Catamaran Sinking

[roetter]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

The only time you would want to leave a catamaran was if it was on fire.

+1

Need to find those automatic fire extinguishers in US. Was easy to get them in Europe. Had 4 on my previous boat. Each engine room, battery compartment and behind electrical panel.


Rolf

[sy-barit]

I would first of all state tham I'm Sorry for the double post but think that the info is very relevent in this thread.

I would also like to state that I'm a mono-hull-weenie looking for a used Lagoon 380 so I'm not taking any sides! :-)

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A swedish couple, Stefan and Svetlana Jerkander, were on their way from Croatia to Thailand when their cruising catamaran suddenly started to take in water through one of the escape hatches on the 13th of August. According to the Swedish article the boat sunk in less than 8 minutes about 20km outside the Sudanese cost.

The couple were not able to launch the life raft in time and jumped into the dinghy where they were stuck during 12 hours before sighting a first ship. They launched a flare but the ship started to turn away, afraid of it being a pirate-trap. The captain did however reconsider when the second of the flares were fired and decided to close on the little dinghy – but with heavily armed guards on the railing.

The couple were picked up and got a good welcome once onboard.

To make their challenges even more interesting they were not allowed to leave the vessel when it arrived in Kandla (India) as they did not have enough money to bribe the officials who requested 1000USD under the table to let then into the country. The couple are now heading to Singapore where the Swedish consulate has been informed and are to be waiting by the docks.

Have anybody found any other relevant information regarding this? Pictures of the catamaran can be found at the source listed below.

Source: Svenskarnas båt förliste på Röda havet | Nyheter | Expressen
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BR
S/Y Barit

[yeloya]

It's said that a "supposodly" Nautitech 40 has sunken. The initiator of the the thread doesn't want to say where forrm he's got this info. I've searched the internet, I cannot get any clue. (İ am not saying that it's not true)

Every catamaran can sink but in a condition that a cat risks to sink a mono will definately sink.
Years ago one of our Athena's had hit another boat with 7 kts of speed and had a large hole, partly under water. The boat had one hull fully submerged, towed to the yard 25 nm away, was repaired and she is still sailing.
The other one was just a few weeks ago; a Lagoon that hit the rocks when motoring. The front of the keel was ripped of and there was a hole of about 30 cm by 15 cm. The port hull was full of water, boat inclined app. 40 degrees to the port side and the boat was rescued. In my view, if the skipper was in the open sea this specific boat would have sunken. Instead, he drove the boat to the coast in about 30 minutes and saved the boat. A monohull under smilar conditions would probably be sunken in a matters of minutes..
In short, every boat can sink, including the cats. The chances of getting away with a cat in case of collision is much higher compared to mono's and possibly the cats would sink slower even if they sink.
Cheers
Yeloya

[mikereed100]

It is worth bearing in mind that any account of a sinking in the non-boating press, whether in reference to mono or multi, should be taken with a gram of saltwater. It is doubtful that most journalists would be able to distinguish between "sinking" and "swamping" unless they too are sailors.

[a64pilot]

My 38' mono carries 10,000 lbs of ballast, how much does a similar sized Cat carry?
Ballast may have a lot to do with how fast something goes down?

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My 38' mono carries 10,000 lbs of ballast, how much does a similar sized Cat carry?
Ballast may have a lot to do with how fast something goes down?

The only ballast a cat carries are its diesel engines.

[JPA Cate]

sy-barit,

Thanks for posting that link. While some of the posters after your post seem not to have read it, I tried letting the computer translate, and while it's not perfect, it certainly is understandable.

Those poor guys, what a horrible experience.

Ann

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by Factor

This sort of thing doesn't happen regularly, but it does happen. There is simply no reason for a a modern cat/tri to sink if designed/built correctly. Indeed even ballasted monos can achieve this these days. I think it was/is Elan? that had a product that was unsinkable?

Hi,

I think You meant Etap

ETAP - Unsinkable Sailing Pleasure

Cheers,

Tomasz

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by yeloya

Every catamaran can sink but in a condition that a cat risks to sink a mono will definately sink.

Cheers
Yeloya

No, not every cat. Or tri. Mine can't. The materials to build bare shell of my boat occupied three 1.2 x 2.4 metre pallets stacked 1 metre high.

So 8.64 cubic metres, just in the empty shell. Then there's at LEAST another 3 cubic metres of materials in the furniture and fitout.

Yet at launch the boat weighed 4.8 tonnes, partly loaded. We cruise at maybe 6.5 tonnes, maximum.

So it simply can't sink. Even in the unlikely event that every one of the 50+
sealed buoyancy compartments were flooded, the boat, on average, is simply not as dense as water.

And there are plenty of similarly built boats, which also simply cannot sink.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My 38' mono carries 10,000 lbs of ballast, how much does a similar sized Cat carry?

None.

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

No, not every cat. Or tri. Mine can't. The materials to build bare shell of my boat occupied three 1.2 x 2.4 metre pallets stacked 1 metre high.

So 8.64 cubic metres, just in the empty shell. Then there's at LEAST another 3 cubic metres of materials in the furniture and fitout.

Yet at launch the boat weighed 4.8 tonnes, partly loaded. We cruise at maybe 6.5 tonnes, maximum.

So it simply can't sink. Even in the unlikely event that every one of the 50+
sealed buoyancy compartments were flooded, the boat, on average, is simply not as dense as water.


And there are plenty of similarly built boats, which also simply cannot sink.

Being an engineer, I have an idea on buoyancy calculations. Remember though that Archimedes had found this principal in a bathtub and the things are somewhat different on the sea; unpredicted hydro dynamic/aerodynamic forces may prove Achimedes wrong ..
That's why I said all boats can sink.

But this really doesn't matter, if YOU believe that YOUR boat will not sink under any condition, good for you..

Cheers

Yeloya

[DumnMad]

"unpredicted hydro dynamic/aerodynamic forces may prove Achimedes wrong .."

Doesn't sound like a maths person speaking. Dynamic forces have nothing to do with whether a material will float or not.
8.64 cu.m hull material weighing 5t can't sink in seawater or freshwater but according to Archimedes it would sink in air.

[chris in SG]

I'm sorry to say - the photo of the owners of the cat in the Swedish online news, that's definitely a Nautitech 40, in case there was any doubt.

I say "I'm sorry" because I'm a N40 owner so it's a shame. They have watertight compartments in the lower forepeak area and polystyrene blocks filling the space under the aft bunks. I have cut some of these (and felt a bit guilty) to make space for a/c installation. I've often wondered if the quantity of polystyrene was calculated to be adequate or merely added as a token gesture.

If the boat is fully loaded, the escape hatches are probably just 6" above the waterline. They are like conventional hatches but with levers at 4 corners rather than two, which means that even if the hinge breaks, being the weakest link, they should still be secure.

I hope that we hear from the poor owners at some point..

[Sos]

Reading that article it is frightening just how quick it sunk.
It also said the couple had borrowed the boat from a friend so hope
they had good insurance.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Sos

Reading that article it is frightening just how quick it sunk.
It also said the couple had borrowed the boat from a friend so hope
they had good insurance.

That conflicts with the links in my previous post showing it was in charter in Croatia and was being advertised for future charter in Phuket.

Based on those, it was a delivery - not just a borrowed boat on a cruise.

I wonder if the conflicting story has something to do with the crew and insurance?