rossd 16 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I guess there are a few hazards in the ocean but to have your yacht sunk by a ships mooring rope must be pretty rare https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/28/sailing-trio-back-on-dry-land-after-south-pacific-ordeal?CMP=share_btn_link Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Confusing story, mentions a yacht but also twin propellers. I’m guessing a rope snagged tight around twin counter-rotating shafts causing one or both shafts to laterally rip out of the hull. Which I’ve seen happen before. So I doubt the rope itself breached the hull. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,586 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 First story i read it was a towrope . Did they go between a tug and a barge? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank 157 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I wouldn't have thought a yachts auxillary would have enough power to tear a hole in the hull, maybe a bent shaft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I wonder all of the above, then thought Motor Yacht ? Discarded mooring line it says, could easily have been a line from a fishing vessel left floating, generally mooring lines don’t float, but guess some do. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ex Machina 365 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 There are quite a few other articles with a little more info Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I wouldn't have thought a yachts auxillary would have enough power to tear a hole in the hull, maybe a bent shaft. You don't need very much force, if you have a shaft on a strut, to do enough damage to cause a water ingress when catching a rope on the prop. More so if it was a sudden jamming, and you were at high revs. My main concern would be twisting the strut base off the hull (or even enough to loosen it and allow water ingress around the bolts). Other risks are around the stern tube. Don't forget physics equal and opposite law. If the prop suddenly stops, the engine is going to try and rotate in the opposite direction, with associated forces. All you need to do is pull the shaft off centre enough to let water in around the shaft seal / packing gland. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cantab 341 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 We caught a rather large mooring rope in the prop, halfway to Fiji, it smacked the hull pretty hard for a while. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Years ago as a child I remember seeing a Grand Banks motif boat come alongside us into one of the English Channel ports after running over a line floating just below the surface. Running at 8-9 kts displacement speeds the twin Fords turning counter-rotating prop shafts caused the rope to rip one shaft strut out of position and damage the other. After much effort he managed to limp into port on one engine whilst just containing the water ingress with multiple bilge pumps. Was then hauled out. Think it might have been Cherbourg. Back in the days when we were squeezed into a 26ft family cruiser and a Grand Banks 42 was my dream boat! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marinheiro 352 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 that's a sad story. Saw that boat in Port Vila and she was immaculate. A catamaran on the ICNZ rally hooked up a buoy rope on the way to Tonga in June - they thought it was some sort of oceanic observation buoy - pulled the engine bed off the hull on port side leaving a crack in the hull and hence pumping all the way to Nukualofa Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 We picked up a lobster pot line in the Caribbean while motorsailing Smashed the adapter plate and pulled the gearbox off the engine. Talking to Americans afterwards and they couldn’t believe we didn’t have a rope cutter fitted to our prop shaft, something that’s very normal there but rarely heard of here Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 OK can you guys stop telling these stories now please... Hahaha! Seriously, I know 1000s of small, simple cruising boats have crossed oceans incident-free but as (1) I get older and (2) have family w. young kids it combines to make me more risk averse. And more inclined to consider buying one of the purpose-built blue-water cruisers that have watertight bulkheads with forward crash zones and sealed engine compartments that allow you to continue running the engine and bilge pumps even when seriously breached. To help buy you more time until help arrives. Think Amel etc. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dtwo 157 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 https://www.downunderrally.com/news/2019/10/3/down-under-rally-offshore-cruising-preparation-course-saved-my-life-?fbclid=IwAR0Uzi6Q_Ve066Bu34DhS5Yb918I8By0aV5C4cBv9GlTelLpfjEiu6dlPUs 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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