44 Helia "sunk" in the Atlantic

[Tornadosailing]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Reposting a picture of our starboard bow after collision with a shoreside rock shelf at about 4 knots. The bow knuckle as well as the rest of our boat is solid fibreglass below the waterline and the bow has a sealed crash compartment behind it, so a collision on the bow will fill only a limited volume. So cats aren’t necessarily without solid glass.

I've toured the Outremer factory, and the construction method is different than FP uses. I believe the "big three" all use a single piece hull mold. Outremer and some other builders use a 3 piece hull mold process. The center section and outer hull sides are separate molds, and are glued together after the fact. This means a solid glass seam where the hull sides mate at the bows and center of the bilge. No doubt the FP has extra glass at the pointy end, but I don't think it's nearly as heavy as your Outremer. Besides, the Helia in question didn't hit at the corner of the bow where it's no doubt stronger than the rest of the hull.

[thinwater]

I don't understand why they don't put in the required tanks and bulkheads. There is no way my PDQ 32 could sink. I had a through hull failure once (wonky depth sounder) and I didn't even get the floor boards wet.


The reason is space and marketing. Stupid IMO.

[Thumbs Up]

Escape hatch failure!http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...re-194102.html

[Thumbs Up]

I don't think that it sank. They advertise it as being unsinkable. From the Helia 44 brochure:

SAFETY
Incomparable levels of safety are a hallmark of Fountaine Pajot’s cruising
catamarans. Our boats are unsinkable in all conditions and feature a sacrificial
skeg, crash box, balsa sandwich construction and other elements to guarantee
optimal peace of mind. Each catamaran is designed with optimized circulation
throughout the boat to facilitate safe and easy movement and maneuvering.
Every aspect has been considered with your safety in mind, from the boom
height, flybridge access, seamless communication between the saloon and
cockpit, protected windlass, and much more.

[Thumbs Up]

A PDQ did sinkhttp://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ne-143771.html with a little help from a thousand fifty caliber rounds from the USCG.

[Thumbs Up]

The Helia 44 owners version has the starboard the escape hatch in the head:

[Thumbs Up]

The article (in Norwegian):https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/ngx9ym/s...orliste-baaten

[Suijin]

Another lesson about not blowing up a life raft unless you intend to get in it.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Thumbs Up

A PDQ did sinkhttp://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ne-143771.html with a little help from a thousand fifty caliber rounds from the USCG.

The fifty caliber rounds didn’t sink the PDQ, it was the CG with their axes chopping the boat up.

[14murs14]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I have seen many cats with hulls so thin for weight that they were easil sprung by hand force or casual contact with the dock.

No, you haven't, just going to call pure BS on that unless you're talking about a Hobie Cat? On the flip side, I had a mono lose steering and t-bone the Lagoon 400 I was chartering dead amidship at about 4-5 knots (while I was backing into a med mooring with anchor already down - extremely limited in ability to maneuver!) The Lagoon, which is the epitome of production cats, had a minor scratch that the charter company charged me 50 euros for. Seriously, "hand force"?

[Kenomac]

A good lesson regarding the loss of the life raft. I’d have probably done the same thing, but not after reading this account.

Don’t inflate until ready to get in.

[model 10]

It was probably tethered by the line that is supposed to break if the sailboat sinks.

[arsenelupiga]

i bet the issue is not properly sealed barier between living space and engine room. Like in lagoons. One that sunk in bundaberg.

One needs to do this unpleasant work and TEST it to improve seaworthiness of the boat.

Hard to expect from new owner to be aware of this issue, and lets face it surveyor would not pick that up either. At least mine hasnt although accredited etc.

Assuming this is the case, then i know of 4 cats sunk for that reason. Worth fixing it.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

A good lesson regarding the loss of the life raft. I’d have probably done the same thing, but not after reading this account.



Don’t inflate until ready to get in.

Well, a floating but awash inverted catamaran (which is what I understand from the translated story referenced by Mark) is a very different use case from a monohull. For a mono, there is no reason other than fire, battery gassing or catastrophic structural failure to get out of a monohull that is still floating.

For a cat, securing a life raft between the hulls creates a decent liveable space while waiting for rescue. Certainly better than trying to hold on to the undersides of the hulls or bridgedeck (our bridgedeck has jacklines on the underside) with water surging back and forth or dealing with the darkness, water and mess of staying in one of the hulls.

Check your cat for strong points under the bridgedeck to which you can attach life raft, dinghy, harness tethers, ditch bags, etc. Consider putting non skid on the underside. And maybe a painted-on or vinyl emergency v-sheet. Too bad anti foul doesn’t come in orange or yellow.

[Snowpetrel]

Seems a real shame that these production cats miss the opportunity to make them habitable and repairable when flooded. With a little bit of extra effort it would be so easy to make them so much safer. True it didn't sink, but in any sort of seaway it wouod be dangerous to stay with the boat. It doesn't bode well for what happens if they capsize.