When You Hit a Container . . .

[hummingway]

After a spring tide here in the PNW it can get interesting. If I've seen them I give 'em a lot of room. Sort of like ice bergs, it's the unseen stuff below I worry about. Sometimes getting through tide lines is like running a guantlet.

[wolfenzee]

I live in the Pacific North West, I have had two logs (about 2' in diameter and about the length of my boat bump along the side and hear of a "dead head come up through the crews quarters and out the deck of a 60' fishing trawler. Traveling down the inland water way (east coast) there were losts of signs for propeller shaft straightening services. Of all the stuff I have seen about the worst is logs but I know someone who almost hit a 55gallon drum but was lucky enough to be looking at their radar just as it bobbed up.

[SvenG]

We just sewed a collision mat out of a blue tarp in the hope that having it would mean that we'd never need it. It is a triangle about 10' per side with a 2 lb soft weight-belt weight sewed into one corner. We have yet to rig the lines on it and try it.

I'm not sure it would help even if we needed it but at least we have it. The article in the Swedish Cruising Club magazine that made us make it was quite interesting. They contacted some outfit with a practice boat that could be holed for emergency practice. They found that even with prior discussion of how to locate the leak and what to do it still took 3 tries before the crews were good enough to not "lose" the practice vessel. Not very encouraging.

Reading another article about a steel hulled sailboat sinking within 10 minutes of striking a (presumed) container was also alarming. The lesson there was to slow down at night when you are less likely to see the danger and also less likely to see where you have been holed.

After those two articles we read about sandy beaches and palm trees and felt a lot better.



-Sven

[wolfenzee]

Because 5200 cures while wet (actually prefers it) I know people that carry a caulking gun full of 5200, helps seal up a collision mat. I know someone that had a large piece pf 1/4 plywood stowed :just in case", that and 5200 saved their boat.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Interphase 200-C. Think of it as underwater radar. Under $3000.

Cruisers & Sailing Forums - Roy M's Album: Interphase 200C Scanning Sonar

I have a system similar to this. Entirely useless for spotting floating containers in time to dodge them. At six knots you're moving at about 3 meters per second. That device has a practical range -- the distance at which you get a clear blob which is not just a flicker on the screen -- is what, 30 meters, at best?

So in ideal conditions you would have maybe 10 seconds from a clear blob on the screen to impact, at 6 knots (we usually sail faster). You would have to have two people watching the screen 24/7 (so they could trade off every 10 minutes or so -- can't stare continuously) and ready to shout at the helmsman, who by he way would always have to be right on his station ready to instantly put off the autopilot and steer.

Ain't gunna happen.

[hpeer]

There have been some interesting previous threads:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...cean-8036.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...age-45972.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...sea-20680.html

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hpeer

There have been some interesting previous threads:

in any of those threads have any of our actual members ever actually hit a container at sea?

I think you will find the answer is no.

But if theres evedence to the contrary show me the post

[Tortuga's Lie]

Several years ago, my wife and I were heading into Baltimore harbor when we hit a submerged rail-road tie. After impact, I looked behind us and saw it bobbing up and noticed that it still had spikes in it. I immediately checked the bilge for water and was relieved that there was none. Afer we tied up to the marina as a transient, we saw that a diver was replacing props on a power boat across from us. We asked the owner what happened....he hit the same railroad tie. I dived on our boat and the only thing that occurred was a little creosote smudges on the leading edge of our keel. Our prop was spared

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by lucast70

The last 20 years or so, containers are designed to sink if they fall off the ship....

Great in theory. In real life, not so much. E.g., Liz and Andy Copeland bashed into the corner of a container floating corner up while sailing Bagherra in the Med. Fortunately, the First 38 is well built and Andy had filled the space between the hull and structural liner below the anchor well with high density foam. The skin of the hull was damaged at the bows, though likely not enough to have sunk the boat, but the foam prevented water intrusion and they were able to make repairs without undue difficulty.

For our part, we banged into a dead-head one evening while sailing from Catalina to Long Beach in 1988, about mid-way. No damage to the hull but the damned thing broke our shaft strut leaving us unable to motor. Fortunately, winds were favorable and we were able to sail right into our slip at Alamitos Bay YC without difficulty. In our wake, the thing looked like a vey big piling floating vertically with the top just at the water's surface. It gave me the chills... We were lucky.

FWIW...

[wolfenzee]

Considering the large number of stray logs up here in the PNW (there is a paper mill next door) I am surprised that that none of these power boats running at 20knots has ever hit one. Up in BC I have heard over the VHF warnings of stray logs and some marinas up there give away flags you can stick on a log and report.

[John A]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

in any of those threads have any of our actual members ever actually hit a container at sea?

I think you will find the answer is no.

But if theres evedence to the contrary show me the post

Several years ago a HC 33 did an emergency haul-out after hitting something sumeraged outside of the SF Golden Gate. It had a two inch square notch in the front of its full keel which had not been there before.

Social Media had not been 'invented' yet so there is no post.

If your boat sinks while off-shore and you're not rescued there will be no post from the skipper. Rather he will be blamed for poor seamanship.

[Capt Phil]

That's why 'deadheads' are called 'widow makers' in the PNW... Capt Phil

[roverhi]

Refrigeration containers are heavily insulated and tightly sealed. The will undoubtedly sink if filled with water but that could take a long time to happen. There have been a lot of unexplained boat losses that could very well be container strikes. A Westsail 32 that sank north of Hawaii comes to mind. The epirbs automatically actuated as did the life rafts but no sign of crew or the boat and no distress signal. Moderate sea and wind conditions. Whatever happened to that boat, it sank almost instantly. If you've read the account of the fellow who hit a container and drifted for months in his raft afterwards, you know these things will rip the heart out of a boat and sink it in the blink of an eye.

According to one reliable source, more than 10,000 containers go 'walk about' each year. That's a whole lot of big metal boxes that could potentially be floating around waiting to nail you. It's really nothing to worry yourself to death about, however. They are floating so low in the water that you'd probably never see it before hitting it unless you were really really lucky. It really wouldn't matter how close a watch you are maintaining, if it's your time, it's your time. Go sailing and enjoy the experience.

FWIW, about the only boat construction that might survive a container hit is steel or aluminum and even they would be suspect if you hit the corner of a container.

[NotQuiteLost]

Originally Posted by roverhi

FWIW, about the only boat construction that might survive a container hit is steel or aluminum and even they would be suspect if you hit the corner of a container.

Have often wondered how effective those forward-looking sonar units are for detecting these things? I can't imagine the range is anything special, so it would seem to be nothing more than a 'brace for impact!' alarm.

And yeah, if you hit a container corner on one side of your boat, it's hard to imagine anything outside of the big ships surviving with nothing more than a dent.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

in any of those threads have any of our actual members ever actually hit a container at sea?

I think you will find the answer is no.

But if theres evedence to the contrary show me the post

I found at least one.