Urgent help needed to recover abandoned yacht NW Barbados

[Exile]

Maybe more relevant to guesstimate approx. sighting distance from the cockpit or deck of another boat. Lots of variables but maybe assume eyeballs are 7-10' off the water and seas are reasonable. Anyone?

[JPA Cate]

My guess, is not more than 3 mi. By four, the hull's very small, and I'd be surprised if the sail is still there, and mast is hard to see in many light conditions, plus you get fatigued with looking, your brain wants to go do something more fun than looking for what it can't see. Me, I search for anomalies, just looking for something "different" from the expanse of the sea. Image-stabilized binoculars would possibly increase the viz to 4 mi. What AWW wants to do is very difficult. Still wishing him and the others who are trying to help good success with the venture.

Ann

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Next time your boats on the hard drill a couple of holes in the base and see if water drips out, after a while drill midway and inspect the debris for moisture/quality, sand the front down to check if there's a join.. two halves bonded together..
Nothing to stop you sanding the rudder clean then wrapping a glass and epoxy bandage around it if the core foam/whatever seems in good condition.
If not split it and rebuild with a fresh core and reinforce the join with the glass/epoxy bandage.. fair and refit.......

Exactly what I did with mine about 15 years ago...
It had 'pimples' ( which turned out to be totally harmless ) so I drilled a hole about half way down.... water came out...

So..... we split it....

Found there was about 2 thimbles of water sitting on a web exactly where I had drilled. It had found its way in where the stock entered the body of the rudder over the previous 15 years.

It had run down between the filler and the shell. Rest of the rudder was 100% sound so replaced filler as required, faired , and put the shell back on before bandaging the whole thing up again.

The really interesting thing was that at the heart of the beast was a 7/8 scale stainless 'rudder' complete with three pairs of webs . So now I know that if the rudder does shed its skin at anytime I can still steer the boat.

If I had a rudder that wasn't built around such foundations I would be rebuilding it from scratch.

[boatman61]

That's what you get with a boat built to Lloyds Standards.. as opposed to the CE standard..

[Alastair A]

Well said above. If you are unsure about the internal composition of your rudder it can be checked on the hard with a (cheap) handheld residential construction "stud-finder or pipe finder". A density detecting tool is clearly better. A magnetic testing tool is likely useless. Best wishes. A.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Alastair A

Well said above. If you are unsure about the internal composition of your rudder it can be checked on the hard with a (cheap) handheld residential construction "stud-finder or pipe finder". A density detecting tool is clearly better. A magnetic testing tool is likely useless. Best wishes. A.

Huh? A stud finder is a magnetic testing tool. It senses nails.

[JPA Cate]

The really interesting thing was that at the heart of the beast was a 7/8 scale stainless 'rudder' complete with three pairs of webs . So now I know that if the rudder does shed its skin at anytime I can still steer the boat.

If I had a rudder that wasn't built around such foundations I would be rebuilding it from scratch.


What a shame everyone doesn't make them that way! Smart moves, El Piing.

Ann

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by undercutter

Yes but how do you determine if your rudder is of such quality?

I just tap my Lloyd's plate and don't worry.

[Alastair A]

I hope you don't find too many nails. I'm suggesting low tech' hand held ultrasonic. Best wishes, whatever you may find. Cheers all CF. A
This may be an international wording or proprietary name mis-understanding. I mean density detecting and not magnetic detecting. I stated this in my first response. Best wishes and "no nails" in rudders for all CF folk. Cheers again. A.

[RPZ]

I have to wonder why there isn't a better mouse trap. Titanium is up there with graphite in corrosion resistance. Yes its more expensive, but you need less of it because its so strong for its weight. With ABS plastics or a polymer it ought to be pretty straightforward to literally injection mold a rudder around a titanium shaft and lattice frame that would last a long time, and moisture absorbance minimal.

[mitiempo]

Moisture enters rudders because of different materials - stainless shaft and fiberglass shell. The solution is a rudder and shaft made of the same material.

[SV Sea]

Well not sure if this has been posted here yet but here is the blog from the boat Dove II in question. https://westerlyadventures.wordpress.com/ Youtube sailers Monday Never posted this link on their facebook page as the crewed the 67ft Tilly Mint that rescued the family.
Here is the link to week 3 when everything went to hell! https://westerlyadventures.wordpress...ossing-week-3/ I'm sure you end up in tears once you start reading from this point on. Such amazing cruisers that helped and many others that made the worst Christmas into something special.
James the owner and father of the two kids and a 70 year grandfather did everything he could to save the boat in 30 kt winds and massive seas including building 2 emergancy rudders which failed.
2 freighters tried to rescue them but it was to rough but stayed with them for 2 days in case they sank. Finally ofter 3 days the Tilly mint arrived and they launched a life raft which everyone except James boarded and were rescued by the Tilly Mint. James stayed on board and tried to sail the boat with drogues and sails but that failed and he called for the Tilly Mint to come back and rescue him.
So many good people helped this family out when they reached land. JUST READ THE BLOG !!!!
Also a big thanks to the cargo ships that stayed with them and relayed radio messages to the coast guard. Turns out last year a sailboat was lost and the crew didn't make it so the CG was very happy to meet this crew.
The boat is still floating somewhere out there.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Huh? A stud finder is a magnetic testing tool. It senses nails.

I have two stud finders. Neither is magnetic based. Both sense studs as well as separate identification of electrical wires. Can deep scan or shallow scan. They are both relatively inexpensive and run on 9 volt batteries. Finder is sold at hardware stores.

My FIL has one of the really cheap nail finding models. It is obviously no more than a magnet.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by RPZ

I have to wonder why there isn't a better mouse trap. Titanium is up there with graphite in corrosion resistance. Yes its more expensive, but you need less of it because its so strong for its weight. With ABS plastics or a polymer it ought to be pretty straightforward to literally injection mold a rudder around a titanium shaft and lattice frame that would last a long time, and moisture absorbance minimal.

You use the words, yes it's more expensive...high production boat builders throw nickels around like manhole covers. It's a very competitive environment they are working in and no savings are too small. It doesn't make sense for them to build boats designed for heavy use when on average their boats are lightly used. I don't disagree with you, I agree but in the real world changes you are suggesting are not going to happen.

[boatman61]

I've bought a couple of 2nd hand Bene's in the Caribe and solo'd them back to the UK.. they're in the main okay boats which gave me no probs.. one was 15yrs old.. the other 6yrs old.
The only thing I can suggest is.. if buying a new production boat for ocean sailing when you get your list of desired factory fitted upgrades.. add a Lloyds spec style rudder to the list and scratch some of the other 'toys'.. same with keel bolts and through hulls.. don't go for the stock fittings designed to just outlast the warranty...