T-Boned Moorings 50 sinks in the BVI

[Valiente]

Unless saildrive seals affected by collision forces and leaked, shouldnt stern (engine room) and bow compartimentation provide buoyancy enough to cater for the flooded midhull section?

[Bean Counter]

Originally Posted by Valiente

Unless saildrive seals affected by collision forces and leaked, shouldnt stern (engine room) and bow compartimentation provide buoyancy enough to cater for the flooded midhull section?

I don't know about Leopards particularly but there may be a drain pipe that runs from the engine compartment to the bilge with a ball valve on it. If the valve is left open water can flow back from the bilge to the engine compartment (unless there is a check valve). Same for the front buoyancy compartment. When such a cat takes on water in the middle, one needs to make sure these valves are closed. Charterers may not be aware of this.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Jim Woodall

Ouch!! Here are photos of the damage to the Leopard. I haven't seen the damage to the Voyage catamaran. However, my understanding is its damage was minor in comparison. I doubt that has much to do with the quality of construction and more to do with the Voyage's bow being the point of impact.



Once saw an Island Packet out of Red Hook t-boned by a Jeanneau and the IP's damage was much more extensive. I think there is little debate that IP is a much, much more robust vessel.

Being that it hit right at the chain plates, that ought to be about the strongest point in the hull, and may be more difficult to repair.
I’d assume due to water ingress and damage she is going to be totaled?

Also ref the IP impact, The mass of the Mono hull that hit him has a lot to do with how much damage is done. Not that I want to ever get hit, but if I do, I’d rather a lightweight boat hit me, one that doesn’t have tons of ballast.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Being that it hit right at the chain plates, that ought to be about the strongest point in the hull, and may be more difficult to repair.
I’d assume due to water ingress and damage she is going to be totaled?

Also ref the IP impact, The mass of the Mono hull that hit him has a lot to do with how much damage is done. Not that I want to ever get hit, but if I do, I’d rather a lightweight boat hit me, one that doesn’t have tons of ballast.

I agree with everything you said with the possible exception of the chain plate area being the strongest. Yes, it should be a strong point, but perhaps the strength is more to resist stress from above, as opposed to the stresses of a perpendicular hit.



I would certainly like to hear the opinion of a naval architect or builder as I may well be wrong in my guesses about the stress. Certainly the stresses may not be as great as those of the owners and operators, particularly if not properly insured!

[saildoc]

Just talked to the base as my upcoming charter on my boat has been affected by scheduling. Per them, both vessels were under sail at the time of collision. No lives lost. As someone mentioned at the time of the collision, both vessels had vision of the other obscured by the jib. On my 5000 the bow of the starboard hull is part of the forward stateroom. On the port it is a sealed separate crew cabin. Both engines compartments are sealed from the rest of the bilge with their own bilge system. I had always expected that if a single hull was breached that the other would maintain floatation, but I am concerned that in several of the photos I have seen the stern of both hulls is in the water? We do know the vessel did not sink and is already out of the water on the travellift and being evaluated.

[chowdan]

That will be a full rebuild if it's not totalled. Everything down to the wires will need to be pulled and rebuilt.

What a nightmare situation to be in for both parties

[Tornadosailing]

Originally Posted by Valiente

Unless saildrive seals affected by collision forces and leaked, shouldnt stern (engine room) and bow compartimentation provide buoyancy enough to cater for the flooded midhull section?

This seems to be a common misconception. On my boat, and other cats I've looked at, the engine room bulkhead is really only water tight up to the level of the bridge deck. At this level there are wiring conduits and steering cable runs etc. Once the water in the cabin gets to the top of the stairs the engine room will flood. The crash boxes in the bows are the only thing that stays afloat.

[SV Melody]

The couple that are in the Med cruising S/Y Ruby Rose, one of the youtube channels, have been cat shopping and posting their various walkthroughs as individual videos. One of the specific things Nick looks at during the Build Quality assessment is whether or not the conduits used for electrical wiring running throughout the hulls are filled with expanding foam so that they don't become water conduits in the event of a hull breach. Some cat builders are filling and sealing the conduits during production, some aren't. After the boats are sold, of course, all bets are off if there are any mods or installs that might have compromised that sealant.



That by itself wouldn't explain both hulls being partially submerged but it would potentially explain one hull taking on so much water even with bulkheads that the rigidity of the whole boat's structure might drag the other hull partially down, even if it wasn't flooded. It could certainly be towed and lifted in that condition, I'd think.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by SV Melody

The couple that are in the Med cruising S/Y Ruby Rose, one of the youtube channels, have been cat shopping and posting their various walkthroughs as individual videos. One of the specific things Nick looks at during the Build Quality assessment is whether or not the conduits used for electrical wiring running throughout the hulls are filled with expanding foam so that they don't become water conduits in the event of a hull breach. Some cat builders are filling and sealing the conduits during production, some aren't. After the boats are sold, of course, all bets are off if there are any mods or installs that might have compromised that sealant.

..snip

Foaming the electrical conduits is a fire hazard. Just sealing one end of each conduit is all what's needed.

[mark_morwood]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Foaming the electrical conduits is a fire hazard. Just sealing one end of each conduit is all what's needed.

It also makes it very hard to run new wires if you ever change anything in the electrical system, e.g. instruments, solar, ...