banged a rock today - hoping to confirm my thoughts
Well, what can I say? Coming into my slip today, taking the same track I always take, doing about 1.5 kts, maybe 2, 25 feet off the interior wall of the breakwater, the nose of the keel hit a rock. Her ass went up, then the bow slip up and over, then the bottom of the keel took a little ride on the rock, the boat maybe moved 4-6 inches vertically up, but essentially she skidded up and over It was not bone jarring, but neither was it a kiss on a soft sandbar. My instinct tells me she is fine and this doesn't warrant a haul out and inspection. Given our shorter season, she will be out of the water in 90 days anyway - but I will feel better if someone else tells me they have gone through this. The one thing I do not know is whether the bottom of the rudder clipped the rock on the way over. I must have been missing this thing by inches each time I come in - anyway, made me feel like crap - I hate to do anything that will even scratch her.

Geoff
Corazon
411 #41

They are from Finland. There are about 76,000 islands a hectare or greater here.. the islands are made of stone.. the nautical charts show hundreds of submerged stones near many of those islands (especially in the Gulf of Botnia not far from Jakobstad).

They can take a little bump, be assured.

Thanks for the post and your thoughts, which mirror my own feelings.  The professor gave me a good help, suggesting using dye penetrant to do the crack inspection.  I will do this tonight and hopefully get a clear result.

Thanks again,

Geoff

Geoff;

If you've grounded as you describe, you will have gouged the fairing on the nose and bottom of the keel, at a minimum. If you leave the boat in the water, hydrostatic pressure will force water between the lead keel and the fairing which will result in (possibly extensive) delamination. I do not agree that it is OK to leave a boat in the water after a grounding.

John

John:

I appreciate your post - but I am not clear that there is a fairing on my keel nose or foot for that matter, having just had the bottom worked on. The trailing edge carries a stainless cover about 3-4 inches wide, both sides, full height of the keel.

I think she's all lead down there at the bottom forward area. There's 50 cm or so of width/height where the keel joins the hull that has a layer of glass all around there, but even there, if that glass delaminated, it's only a fairing layer with pure metal beneath....so if that glass were to delaminate, the ultimate harm wouldn't be great.

I guess time will tell. As you might surmise, I left her in. She will come out in a few weeks, and we'll have a look. It was a very light touch that day, so with any luck, damage will be nil or only slight.

I do agree in principle with you though, always take her out and look if you can - it's just those practical realities that get in the way....'the lift's 30 miles away', 'it'll cost several hundred dollars', etc etc. There must be a class of light grounding/bottom touches that any boat can sustain without needing to be hauled - I believe this one falls into that category.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts - I will let you know what I discover when the time comes.

Geoff