356 grounding
Glenn
We had a slight mishap last summer when we hit a sumerged rock. A momentary lapse of attention whilst navigating a narrow channel was the problem. We were motoring at somewhere between 3 - 4 knots when we hit. Fortunately when we hit it was a glancing blow but enough to give the boat a good shock. Damage from contact with the rock is at the at the forward end of the keel just where the leading edge of the keel meets the base. The highest point of the damaged area is about 1-1/2" above the bottom of the keel and very slightly to starboard of centre. When we hit the rock we did not come to a dead stop. Instead, it seems that we glanced over the rock and did not notice any significant loss of speed. We think?? the boat bounced up and then may have just clipped the very tip of the aft end of the keel as it came back down. There is no sign of any leaks whatsoever and I have tried tightening the keel bolts but cannot get them to budge. We do see however that the cross member below the floor boards at the aft end of the keel and slightly to port has been pushed up to the extent that the floor board by the nav station where it is screwed to the crossmember is cracked slightly. We do not see any new signs of cracks in any of the fibergass below the floor boards. When I dove to check for damage, we did notice a gap at the joint between keel and hull at the aft end. It was maybe 1/4" wide at the very aft end an narrowed to nothing over a length of 6 - 8".
Bottom line is there 'appears' to be no major structural damage, no new leaks and just some filing of the damaged area on the keel that is reuired. The crack in the floorboard is minor. Would you recommend any further investigation or structural analysis or are these boats designed to take a few knocks and bruises. We will have the keel joint filled and re finished at the ends but this, I believe is more cosmetic than structural.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jim
