Epic Fail

Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Hello All

Thought I would share a really bone-headed mistake I made.... just in case it helps someone else.

I had planned a 10-day cruise in the NC outer banks with my youngest daughter as a final big father-daughter adventure before she heads off to college. I have done the same cruise with her three older siblings.

Yesterday, we were prepped and ready to launch. I was backing up the boat and was a little off line. I could have corrected but thought, I'll just pull up 20 feet and straighten out. And then the rig came crashing down. Yep! There was an overhead power line that I had actually noticed earlier. But that was two hours earlier and I was tired, and rushing and just plain forgot about it.

I will be spending a few weeks putting my boat back together. Guys!!! Make a check list and put "look overhead" on the list.

I was really feeling sorry for myself yesterday but this morning I am thankful that no one was hurt, the boat is fixable and none of my electronics got fried. I can fix this and I relearned a hard lesson.
gooseneck-boom-end.jpg
spreader-gone.jpg
spreader-starboard.jpg
roller drum.jpg
drum-top.jpg
 
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Likes: Will Gilmore
Mar 20, 2015
3,094
C&C 30 Mk1 Winnipeg
That sucks. It's a bit too common an occurance I'm afraid, so don't beat yourself up.
Hopefully this reminder will help someone, and like you say... you can repair the boat, and since no one was hurt, just end up taking her sailing later than planned.
 
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Likes: rgranger
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Just got off of the phone with Joe at the SBO store. He thinks he can run down the parts for me. :thumbup: As it turns out, I got lucky. I should be able to get my rig back up with three simple parts. The cap on the end of the boom that fits in the goose neck, a bracket for the spreader and the SS cover-guide for the CDI furler.

I will need to hack off about an inch off of my boom but I have at least three inches remaining when I have my main's foot out hauled all the way so... that should be fine. I checked all of my stays, no meat hooks... so they are also okay. It looks like the failure point was the toggle on the end of the turn buckle for the CDI furler. So I will replace that turnbuckle also.
 
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JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
Glad to hear that only parts got broken. Could have been a lot worse.
 
Aug 16, 2015
143
O'Day 28 Salem, MA
Sorry to see this but thanks for sharing. My wife is always telling me not to rush, especially on the boat. No reason for it and it just leads to, well, you know... Wives tend to be right about some things!! Tom O'Day 28
 
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Likes: rgranger
Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
I never considered the possibility of overhead powerlines. I never grew up with trailerable boats, until I got my hobie cat. Even then, it wasn't until I asked a guy at West Marine, why the top of mast was composite and not aluminum all the way up. That's when I learned that people hit those powerlines ALL the time. I made an assessment of each boat launch area first thing after that. However, I never had to work around powerlines at any of the ramps I went to. I know, because I've made similar mistakes for different things, how easy it is to forget from one second to the next because, having made that initial assessment, you relax too much.

So glad to read you are down but not out.

- Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Likes: rgranger
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Its very interesting to me that a piece of the rigging failed before the spar did. And that you didn't feel it enough to stop. When you see a mast hit things like bridges the boat pops a wheelie before the mast breaks, normally at the spreaders. Can you post a pic of the failed part??
 

Tedd

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Jul 25, 2013
745
TES 246 Versus near Vancouver, BC
Oh man, that is painful!
I've recently made a new mast raising system for my Mac 26S that makes it easy to put the rigging up and take it down while on the water. No more worrying about the mast while maneouvring at the boat launch!

[Edited to add: Glad everyone was okay the boat damage not too bad. Whew!]
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
@Jackdaw
Here is a pic
AF767C37-FE8E-4721-A21A-49C02C985860.jpeg


The ears that go around this T and are pintled to the bow chainplate failed . There was an extender that might have contributed. I don’t know the exact name of the extended but you see them all the time on the shrouds of smaller boats instead of turnbuckles.

Here are some more pics
AF767C37-FE8E-4721-A21A-49C02C985860.jpeg
8D9FDAAF-755F-42B9-9394-03B7737046EE.jpeg
136B4A27-0348-4919-A7F9-AC57B86E1D4D.jpeg
2787D320-2298-47AD-B56E-FA0F333CE6A4.jpeg
3FC8E831-E404-4ADE-8A10-1ABBC21F53E5.jpeg
 
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FDL S2

.
Jun 29, 2014
469
S2 7.3 Fond du Lac
Looking at the pictures, I'm guessing that you hit the overhead line with very top of the mast, it landed on the spreader and pulled the furler apart?
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Looking at the pictures, I'm guessing that you hit the overhead line with very top of the mast, it landed on the spreader and pulled the furler apart?
That would make sense. I think the goose neck on the boom took it hard due to the Vang attachment. The line on my Vang is a mess
 
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FDL S2

.
Jun 29, 2014
469
S2 7.3 Fond du Lac
That would make sense. I think the goose neck on the boom took it hard due to the bang attachment. The line on my Vang is a mess
That sounds right. I'm always amazed at the stress these parts will take under sail, but then odd, non sailing stress will tear them apart.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,040
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I almost did that once. If it weren't for a teenage gal staffing a parking booth adjacent to the ramp I probably would have hit the power line. Sorry you're cruise is messed up. I hope you get the repairs done in time to do some version of it.