did wash up in California, from the Pacific islands. Rubber ducks, sneakers from the pacrim...Sure, the containers often sink. Except for the unknown percent that float for thousands of miles.
Trying to hypothesize about the specific levels of ten thousand containers without actually having hard numbers as to how each behaves and what the containers are filled with? Doesn't matter if you hit the one that is just awash for a week or two.

Like deadheads floating in any logging area, which also endure for far longer than your theory would allow.

[neilpride]

As far i know, refrigerated containers are waterproof and watertight.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Mr B

And if they hadnt cheated with the Bulkheads, It would not have sunk either,

And the rivets. Turned out they also used substandard rivets holding the outer shell together, so it all fell apart easier.

[rtbates]

Quickly transfer your stuff to the floating container. Set off EPIRB. And WAIT..

[Andy73]

Has anyone produced a sailboat with a steel rib for the cutwater edge? Or even for the keel in general?

I did a quick google but didn't see anything.

[Mr B]

There are quite a few boats with a brass or steel or iron leading edge, running down under the keel,

If that is what you mean,

[goboatingnow]

I dont beleive a conventional steel yacht made to normal leisure yacht plate thickness would survive a container strike. Ive seen quite a lot if steel boat damage and the welds usually fails and the seam opens.

Dave

[Group9]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I agree , I reduce sail at night , I was merely commenting that hitting a container at 5 knots or 7 knots ain't going to make a lot of difference

Da d

http://www.ajdesigner.com/phpenergyk...y_equation.php

Plug your boat weight in with 5 versus 7 knots and see how much the joules increase. I think you will be surprised.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I dont beleive a conventional steel yacht made to normal leisure yacht plate thickness would survive a container strike. Ive seen quite a lot if steel boat damage and the welds usually fails and the seam opens.

Dave

There is a hell of a difference in hitting a floating object and some thing solid,

[zeehag]

worst case scenario is dying before you can have the chance to go out to find what you would do if that container jumped out suddenly in front of your boat deliberately to sink you.....

[Oceanride007]

I think the odds are pretty low, based on my experience working on a container vessel, reefer containers are stored low so that the engineers can access them to do refrig work. Usually the containers lost are up high, ordinarily those containers unless filled with low permeable cargo (balloons) would sink readily. Once we lost a reefer (refrig container) (stowed on main deck) we reported it as a navigation hazard. But realistically that would sink within 5 Hours. The storm that caused it, well unlikely a yacht would choose to be there.
Think containers get blamed unfairly for yacht mishaps. Still, personally, I would be more comfortable with either metal hull or collision bulk head.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Mr B

There is a hell of a difference in hitting a floating object and some thing solid,

Problem is a container is pretty solid. Very rough calculations a 20' container has a volume of about 10,000 gallons, a 40' container double that.

Even if the container is 80% full of cargo that leaves c. 2000 gallons of water to fill a 20' container or about 8 MT. Add the weight of the container (2-3 MT) and the cargo (up to 25 MT) at a min you will be running into a 12-15 MT object. Max could be over 30 MT. That much weight will be the same as hitting something very solid.

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by rtbates

Quickly transfer your stuff to the floating container. Set off EPIRB. And WAIT..

+1

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

They do... and they can be sailed and docked submerged... see 'Pirates of the Caribbean'...

I have been practicing my " nonchalant stepping onto the dock from a submerged hull" move for years now... I hope I never need it... But if I ever do, I hope there is a crowd to see it! (and hand me a beverage)