[C320-list] Grounding

[Scott Thompson]

That's the one (#4)!  I was told that three other boats had run aground 
in the same place that same day!  I should have known better since I ran 
aground on my old boat (with somewhat greater draft) in almost the same 
spot years ago before the dredging.  However it seemed that the wing 
keel and extra displacement on the 320 relative to my old Yamaha 30 
makes it harder to get off.

Scott

Allan S. Field wrote:
> Scott - The Catalina rudders are designed to breakaway at the bottom 1/3 so you theoretically can get home after a grounding that would otherwise break the entire rudder off.  I think you want to go down and ensure there is no obvious longitudinal crack across the rudder.  If none and there is no binding between the top of the rudder and the bottom of the hull, you probably are OK. 
> 
> I go thru Knapps Narrows about once per month and you are right - stay close to the first red marker (#4?).  If someone is coming in while I am going out, I hang back until the inbound vessel has cleared enough that I can go out as close to that marker as I can.  They dredged the channel about 3 years ago to about 9 feet but the "sides" are very shallow and you can get to them quite quickly, as you found out.  Local knowledge work... (grin!) - Allan
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of argates2nd at comcast.net
> Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 9:38 PM
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Grounding
> 
> 
> 
> Scott, 
> 
> When we had a hard grounding it bent the rudder shaft and I could barely turn the wheel.  I had a diver inspect and he found no damage to the bottom of the rudder or other parts of the rudder itself, but there was some scoring of the hull from motoring into a marina.  I think if you or a diver dove under, inspected and felt the rudder -- you could gain comfort or detect a problem.  
> 
> Rollie  #182 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Scott Thompson" <surprise at thompson87.com> 
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com 
> Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 3:56:33 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Grounding 
> 
> Yes, that's what I did first.  There were a few small pieces of grass, 
> but basically it was clear.  I also removed the hose from the intake 
> through hull to make sure there was no blockage there. 
> 
> Mark Calisti wrote: 
>> Scott - Did you clean out the filter on the intake? I am in the habit of cleaning it every couple of weeks as we often get seaweed in it that can impact the flow of water and raise the temp. 
>>
>>   
>>
>> Mark 
>>
>> Wayward, 749 
>>
>>
>>   
>>> Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:10:18 -0400 
>>> From: surprise at thompson87.com 
>>> To: C320-List at Catalina320.org 
>>> Subject: [C320-list] Grounding 
>>>
>>> We got back from a week on the boat Sunday night. On Sat afternoon my 
>>> attention wandered as we left the West end of Knapps Narrows and next 
>>> thing I knew I was out of the channel, hard on the bottom. (Warning to 
>>> other Chesapeake boaters -- stay close to marker 4 when coming through 
>>> the West side of the Narrows this year. I wasn't very far from it.) 
>>> Very concerning to see the depth sounder reading 4.0. 
>>>
>>> I was able to pivot the boat back towards deeper water, but could not 
>>> get off, and called BoatUS for a tow. They arrived in less than 30 
>>> minutes and pulled us out a short distance into deeper water. ($491 for 
>>> the tow, by the way, so the BoatUS insurance paid for itself this year!) 
>>> During that time we were bouncing gently on the bottom in 1-2 foot 
>>> sees. Normally I wouldn't be too concerned except the rudder was 
>>> aground also once I got the boat turned around, and I'm sure it was 
>>> dragged through the bottom at least a little bit getting off. The 
>>> bottom was probably a mix of sand and mud -- mostly the latter. I was 
>>> bouncing for maybe 45 minutes total. 
>>>
>>> Afterwards I saw no signs of water coming into the boat and steering 
>>> seemed normal. I'm curious what others would do in this situation in 
>>> terms of follow up. Should I be getting the boat hauled for a survey? 
>>> What do insurance companies want under these circumstances? (I haven't 
>>> called them yet.) 
>>>
>>> One other thing. I ran the engine pretty hard trying to get off, in 
>>> shallow water obviously, and probably sucked in some silt. The engine 
>>> was then left to idle while we waited for the tow and while we were 
>>> towed off. However, shortly after that (ahead slow, doing the 
>>> paperwork) the engine overheated with no water coming out the exhaust. 
>>> We shut it down and hoisted sails and I spent the rest of the afternoon 
>>> with the engine while the crew sailed the boat. I could find no damage 
>>> to the impeller (but replaced it anyhow) and no blockages. With the 
>>> outlet hose disconnected the water pump produced copious amounts of 
>>> water. I took the end off the heat exchanger and confirmed that all of 
>>> the tubes were clear by poking with the end of a straightened out coat 
>>> hanger. I was able to blow air through the heat exchanger easily, and 
>>> also through the hose from heat exchanger to exhaust elbow. Eventually 
>>> I got water flowing through the system again by just running the engine 
>>> hard for a few minutes. I suspect it was a priming problem, but don't 
>>> know why it overheated in the first place. Any thoughts on what might 
>>> have happened? 
>>>
>>> p.s. I was very fortunate to have replaced the audible engine alarm 
>>> just the day before this happened. My old one has been failing slowly, 
>>> and I switched from the 24v part to the 12v part as recommended by 
>>> others on this list. What a difference! The new one will wake the dead. 
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Scott Thompson 
>>> Surprise, #653 
>>                                                 
> 

-- 
Scott Thompson
Surprise, #653