beached - water ingress

[ArranP]

During high winds my Lagoon 560 dragged its anchor and washed up on the beach, it has since been pulled back out and put on a larger anchor whilst a mooring is being fabricated.

photo of it washed up on the beach.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QretHud3Jrve62m4A

Since then I notice that is water coming into the port hull and filling the bilge... Sometime ago I had removed the brackets holding the bilge switches and left the two screw holes open as I am yet put the switches back, this hasn't been a problem until after the boat got washed up onthe beach, since then there is now water seeping in through these holes.

video of water seeping in
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SHqbQL2wXRnvE3GE6

I have now put the screw back in the holes and filled them with silicone, this seems to be holding the water out for now,
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GdnRA6ERocYYonGM8

I fear that there maybe unseen damage to the hull / keel from when the boat washed up on the beach as it was only after then that the water began to come into the hull.

[neilpride]

The centerline seam of the keel is open, if I remember correctly they are filled with foam, if the 2 screws of the bilge switch pass the laminate, water gets into the bilge, I would take the catamaran out of the water and see if there is damage to the keels.

[Chotu]

There should never be water running through the laminate. That does indicate that you have a breach that is allowing water into the laminate.

However, it’s really odd because it shows that your boat is solid glass in that region. There should not be any ability for water to travel through there. But apparently there is some damage. Maybe do a haul out and immediately try to find it on haul out. It should drip on the outside of the boat somewhere once out of the water indicating where it’s getting in.

[Searles]

Is the water salt or fresh ,first ,if salt the area where the pump mount screws access is open to salt water ,next get the vsl on dry land and start looking for holes or cracks ,this may or may not be a major problem .⚓️⛵️

[skipperpete]

You really are having a bad run at the moment, sorry to hear that she dragged. We had 2 night time storms recently here in Langkawi with one un occupied boat that dragged…. Not beached, just relocated. Is there a suitable haulout nearby that can manage your beam if you need get her out of the water?

[ArranP]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

You really are having a bad run at the moment, sorry to hear that she dragged. We had 2 night time storms recently here in Langkawi with one un occupied boat that dragged…. Not beached, just relocated. Is there a suitable haulout nearby that can manage your beam if you need get her out of the water?

It comes with taking on a salvaged vessel, with no functioning chain counter it turned out that less chain was let out than I had counted for, will need to count + 50% again in future or at least until the chain counter is working.

I think Port Takola Krabi, I understand the way forward is to haul out as soon as possible as it is more than likely that there is damage, however unless she is intent on sinking during the intermin, this will have to wait until little later on.

I'll keep an eye on the bilge for now to see which way it will go.

[Jenta]

Not sure of the keel build on the 560, but our Lagoon 440 keels are thick (like 14mm) solid fiberglass on the outside, but on the inside of the keel there is a kind of "insert" which is placed down into the keel from the inside and it is quite thin. Maybe 3 or 4mm or so? That leaves a nice shiny gelcoat finish on the inside of our keel which is open like a long skinny bathtub and this is glassed in to the hull around the edges.

There is a gap between these inner and outer components and the factory opened holes in the front and back and injected some mixture of resin to fill in that space.

We had a collision with an underwater dike that smashed the front edge of the keel and in doing so "shattered" a large section of the resin that was between the inside and outside parts of the keel like gravel allowing a path for water to migrate. The outside fiberglass was smashed/splintered enough that water penetrated into the gap. Once that happened, anywhere there was a small opening on the inside part of the keel like a removed screw - water would seep in.

So - my guess (assuming the build is similar) is that you have substantial damage to the "outside" part of your keel and water is penetrating and working its way in through any holes it can find.
The good news is that they are built really well/strong and can be easily fixed.
The bad news is that you'll need to get hauled and grind away all the damaged/delaminated bits and drill holes to let any moisture left in there out. After letting it all dry, then it is a pretty straight forward fiberglass job.
We were leaking slow enough the bilge pump was kicking on every 5-6 hours and only pumped out about a gallon. So we finished our sailing plan before hauling out a month later.

[ArranP]

Originally Posted by Jenta

Not sure of the keel build on the 560, but our Lagoon 440 keels are thick (like 14mm) solid fiberglass on the outside, but on the inside of the keel there is a kind of "insert" which is placed down into the keel from the inside and it is quite thin. Maybe 3 or 4mm or so? That leaves a nice shiny gelcoat finish on the inside of our keel which is open like a long skinny bathtub and this is glassed in to the hull around the edges.

There is a gap between these inner and outer components and the factory opened holes in the front and back and injected some mixture of resin to fill in that space.

We had a collision with an underwater dike that smashed the front edge of the keel and in doing so "shattered" a large section of the resin that was between the inside and outside parts of the keel like gravel allowing a path for water to migrate. The outside fiberglass was smashed/splintered enough that water penetrated into the gap. Once that happened, anywhere there was a small opening on the inside part of the keel like a removed screw - water would seep in.

So - my guess (assuming the build is similar) is that you have substantial damage to the "outside" part of your keel and water is penetrating and working its way in through any holes it can find.
The good news is that they are built really well/strong and can be easily fixed.
The bad news is that you'll need to get hauled and grind away all the damaged/delaminated bits and drill holes to let any moisture left in there out. After letting it all dry, then it is a pretty straight forward fiberglass job.
We were leaking slow enough the bilge pump was kicking on every 5-6 hours and only pumped out about a gallon. So we finished our sailing plan before hauling out a month later.

Thank you for sharing your experience, it is good to know this information.

[George_SD]

When you do haul it out - maybe try injecting food coloring with a syringe into the holes to see where it comes out on the exterior? If you had a soft grounding and it's not smashed, but cracked due to flex under the weight, it may be difficult to find those cracks.

[ArranP]

photo of keels on the 560, they appear to be quite thick.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vdf...ew?usp=sharing

video of keels attached to hull via "tabbing" on a Leopard 51 courtesy of Sailing Dauntless.
https://youtu.be/OKO5YcZNCuE?t=473

[ArranP]

Checked on the boat today, two days after putting the screws back in with silicone. No more water ingress in the bilger.

Therefore it appears that whilst the external barrier has been breached, the interal barrier remains intact, so she will continue to float for now, however will still need to be hauled out at some later date to repair the damage to the external barrier.

[tkeithlu]

Hmmm. It does look like you've got a crack in the outer layer that reaches the screw holes. That crack, when you find it, will need to be beveled 12/1 and then built up with thin layers of cloth and resin. Don't try to do it with multiple layers at the same time. Then, silicone is not ideal stuff in this situation. It's soft and shrinks. A reasonable approach would be to drill out the silicone and replace it with Marine-Tex or with 3M 5200. Then body drill the holes in that.

This all calls for a thorough workmanship repair. The integrity of the hull is in question, so I cannot recommend anything that whiffs of cutting corners. Good luck with it.

[sv Stella Maris]

I have walt with a similar experience on previous cats, you are on the right track mentally. I can’t stress the importance of annual haul outs for especially these single-shot hulls as they age (greater than 4 years for large volume charter boats). Anticipated flex is invisible to the eye, but maintenance of the flex joints underwater and good bottom paint application hep avoid many problems. But your beam makes locations difficult and quite expensive…good luck all around

[FerrariSailing]

You might want to run a string line from side to side thru the cockpit and check for sagging as the grounding will have loaded up the bulkheads, do this while afloat. Also you could snorkel on your keel to check the damage visually. Best of luck, Rog