We ran into a bridge!

[hpeer]

North Carolina is a BIG state.

The BEST yard I have ever been in is Bock Marine on the ICW just above Moorehead City. They are very reasonably priced, let you live on the hard, have a nice lounge and showers, an on site chanderly, loaner car, will order things and pass in their discount, and have a very stable and experienced work force.

You may well need some hand holding in this one. These are good hands to hold.

I spent some months in this yard, know people who work there, lots of personal experience. All good.

[carlosproa]

Originally Posted by SailingAround

Hi All,
Thank you so much for the great replies!

My lady and I have been living on our 30 foot boat for a year and a half, traveling up and down the east coast. We recently got a 40 foot Bristol this one -- that we had the mishap on.

Normally I do all of the engineering / maintenance activities. I've never done rigging before and we really don't have 8k for a new rig - so I guess it's time to learn. We may be able to pay a rigger just to do an inspection.


Right now we are in North Carolina.

We got towed to the other side of the bridge - where we can more easily sail away. The engine does not currently run.

I will check with binoculars and post back. What are some things that I should look for?
Cracks, breaks, fittings pulled loose....

Before going to sleep I did check what I could with the flashlight. Chainplates, stays up to about halfway -- nothing looks broken from here... but like JPA Cate mentioned -- they didn't loosen themselves.

For the time being I have halyards connected to the for and aft chainplates -- tightened just a bit. The stays are wobbly and it made me feel better.

Our old boat is anchored closeby-- maybe we can raft up and go up the mast of the 30 footer to take a closer look.

I will fill our our profile. I created the account just last night.


Thank you all for your advice. Keep it coming

I am assuming you probably do not have comprehensive insurance for the boat, so insurance claim is not an option.

Do you a GoPro or similar camera? You can send it up the mast using just a hanger and two small lines for stabilization on each end and to manipulate the camera at an angle. You may learn a lot by this exercise
It seems odd only the fore and aft are loose, and points possible to a bent mast at the the upper section. It should be easy to see if you have a deviation either side of the mast.

Hopefully is not more than a compresión on the top mast sheave box, or wire elongation.
If you can get the engine going or tow the boat to a yard, that would be the best case scenario so you can pull the mast. You mentioned this is keel step?

Don’t feel bad about this incident. Even the most powerful and career mariners have similar issues. See what happened to this Brazil tall ship

[SailingAround]

Yes, that's it! She's a 1979 Bristol 40.

[Sand crab]

Once you figure out the problems and the safety issues you can do the rigging yourself. Westmarine and others will sell you the premade wire with the swaged fittings. Or you can use Sta-Lok and do it yourself.

[danstanford]

The fact that the forestay and backstay are loose and the shrouds still tight likely rules out anything with the mast step or all would be loose. The issue with the fore-aft looseness could be related to a fitting on either end (broken or bent) as the result could show up as looseness in both stays assuming the mast could rake to the middle.

[SailingAround]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I am assuming you probably do not have comprehensive insurance for the boat, so insurance claim is not an option.
Attachment 257819

You are correct.

We have our old cell phone. Some have broken screens but the camera still works -- I can send one of them up the mast.

We definitely won't be sailing with her like this. I'm contacting riggers and marinas today.

We do have a small 8hp outboard for our dinghy -- but that's not strong enough to hip tow (I would be overcome by current and wind) -- but the old gal (Comfort - the thirty footer what fired up every day in any condition, sails perfectly and protected us for a year) - has a 30HP atomic 4

We can and have done a hip-tow using Comfort's power.

I really appreciate all the support here.

We will certainly hire a rigger to take a look. Depending on the damage, I may opt to buy new stays online and replace the fore and aft stays one at a time after careful research.

I am loathe to take the mast down. We didn't slam into the bridge -- we were just pushed up against it.

I'll see what the rigger says, and take pictures in the meantime to share here.

We do have TowBoat US and if a thorough inspection with the mast down is what we need to do, then so be it. I would rather take the mast down intentionally than have it come down UNintentionally.

Pictures coming soon.

[tkeithlu]

Ditto to all the OMG don't go up there threads above.

A reasonable hypothesis would be the mast bent to the side above the spreaders. That would loosen the fore and aft stays while leaving the lower shrouds tight. The mast is aluminum, bends much more easily than wire deforms, and has very limited elasticity. If true, this should be obvious when you sight up the mast. If true, you are in for a major replacement and rerig, sorry to say.

[Overdue]

If you do not get good pics from your cellphone, do you have (or ask around the marina for someone who has) a drone with a decent camera? Won't take very long to inspect and zoom-in on any issues noticed. Good luck.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SailingAround

We do have TowBoat US

Since it appears to have been an accident this would be a legitimate use of the service, give them a call and see if they can tow you to a suitable marina.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by SailingAround

I am loathe to take the mast down. We didn't slam into the bridge -- we were just pushed up against it.

Why are you hesitant to take the mast down? Its no big deal. Up here on the Great lakes we step/unstep the mast yearly. Takes 20-30 minutes to do and lets you inspect EVERY INCH of the mast and rigging in a way you just cannot do while the mast is up.

unstepping is easy, just takes 20-30 minutes to do if you already have sails and boom removed.

Its worth the effort at this point. If it was me I'd have it on the ground already.

[Bill O]

Some decent ideas given to look for damage:

1. you should be able to sight up the mast to determine if it is bent.

2. if you or a rigger don't physically go up the mast, I like the idea of a drone to look/take pics for damaged fittings/hardware on the fore/back stays and mast head.

3. Wouldn't expect the wire to be damaged enough to cause looseness, so would look at the lower portion of the fore and back stays for bent chain plates or turn buckle damage. (if there is abrasion damage to the wires would replace them).

4. While the upper and lower shrouds are still tight, would inspect these chain plates also. Can't remember in the 40 if they were bulkhead mounted chain plates, but if so would check the integrity of the bulkheads for possible bolt hole elongation if the bulkheads aren't solid.

[Chotu]

If the chain plates aren’t damaged, I would take a very close look at the tangs.

Also, just lay down on your back on the deck and sight the mast. Is it straight?

Lay down with your feet toward the bow and put your head right next to the base of the mast. And look straight up. Is it straight? Try the same with your feet toward starboard or port. 90° away from the bow.

Just those couple inspections will tell you a lot in combination with comparing the Tang’s to each other.

[grantmc]

Welcome to CF SailingAround (well sadly not now) and sorry that you're start here is such a catastrophe.

If it were me, and I'm on a limited budget like you OP. So I would organise a crane, cherry picker or hiab and lift the mast out. It's not difficult nor does it take more than an hour or so. Masts are surprisingly light. The only thing that makes them difficult is the length.

Stays don't stretch so if they're loose then something (likely several things) is potentially seriously damaged as others have said.

But when the mast is on the ground then at least the rigger can give a educated assessment. And I'd get in a boat surveyor or builder to assess the chain plates and mast mounting, boot etc.

You need help from feet on the ground not a bunch of arm chairs advisors on a forum. But one thing is for sure, that boat ain't going anywhere by sail for the next several weeks.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by SailingAround

Hi All,
Thank you so much for the great replies!

My lady and I have been living on our 30 foot boat for a year and a half, traveling up and down the east coast. We recently got a 40 foot Bristol this one -- that we had the mishap on.

Normally I do all of the engineering / maintenance activities. I've never done rigging before and we really don't have 8k for a new rig - so I guess it's time to learn. We may be able to pay a rigger just to do an inspection.


Right now we are in North Carolina.

We got towed to the other side of the bridge - where we can more easily sail away. The engine does not currently run.

I will check with binoculars and post back. What are some things that I should look for?
Cracks, breaks, fittings pulled loose....

Before going to sleep I did check what I could with the flashlight. Chainplates, stays up to about halfway -- nothing looks broken from here... but like JPA Cate mentioned -- they didn't loosen themselves.

For the time being I have halyards connected to the for and aft chainplates -- tightened just a bit. The stays are wobbly and it made me feel better.

Our old boat is anchored closeby-- maybe we can raft up and go up the mast of the 30 footer to take a closer look.

I will fill our our profile. I created the account just last night.


Thank you all for your advice. Keep it coming

You dont need 8k for rigging. You need to assess what bent or stretched. Possibly replace maybe a couple wires. Rigging is quite cheap in the scheme of things if you do it yourself. Yes wires can stretch, like all metal, if you exceed it's strength it will take a "permanent deformation". IF so , it is now potentially in failure mode.

Assess the situation, use halyards to stabilize the mast, remove the damaged parts and replace them.

Look for bent tangs, elongated turnbuckles, chainplates that have pulled partially out of the boat etc.

Near bridges, the current often changes and may become much faster, if you are going with the current you lose control. You are sailing only, no engine, through bridges? Say it ain't so.......

[leecea]

You mention that it was not a big impact but if the forestay took the impact, the tension generated in the forestay could be higher than expected.