44 Helia "sunk" in the Atlantic

[admiralslater]

Perhaps fairhaven is ill equipped to haul more modern boats. In the Caribbean the marinas haul cored boats all day every .

[maxingout]

When I was doing the refit on Exit Only, I saw a 42 foot catamaran in the travel lift sling being pressure washed. I walked over to the cat, and I noted that there was a 4 foot by 4 foot section of the hull oil-canned inward about ten feet back from the stern. I assumed that the boat had a structural problem that required the boat to be hauled to sort out the "hull problem."

It turned out I was wrong. It was simply "improper placement" of lifting straps that caused the large section of hull to deflect inward for three or four inches.

It blew my mind seeing the hull distortion in the travel lift, and I immediately thought of the storms at sea that I have gone through in Exit Only. It would freak me out to be in a catamaran that had that amount to hull deflection if I was in a storm at sea.

As far as I am concerned, the fancy 42 foot catamaran was not designed for offshore sailing - at least not in my sailing world.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by admiralslater

Perhaps fairhaven is ill equipped to haul more modern boats. In the Caribbean the marinas haul cored boats all day every .

I cannot speak for Fairhaven. It is one of the best shipyards for commercial fishing boats, ferries and yachts on the east coast but who knows, it just might think twice to haul another ‘Ferrari’ .

[Thumbs Up]

If anybody doubts what I described happened, call Fairhaven Shipyards in Fairhaven MA who had to make the repairs caused by their lifting straps when the boat was hauled for other repairs. This event happened about 6-7 years ago.

Hello Fairhaven Shipyard, did your travel lift straps damage a catamaran six or seven years ago? .... Ok I see. It was the catamarans fault....I am not saying that you had positioned the straps wrong, but did you?

[rabbi]

wait... is it a mono vs cat discussion again?

thanks, I'm gone.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by foggysail

I cannot speak for Fairhaven. It is one of the best shipyards for commercial fishing boats, ferries and yachts on the east coast but who knows, it just might think twice to haul another ‘Ferrari’ .

Last comment from me on this strain . When you mentioned ot was a northern yard on the east coast I did wonder if they were more used to more traditionally constructed boats . Not a dig at Fairhaven just an observation .
All shorts of objercts have lift points and areas that cannot take load , the hood of a car or truck for instance . It is called engineering .

[mark_morwood]

Originally Posted by foggysail

I cannot speak for Fairhaven. It is one of the best shipyards for commercial fishing boats, ferries and yachts on the east coast but who knows, it just might think twice to haul another ‘Ferrari’ .

We had our Catana 48 hauled at Fairhaven quite a few years ago and we were happy with their care and attention. But as has been pointed out, their bread and butter is big steel hulled work boats.

I will point out that I always worked closely with whatever yard I was using when hauling any of the boats I had. No-one knows better than you where the bulkheads are, where the transducers are and where the saildrives or shafts are! For all the boats I've had, both mono-hulls and multihulls, I've always made sure to put the lift straps on a bulkhead, and I'd be surprised if that wasn't the standard manufacturers advice as well.

Also, I don't think it makes sense to extrapolate the ability to resist the compression loads of a lifting strap in the middle of a panel to sea-worthiness. That is a very different set of forces than you get sailing even in extreme conditions. Sure you can build a boat so that you could lift it anywhere, but particularly for multi-hulls where weight correlates inversely with performance, that is not a choice that I would make.

[arsenelupiga]

'respectful' sydney city yard put my boat on desk, like in some yard in china, and not even where bulkheads are.

Looks like 'catamaran hate' played part as every service they provided was even less than mediocre. However luckily no damage.

what a bunch of losers.

At least i know my boat is built wery well.

[BigBeakie]

Great! Yet another good reason to get an overbuilt condomaran.👍 So that owners who don't know where their structural bulkheads are can haul out at yards who have never hauled a cat before. Surprised I have never seen that feature in the conomaran marketing brochures...yet. 😉


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[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Great! Yet another good reason to get an overbuilt condomaran.👍 So that owners who don't know where their structural bulkheads are can haul out at yards who have never hauled a cat before. Surprised I have never seen that feature in the conomaran marketing brochures...yet. 😉


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hope you enjoying your new cat. I do enjoy mine very much.

[BigBeakie]

Not just yet, but looking forward to it. And maybe sailing around the harbour together sometime?


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[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Not just yet, but looking forward to it. And maybe sailing around the harbour together sometime?


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Sure. Although I don't sail in harbour. Outside is much more fun and no crowd.

[14murs14]

Originally Posted by maxingout

When I was doing the refit on Exit Only, I saw a 42 foot catamaran in the travel lift sling being pressure washed. I walked over to the cat, and I noted that there was a 4 foot by 4 foot section of the hull oil-canned inward about ten feet back from the stern. I assumed that the boat had a structural problem that required the boat to be hauled to sort out the "hull problem."

It turned out I was wrong. It was simply "improper placement" of lifting straps that caused the large section of hull to deflect inward for three or four inches.

It blew my mind seeing the hull distortion in the travel lift, and I immediately thought of the storms at sea that I have gone through in Exit Only. It would freak me out to be in a catamaran that had that amount to hull deflection if I was in a storm at sea.

As far as I am concerned, the fancy 42 foot catamaran was not designed for offshore sailing - at least not in my sailing world.

Find a storm at sea that puts a multi-ton compression load on a single point and I'll show you something to be concerned about. You lift a catamaran in the wrong spot you're going to break something, just like if you tried to lift a monohull by the keel. It has absolutely zero to do with safety at sea or the ability of the boat to withstand a storm.
Most of us who aren't doctors avoid opining on brain surgery, and even though I'm an engineer I don't try to armchair quarterback bridge failures since I don't have much civil engineering background. Probably something for those who haven't taken at least a basic level statics and strengths course and have some background in fiberglass design and use to consider before pontificating on the fiberglass engineering on boats!

[az_r2d1]

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. I think I’ll stick with my 1-1/2 inch thick solid glass and Kevlar 40 ton Nicholson.

Glad the outcome is without crew loss.

uhuh. sure. Try hitting a 40 ft container at speed and see how that holds up. It won't.

[AllenRbrts]

I was able to track down the owner of the vessel and confirmed via email the breach was the starboard hull escape hatch. The boat was a 2015 FP Helia hull #105 named Marita (originally name Sputi). Boat was insured. This is the email he sent to me.
Thank you for the Mail, yes my Boat was a owners version, just like the boat on your picture. And i am very sorry for my boat, it vas very well equipped.
Our leak come in the same hatch in starboard hull, i was not able to see if the hatch was there, or the glas was missing, becaus heavy seas and IT was dark, i try to fix the leaking with pillows from the saloon, but the hole was to big and the seas was to heavy, the water come in wery fast.

I strongly recommend any boat with this escape hatch near water level look at a restraint on the lens of hatch which will keep it from falling out the frame. My solution are these acrylic blocks welded to the lens in the upper corners with solvent glue. The aluminum bar is across the edge of the frame of the hatch. Hatch is still full functional.