Dude, Where's My Keel ?

[epistosaurus]

I think with most well designed fin-keel boats, it may come down to the condition of keel-bolts. There is a lot of stories around how these may rust-through inside the hull in oxygen deprived conditions. So if the boat is more than a few years old, this may be your biggest worry as far as keel falling of is concerned.

The crash test video was great, thanks!

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by boatman61

AGAINST LOSING MY KEEL.... yer darn tooting I am...
Know of one big J boat lost its keel on a sand bar in the Medway... going fast..

I know that story. Actually it was a martini bar and he lost the whole boat but just until daylight came and he was sober again.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by pillum

From the SailNet forum:

I read this in YM a few months ago too.

"This is probably the most incredible story I have ever heard about sailing boats.

It turned out that a charter crew hit a rock and continue sailing without noticing they had lost the keel. You find it hard to believe?

Try this:

After that, the boat was chartered by another crew that went sailing happily in a boat without keel (and ballast). They didn't noticed anything and delivered safely the boat. Only a thirdd crew, after a broach suspected that there was something wrong. The 37ft Jeanneau boat made around 150nm sailing without its keel and ballast without anybody (two crews) noticing that there was something wrong with the boat.

Can you believe this?

The story was on the December 2010 edition of Yachting Monthly.

Regards

Paulo"

I could see that happening, 1. The people chartering are probably inexperienced sailers, and unfamiliar with how much that particular boat should heel. 2. The engine, water tanks, and other stuff is stowed at the bottom of the hull, and gives some stability, 3, The fat beamy hull also adds some. 4. They probably spent most of their time motorsailing in light air thus never really pushing the stability limits.

[muskoka]

Link to story on charter boat that sailed three charters with missing keel:

CHARTER BOAT LOSES KEEL: And No One Noticed

The remarkable thing isn't a boat losing her keel, because that does happen. Nope, the truly amazing thing is that after sailing 3 keel-less charters the boat made it back to the marina without incident. Congratulations to the boat designers I'd say.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

firstly they were racing versions, ( matches) secondly the keels had been moidified locally and the work poorely done. Bavaria were exonerated .

If I remember right there was more than one Bavaria with the keel falling off. Part of the problem was no backing plates on the keel bolts. Just washers.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by gpdno

lol, saw the movie and have wondered about that myself. Some boat have that new fangled bulb keel. Mine has a big old lead incapsulated keel so it's not going anywhere.

Back in 2008 a sailboat from Texas A&M capsized in the Gulf of Mexico after loosing the keel. One of the six crew members died, so it does happen.

It's also very unlikely that a cruise ship would be flipped upside down, and yet the notion merited not only a movie but a REMAKE of the movie!

People love to be scared.

[Ex-Calif]

The best thing about that story was this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAyDS1NuK_A

Social commentary - read some anchoring threads around here. They usually devolve into "hate wars."

This link had clearly clueless sailors banging around an anchorage. No one was yelling. Everyone was calmly helping.

We could take a lesson from real life...

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by ssanzone

and to my question... is it possible that a keel gets sheered off while running aground?

i suppose if a whale clipped the keel i could see losing the keel, but thru a reef or beaching her at 6knots +/-?

One word: Drum.

Didn't even take a reef, a whale or anything other than water touching the keel.

Here's a link to some details: The History of Drum | Fastnet Race Capsize | Simon Le Bon

From reading Skip Novak's book, the problem was exceptionally poor quality control at the builder's not a design error as the site indicates.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

It's also very unlikely that a cruise ship would be flipped upside down, and yet the notion merited not only a movie but a REMAKE of the movie!

People love to be scared.

Not sure how cruise ships got pulled into this, but one actual 300ft cruise ship went down in a hurricane with all hands. IN the last couple of years two cruise ships that made the news were hit by rogue waves; both ships sustaned damage, one had lost engines either before or right after the incident and had to be towed. Both were rolled, one had bridge windows smashed.

A number of ships both large and small have turned turtle, so it's not an uncommon event.

Losing the keel on a ballasted keel sailboat under full sail is a good recipe to do so.

So if you have a bolted on keel, it's probably not a bad idea to check those bolts now and then.

[southace]

I met the producer for this movie , he came on one of our shark cage diving trips to get some footage of Great white sharks for the movie....The movie is based on a true story happened on East coast Australia, and yes the alloy keel shoe was repaired after a previous grounding but was not Xrayed....I think the repairer sat a jail term for manslaughter due to neg.

[rtbates]

Probably not right away. Could take a few years before the stressed bolts snap, one by one in the black of night during a proper storm, of course!....