Just a quick survey for those of you who lake or river sail. my 18.5 is on a man-made lake near where i live and according to my father under the lake there are roads, fences, houses and more importantly for this purpose tree stumps, big tree stumps, make that huge tree stumps. last night while i was make a run past a small island (shallow, less than 10' of depth) i felt a nudge which i discovered, after i soiled my pants and started breathing again, was caused by a huge tree stump. i was moving at less than 1 knot and it did little more than bump the boat (didn't stop my forward progress) but it had me a bit concerned after the fact. my question is how hard to does one need to hit something w/ your keel to do damage? has anyone ever hit something hard enough to dislodge the keel or crack the hull? i assumed w/ the shoal draft keel i would be able to beach but now i'm wondering if indeed i can and if so how to go about it. cheers. Tim
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Ike Cook
Apples to Oranges
Beaching is one thing... most of the time when you beach your boat, your sails are down and you just coast in with the boat's momentum. Hitting a stump when you're close hauled is a whole different story. The lateral forces on the c'board could easily cause some serious damage if you run aground or hit a stump. But you said you were on a run, in which case, try lifting your centerboard up 2/3rds of the way while running. Ike
Beaching is one thing... most of the time when you beach your boat, your sails are down and you just coast in with the boat's momentum. Hitting a stump when you're close hauled is a whole different story. The lateral forces on the c'board could easily cause some serious damage if you run aground or hit a stump. But you said you were on a run, in which case, try lifting your centerboard up 2/3rds of the way while running. Ike
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Peggie Hall/Head Mistress
Just remember that...
Every little OR big bump puts a little or a lot of stress on things like keel bolts retracting mechnisms etc...even the keel itself. And the effects of stress are cumulative. So inspect regularly for signs of weakness etc. We had a boat capsize in a major regatta last year...a new boat. According to friends, he'd grounded several times since he'd bought it. The winds were very stiff--35k+...when he came out of the shelter of a point and the wind heeled him hard, the keel broke..the result of cumulative stress on it or the keel bolts. So especially this time of year, when the water is still cold in most places, inspect your underwater hardware carefully and often...'cuz you don't want to end up in the water!
Every little OR big bump puts a little or a lot of stress on things like keel bolts retracting mechnisms etc...even the keel itself. And the effects of stress are cumulative. So inspect regularly for signs of weakness etc. We had a boat capsize in a major regatta last year...a new boat. According to friends, he'd grounded several times since he'd bought it. The winds were very stiff--35k+...when he came out of the shelter of a point and the wind heeled him hard, the keel broke..the result of cumulative stress on it or the keel bolts. So especially this time of year, when the water is still cold in most places, inspect your underwater hardware carefully and often...'cuz you don't want to end up in the water!
thump
Several years ago while my wife was motoring at a nice clip we hit something hard, the whole boat shook ,I was napping as she was manning the tiller, as I said , the entire boat shook , stopped dead in water, she lost it, and could not get motor idled down to get in reverse, I took over, and backed off, headed for slip , had her check for water coming in to cabin, got safely back to slip and sat there wondering whether to haul boat or just wait, finally decided things seemed ok, this was a 23 wing keel, and it was as hard as I ever want to hit anything , there was not any damage, this is not to say you have not had excellent advice from previous people , just trying to say that the boat will withstand some abuse, hope this helps , good luck Mike B
Several years ago while my wife was motoring at a nice clip we hit something hard, the whole boat shook ,I was napping as she was manning the tiller, as I said , the entire boat shook , stopped dead in water, she lost it, and could not get motor idled down to get in reverse, I took over, and backed off, headed for slip , had her check for water coming in to cabin, got safely back to slip and sat there wondering whether to haul boat or just wait, finally decided things seemed ok, this was a 23 wing keel, and it was as hard as I ever want to hit anything , there was not any damage, this is not to say you have not had excellent advice from previous people , just trying to say that the boat will withstand some abuse, hope this helps , good luck Mike B
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Tim Taylor
thanks all for the input. being new to sailing i was a little over-concerned i guess. it was a low speed incident which didn't even involve an acute impact. thinking back i believe that i either just topped the stump or it was rotten and i smashed thru/deflected off it. i checked for leaking and for damage to the keel bolts and found none (while visions of the ending to Titanic flashed thru my mind). assuming i get to the slip tomorrow and the boat is still above water i'll charge this experience to bad luck. all the same i think i see a depth-finder my future. thanks again. Tim
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Ray Bowles
Tim, A depth sounder won't find that stump..
...in time to miss it. It will only tell you that the water is shallow enough that if there is a stump out there you could whack it again. Each whack is a totally new experence, which will eventually make your hull a bath tub. We sail a large dam backwater that has channels with obstructions that could be hit depending on how high the electrical power gods have the lake. We do have a set of charts for this reason and that gives me more confidence that my depth meter along. Good luck, Ray
...in time to miss it. It will only tell you that the water is shallow enough that if there is a stump out there you could whack it again. Each whack is a totally new experence, which will eventually make your hull a bath tub. We sail a large dam backwater that has channels with obstructions that could be hit depending on how high the electrical power gods have the lake. We do have a set of charts for this reason and that gives me more confidence that my depth meter along. Good luck, Ray
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