Grounding, Not Good

[Midnightsun]

Saturday the 13th was a disaster. I was on an unfamiliar lake cruising to a destination via plotter as usual doing About 8 knots when I see a blue coloured shallow area coming up on the map. No problem, says 6'8" on the chart. So I continue on, crunch and crunch again and again. WTF, pulled back to neutral at the first sound, was in 2' of water on a rock shoal. Boat was stuck there held in place by the props. Had my wife and guests move to the bow as I lifted the swim platform while standing in the water trying to get her free which I managed to do. Jumped in fired her up and put her in gear, squeal, squeak from port and a nice vibration happening.

We carried on to our destination which was 10 mins away and anchored with friends. Checked his plotter only to find out the shoal is well identified and marked as 1"3" WTF.

Next day we inched towards home which took us over 12hrs and 2 seaway locks. Managed to get a hold of my mechanic who will work on evaluation and parts. Contacted my haul out guy who met us there as we pulled in at 8PM last evening who hauled us into a large storage facility.

I had no clue what to expect as I was hoping the rudders were still in place. Bottom line is it is bad but there seems to be no structural fibreglass damage. Forget the props, they are toast, struts are bent about 30 degrees along with the shafts. Definitely some work to do.

So what happened, how can I get grounded with a lifetime of experience behind the helm? Needless to say I worked on all the setting of my plotter on the 12+ hour trip back. Noticed many if not all all the lest than 3' depth figures were missing on my main plotter but not my small plotter. How can this be. They large plotter is the master and the small one is the slave which get there chart information from a single card in the Master plotter. I checked all setting comparing each one, everything was perfect yet no shallow figures on the chart. As a last resort I did a factory reset of the main plotter. Guess what, all the little numbers now show up.

I am the type who does not claim insurance however this on is going to get pricey and this is why we have insurance, just hoping parts are readily available. Did luck out with my mechanic as he returned from vacation yesterday.

Hoping to be out for only a couple of weeks but who knows. Am heading there this morning to pull props and set things up for the mechanic. Will post some pictures of the damage.

[bud37]

Geez Hans....sorry to hear that. Heh man if it is an insurance claim, would you not just leave it alone till the adjuster has seen it.....good luck with your repairs..

[Midnightsun]

Yea but I know there will be grease and dirt all over the place so going there to set down sheets and open up the engine compartments to set things up for the mechanic/s. Will also pull the props just because I want to. The rest is up to them.

[BenTen]

Terrible news, sorry to hear it. I guess I'm more cautious by nature and would have avoided the area even is showing 6'8", just to be safe, over cautious, maybe/probably? I have insurance and am still afraid to chance damage to my running gear. I hope this doesn't keep you out of the water for too long.

[Viper]

Holy S#&* Hans. WTF? Are you running Raymarine? What model? I've never come across that one. Maybe a software update?

Don't know the facilities out your way but it might be a good idea to be proactive and contact Carver with your hull number for running gear part numbers and suppliers. A good prop shop will have shaft stock in house and fabricate them themselves. Don't know if the props are repairable or if the struts can be straightened but if time allows, insist on all new. Sometimes struts and shafts can bounce back after straightening. If the bend on the shafts is at the prop taper, forget it, replace the shafts. If the props are repairable, make sure they can bring them up to a class 1 repair, a class 2 isn't too bad but no less than that. Consider replacing cutlass bearings if the struts will only be straightened considering how long you ran her after the impact. And if you have dripless shaft logs, check them as well. You may want to replace the seals. Oh and take lots of pictures.

Get this in writing whether it's you or your service center; when communicating or sending a quote to the insurance company, make sure they include the recommendation and cost to re and re, dismantle, and inspect the transmissions internally. They will likely say that they will not authorize such and cross their fingers but if the recommendation was made and they refused to proceed, it's on them if a failure occurs in the not too distant future. If a failure occurs later, it should be considered part of this original claim/impact so you aren't out of pocket considering they refused the recommendation after the impact. You have no way of telling at this time if the impact has done anything to affect the longevity of the transmissions. Only time will tell. At least this way, you have a leg to stand on and the service center protects itself as well by making the recommendation. I put this clause in all inboard impacts I deal with now. They may instead ask for a fluid analysis. Again, this is a finger-crossing reaction hoping that nothing will happen in the next little while. The fluid analysis, while it can tell you a lot, the results are dependent on circumstances and may not paint a true picture of what may soon happen. For that reason, the insurance company should be made aware (in writing) that it doesn't get them off the hook on the trannys just because the fluid analysis didn't raise any red flags at the time. If that notice comes from the service center qualified to do the work, it will hold more weight later should something happen.

The important thing is nobody got hurt and you got back safely.

Good luck, hope everything goes better than expected and that you're back on the water soon. The season is way too short!

[Midnightsun]

Raymarine aseries, maps are 2 years old, rocks have been there since before I was born so no excuse there. I do have the latest software, even checked that one out on the the long tedious trip back.

Was at the boat today, not something I want to tackle. Insurance was informed and the underwriters called me back in a couple of hours, heck even the adjuster will be there tomorrow AM to look things over so at least this seems to be on the right track.

I did contact Carver with shaft, strut, coupling, prop, numbers from my assembly manual just to confirm all is correct and to get a little more info on how to access the strut screws as it looks like I need to pull the floor of the lower cockpit and pull the aux tanks to access those, not exactly Carvers best engineering but maybe they have another way of doing this. Waiting for a call back from them as I type.

I looked at the shaft couplings but they seem to be taper with keyway as in no set screws, does one need a special puller to get those off?



Props are chewed up pretty good, think they need to be replaced.



Shaft is just a little crooked.

[Viper]

The end of the shaft will likely have a Nylock nut inside the coupler holding it in place. It usually takes a large thin walled socket to get into the coupler between it and the nut. Once that's out, if the coupler slides off the shaft you're lucky, usually it takes a shaft puller or tightening the coupler back on with something between the shaft and transmission flange to push the shaft out when tightening the coupler nuts back on though I'm not a big fan of that method.

I say the port strut is toast, can't tell on the strb one. I'd also replace both props and shafts with new. Are rudders okay?

Get yourself a new set of Tides shaft seals to install now and a spare set to put on to the shafts before the shafts get slid back into the couplers. Looks like you'll have enough room for them. That way if they ever leak in the future, you'll have a spare set ready to go and won't have to remove the shafts to get them on. Make sure you get the insert tool but I'm pretty sure the spare assemblies get shipped with them.

Personally I would like to have seen another set of blocks amidship at the bulkhead.

[bud37]

Just to add to the shaft straightening.....guy beside me just went thru the same as you last fall..struts shafts,props.....all fixed etc....fast forward to this spring, shaft wobbling all over, just spent two more weeks in the parking lot to get a new shaft. We think they fixed the one shaft....now is new and all ok.....stainless is tricky stuff.

[Midnightsun]

Both struts are toast but the port as shown is really bad, starboard still is very noticeable.

Rudders seem ok but the port one seems to have a small angle to it if you look carefully or it is just an illusion.

Thanks for the procedure for removing the coupling, pretty much what Carver told me after I got the call back and asked them about it.

As for the shaft seals I already mentioned this to the mechanic this morning, new seals and a spare on each side.

Unfortunately I found out the shafts and struts come from Croix Machining who I will call tomorrow for availability. I say unfortunately as If is not in stock they need to make it which takes 12-16 weeks.

[Midnightsun]

Thanks Bud, Will definitely push for new everything which should not be an issue with them bent like they are. My mechanic mentioned after a hit like this normally you also change couplings to be on the safe side.