Anchor rode problems cause near sinking

[dave_on_a_305]

broken cutlass strut

I went through a similar experience this just past week and sheared the cutlass bearing strut clean off the bottom of my boat (an 87 beneteau 305). She has not taken on any water but I have a bent prop shaft and a cutlass bearing strut that needs to be reattached.
Can anyone offer any advice on the steps that need to be taken?
:-(
dave

 

[jibes138]

What about you Maine sailors experiences

There must be a few of you that have managed to snag a lobster trap bouy line and wrapped it around your shaft with the trap acting as a nice anchor? With strong currents these bouys and lines are typically underwater where they ae invisible, and at night really invisible. With all the traps around Maine I can't believe no one has had to replace a shaft, bent a rudder shaft, ripped off a strut? I've hit a few in my day in fishers island sound where they put them right in the main shipping channel for the ferry boats. Never had strut or engine damage but have bent a shaft and replaced a rudder.

 

[Roger Long]

Can anyone offer any advice on the steps that need to be taken?

Contact insurance company.
Have boat hauled at reputable boatyard.
Fill suitcase with pieces of green paper with pictures of dead presidents on them.

Bummer.

 

[Roger Long]

There must be a few of you that have managed to snag a lobster trap bouy line and wrapped it around your shaft with the trap acting as a nice anchor?

The only times I have snagged a prop under power, I have heard a huge bang that made me think for a second that I had run aground, and looked back to see pieces of buoy and pot warp in the wake. Pot warp isn't nearly as strong or stretchy as dock and anchor lines. I think it may be better to run at high power when there is risk of entanglement so that the rope will break. Once it stops the engine and is entangled around the prop, you may not be able to get the engine started.

I've snagged 1 - 2 pots a year under sail and developed this system for getting them off:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/Pots.htm

Mainesail has since said that, as a former lobsterman, he thinks it's better to just cut them off than drag them over other gear while trying to clear them. However, by the time I get the sails down, I've already dragged them if they are going to drag. Seeing the intact set of gear drift away assures me that no pieces of warp are left on the shaft to cause trouble the next time I start the engine. Note the item on testing the engine at the link.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Pride in your vessel

I don't know about the rest of you but seeing the "captain" on the CG boat while some young coasty hand pumps his boat so it does not sink as it is towed is pretty irritating. The USCG has enough dirty jobs to do without adding hand pumping bilges to the list. I thought that the "captain" always is the last one off the boat, or did I miss something?
also
The wind must have been blowing pretty hard for the "captain" to not hear the chain going over the side. I know mine makes an big racket if it goes overboard. Did anybody catch the "small hole" in the sail. I'd be interested in seeing what started the whole chain of events.
There is certainly a theme to the story IMHO

 

[jibes138]

I always just dive in with a hacksaw and usually find them with several wraps around the shaft. I can understand up in maine not wanting to dive in with the water only 50 degrees. First step would be get on a wetsuit. I love lobstermen too but why do they put the bouys right in the middle of navigation channels with strong currents? The crab pots in the mid atlantic states are almost as bad, I snagged a crab pot right in the middle of a 60 foot wide dredged channel that killed my engine. Pretty tricky getting free and not going aground. I'd rather be 100 miles at sea where you just have to worry about hitting great white sharks and making them mad.

 

[tractorjohn]

I'm not impressed either

Maybe I can help you be impressed! Ft lbs time rpm equals hp. Assuming 20 hp at 2000 rpm.
One hp equals 550 ft lbs per second. Therefore 20 hp equals 11000 foot pounds per second. 2000rpm equals about 33 revolutions per second so 11000 divided by 33 equals about 333 pounds pull on a 24 inch daimeter wheel but on a one inch shaft it will come out a bit over 4000 pounds of pull on the anchor rode that wraped around the propellor shaft. If two tons of pull on the strut won't tear the strut loose then I am not sure what will.

As Ralph Nader once said "unsafe at any speed" or something like that.
That boat should have a warning plaque "unsafe under power" whats next, the compression post going through the bottom if he snags a shroud? How about grabbing a lifeline and ripping a stancion all the way to the waterline. Imagine if he would have run over a log and knocked the strut clean off, he would've sunk in seconds. Either the leak wasn't all that bad or the boat is.
Sorry bout my rant, I like em to bring me home when I do dumb things.
TJ