Yacht Sinks in Great Lakes

[Factor]

Is it normal for a boat to go down this quickly - not sure what type of boat - but why wouldnt it have pumps capable of dealing with a hole in the hull?

Good work in getting them all off, - anyone know what brand, and more details on level of damage and why they wouldnt have been able to pump it etc.

Eleven people aboard a 40-foot yacht in Lake Erie were rescued after their boat began to sink near the entrance to the Niagara River Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.

To read the entire report, go to:

11 rescued from sinking yacht on Lake Erie - CNN.com

[Ocean Girl]

Bummer, glad everyone is ok. I have a friend whose vessel sank so quickly that he didn't even have time to get his grab bag down below, he is convinced that if he was down below sleeping when this happend he wouldn't of made it out. That same month another friend struck an object in the same area of the gulf, he had over 8-12 hours before he had to give up the fight and abandon ship. Some injuries take a boat down fast. The crazy thing is neither of my friends felt a big bang when the boats started to take on water, very scary.
Erika

[David M]

It does not take much of a hole to overwhelm even the largest bilge pumps. Having a boat with multiple watertight bulkheads is probably your best defense against larger holes although not perfect. Whether or not to have a watertight bulkhead(s) is one of those compromises that have to be made with the design

[Outlawed]

I was on a pushboat going out to the anchorage in galveston bay(we call it boliver roads) to bunker a ship and we hit a log.It got jammed up in the screw.The pure hp and the size of the log ripped out the bottom by the cutlas bearing,tore out the shaft gland and tore the rudder stocks out. By the time we heard the bang and for me to run down in the engine room it was all she wrote.The only thing that saved us from sinking all the way was the barge we was faced up to.We called on another tugboat to hip us to shallow water.Luckily no damage to the barge. We had a 60k barrels worth of #6 fuel oil. It took about 10 mins to flood the engine room and flood the rest of the fresh water tanks.I have been on a few boats that had some serious problems but that one scared me the most...

_____________________
ADACES FORTUNA IUVAT

Steven.

[Healer52]

I was asleep, aboard my Alberg-35 (legally anchored in a designated anchorage in So Cal (Avalon), lit appropriately (the lights were still on, when the harbor patrol got there), with other boats around) when a 65' powerboat ran dead square into the stern of my boat....flat smashed it to bits. The boat sank so fast I barely got out of the forward hatch before the boat went under. I might have not had the hatch been dogged down. There just wasn't ANYTHING keeping the water out once the back of the boat was smashed apart and held under water.

[Drew13440]

Holy smokes, Healer, that is incredible. Glad you made it!

The amount of water entering a holed vessel increases exponentially relative to the size of the hole.

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by Drew13440

Holy smokes, Healer, that is incredible. Glad you made it!

The amount of water entering a holed vessel increases exponentially relative to the size of the hole.

God was watching out for this sailor....


And the hole was about 4x8'. The entire lazarette was smashed off, and the boat was now a 32'

[Vasco]

Good thing you didn't have an aft cabin!!

[Rou-Coo]

Simply not enough information in the article to make any conclusion about whether the rate of sinking was 'normal'. As a former coast guardsman I can say that boats can sink fast, slow or anywhere in between. If it is a 'slow sink' one of the causes may be panic or lack of knowledge about the emergency equipment on board.

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Healer52

I was asleep, aboard my Alberg-35 (legally anchored in a designated anchorage in So Cal (Avalon), lit appropriately (the lights were still on, when the harbor patrol got there), with other boats around) when a 65' powerboat ran dead square into the stern of my boat....flat smashed it to bits. The boat sank so fast I barely got out of the forward hatch before the boat went under. I might have not had the hatch been dogged down. There just wasn't ANYTHING keeping the water out once the back of the boat was smashed apart and held under water.

Oh man, an Alberg destroyed, very sad. Glad you all are OK!
Erika

[CastOff]

Makes one reconsider what they have onboard as far as bilge pumps go! On my previous vessels i always kept the overboard barrel in the cockpit lashed under the tiller with clam cleats. One pull on either end of the line and it was loose and able to be lifted by it's strap into the water. 5 gallon top opening barrels are cheap, and give lots of flotation once in the water. The strap makes it easy to slip your arms under and bear hug it with no strength. I never used overboard 'bags' because they do not provide any additional flotation once you are in the water. I only practiced with the barrels and never had an occasion, thankfully, to use one on any of my vessels.

[btrayfors]

"The boat scraped its bottom cruising over a reef"...

Don't ya just love the reporter's choice of words???

:-)

[David_Old_Jersey]

"When we got to their vessel, there was already a few inches of water on the deck," said Petty Officer Jess Hamilton, coxswain aboard SPC-LE, according to the release. "That indicated the cabin had almost completely flooded. The stern was beginning to sink."

A few inches on the deck? yeah, that'll often be a good indicator that the cabin has flooded

If the hole (or crack / split) is bigger than yer bilge pump outlet then you will sink. the deeper the hole the bigger yer bilge pumps would need to be.

To save doing the maths - that's usually not a very big hole

The average thru' hull fitting is around the size of a bilge pump outlet, except under water will likely be the equivalent of double (or more).

Frightened man with a bucket? dream on

[Astrid]

It is amazing how little actual damage can be fatal to a vessel if one does not have pumps big enough to deal with it or hold it at bay until you rig a collision mat or fother a sail over the damaged area or whatever other damage control means you have to hand. I seem to recall that a builder's testimony at the Board of Trade inquiry into the loss of RMS Titanic estimated the total damaged area to have been only around 12 square feet (spread over 300 feet of hull).

[Southern Star]

All I can say is that I am thankful that it was an Alberg and not a multihull, or this would have been cited as another example of why they are inherently unsafe - lol. Seriously, DOJ has it right.

brad