Hull repair after a grounding.

[gaiaguardian]

Looking at a ex-charter Helia 44 that had a grounding a year ago. The yard sealed and repaired the exterior of the hull, but looks like there is some cracking / spider-webbing on the interior of the hull above the keel. Seems to me this would have been a fairly substantial grounding. Other than some hull / glass repair, how concerned should I be about this damage?

[RunningCool]

Bad Bad. Would take thousands if yard did it. Not the one that just did it. Terrible job

[psk125]

Those are the pictures AFTER the yard "fixed" the exterior??? Looks like they slapped some 3M 5200 over the gaps and walked away. You should too. A proper repair would involve grinding the whole area open - perhaps a foot across, back to undamaged 'glass - and laying in new fiberglass with epoxy on the exterior. Then the same on the interior, smoothing everything so that the bulge from the additional new glass is almost unnoticeable. Since this is a catamaran with rather shallow keels on each hull, the leverage involved with the grounding would not be as great as with a deep-keel mono. The extensive damage despite this lack of leverage does indicate a major hit occurred. The workmanship of the "repair" makes it questionable whether the keel bolts or other structural members were checked properly before any work was done. Other problems may have also had some caulking or sealant slapped on them to hide them. Stuff like this can be fixed --- but fixing it properly isn't cheap, easy, or quick.

[ItDepends]

That was supposed to be a "Professional" repair? I am guessing this "fix" was done while it was still in charter service, but scheduled to be dumped on the market shortly, and no investment in a real repair was desired.

As has already been posted above, that doesn't even begin to address that actual issues.

[coopec43]

Is there a rteas0on why you haven't photographed the interior cracking?

[nuku34]

RUN., don't walk away from this disaster. Or if you must have it, make a very very low-ball offer, after you get professional survey's opinion of likely repair costs.

[coopec43]

It is not as if the keel has been ripped off!

I'd get professional advice. There are quite a few threads on the subject of catamarans grounding.

This thread is relevant.
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ls-134767.html

Other threads
http://www.ericgreeneassociates.com/...Assessment.pdf

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...an-179410.html

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ng-245651.html

[Tetepare]

Interior photo: I assume this is directly above the keel, but is the keel not bolted? There is definitely damage, though it doesn't look like the keel punched through.

External photo: Rush job, like ItDepends said. The question is what's under all that goo.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Interior photo: I assume this is directly above the keel, but is the keel not bolted? There is definitely damage, though it doesn't look like the keel punched through.

External photo: Rush job, like ItDepends said. The question is what's under all that goo.

Helia 44 is a Catamaran. The keels are often bolted through the side at the base to a stub on the bottom of the hull. They are meant to be sacrificial

Still there is definitely damage to the hull as evidence of the crack on the interior skin. If its cored in the bottom then this is an even bigger problem. Its a serious effort to repair.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by gaiaguardian

Looking at a ex-charter Helia 44 that had a grounding a year ago. The yard sealed and repaired the exterior of the hull, but looks like there is some cracking / spider-webbing on the interior of the hull above the keel. Seems to me this would have been a fairly substantial grounding. Other than some hull / glass repair, how concerned should I be about this damage?

That interior fracture appears to run right along the edge of where the core starts. If so, the repair may be much more extensive than you can imagine if the core has gotten wet.

Do you have months to deal with this ? Getting any major work done right now is extremely difficult.

Can you get the boat cheap enough to make it worth while ?

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

That interior fracture appears to run right along the edge of where the core starts. If so, the repair may be much more extensive than you can imagine if the core has gotten wet.

Do you have months to deal with this ? Getting any major work done right now is extremely difficult.

Can you get the boat cheap enough to make it worth while ?

The first link I quoted above relates to the Helias catamaran.

After reading the thread would your thoughts still hold firm?

As for me I think I'd investigate further but I would be capable of doing the work myself.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ls-134767.html

"Hello FP Friends,

I know the Helia is balsa core above the waterline... OK with that. On the bottom of the mini-keels where She would go aground, I am told that is PVC foam core by the Broker...

Now I know he goes to France all the time... But not sure he would even know, he might have been answering with what I wanted to hear.. heh he ??? PVC foam core would be the best and no worries...

Does anyone know for sure? It would make sense. I would like to hear if it was indee......."