Capsized My 26X

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

Frank C ...
My guess is that you're absolutely "right on". Bilge water slushing around, and eventually sliding to one side of the boat is mathmatically possible, likely, and dangerous. I liken it to throwing hundreds of lbs. of weight to the wrong side of the boat when heeled over. There would be no stopping the boat roll over because of the massive weight.

Thanks for letting me know about that "leak reveal hole" in my 99 Mac X. I actually thought it was for a drain to keep the cabin dry which didnt make sense. Knowing what its actually for makes me feel safer, considering your post, and my opinion above.

Thanks (...and I'm planning a bilge pump installation, and soon).

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Fran, can you estimate the size of the portholes? First time I've heard of any Mac owner putting these on the outside of the hull, normally I see them on the footwell walls of the cockpit where they would not be underwater while heeled.

As someone else noted, the hull is designed to be so thin at that point, that you probably would not have a good strong mounting base for port holes.

If this theory is indeed correct, it sounds like they would have to be fairly big holes. Afterall, the 3 inch (or is it 4?) gate valves still take 4-5 minutes to put 175 gallons of water into the ballast tank and it sounds like you had a lot more than that in the boat if the water was up to the table.

Btw, I also found it interesting that your companion way hatch floated off (I'm assuming you meant the top sliding part). I wouldn't have thought that this could happen unless the deck buckled for example..assuming it came off of the side of a rail where it should be held captive. Makes me wonder about a failed hull/deck joint...which could explain a rapid entry of water also.

And one last thing, just because the floor board was dry does not mean that there was not already a considerable amount of water in the bilge between cabin floor and hull. While level, you might not see any sign of it (especially if you don't have the little hole in the rear of the cabin floor) but heeled far over, it would all come rapidly into the cabin area and totally ruin your stability.

[fran trapp]

It is late and I am very tired. I met with the insurance company this afternoon and will pull the boat in the morning. I am sorry-- but I did not check the balast-- will do that int he morning. I have photos but do not know how to share them. I hope this will do it. : http://new.photos.yahoo.com/frantrapp/a ... 7518#page1

There are 2 albums. One of the wreck and one before the wreck. Will report after boat is removed from water. -- Centerboard appers to be stuck up--?? There is water in in boat and boat is currently listing 20- 30 degrees starboard in 4-5' water?? Boat never had water before-- could be leaking from "stuff" -waterlogged---Mech. said motor is toast. -- Ins. Co instructed me to do nothing (even though others said I should pickle it--I tried but followed their instruction). Later.

[RandyMoon]

Those photos are sobering to look at. I always feel safe on my boat thinking it is invincible. I can't imagine having to go through this situation.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Looks like they put some floats on it to right it. Those port holes are pretty big, seems like it would still take a couple minutes to flood the cabin though. The port side port hole looks intact but you can't see the starboard one which appears to be under water.

[Catigale]

Bright side Fran....some fresh water hose out and you will have this boat back in service long before most any other kind of boat...

I was wondering what the insurance company would do about the motor - they do need to be pickled to remove salt water right away, but you do have to do as they say or risk their wrath...

[Sloop John B]

Cat, what's pickled mean? Dumping it in fresh water?

Other than electronics, aren't these motors that weren't running at the time salvageable?

[Mark Prouty]

Fran,

Very sorry to see your boat in that condition; but thank you for sharing your misfortune so we can learn from it. My son and I have been studying your photos and are speculating it was those portholes that caused your flooding. Forgetting to seal them would be too easy; I can identify, I've done some damage forgetting things on my boat!! Like that rudder and that mast crutch and that tree in the yard... On occasion, repairs can make the boat better than original.

Good luck!!

[Catigale]

Im not an expert on this by any means, but my MERC manual has a detailed description of what to do with the motor in the event of either salt or fresh water immersion.

To give you an idea of timeframe involved, Mercury recommends the motor be started within 2 hours of immersion, after a series of recovery steps.

[delevi]

Sorry to hear the news Fran, but as others said, thank God nobody got hurt or worse. Hopefully the insurance company will take care of you. I too suspect this was a ballast issue. I had my boat lay down at 90 deg and took no water in. She came right back up once I was able to release the sheets; granted, I didn't go through reversing winds gybing it back and forth between knockdowns

Leon

[baldbaby2000]

Hi Fran,

Hopefully you can pump the boat out and still have a good boat. Too bad about the motor. Perhaps you should talk to another mechanic. I know a guy that found a motor in a drained lake and was able to get it working. That wasn't salt water though.

BB

[ronacarme]

1. Am sorry for your misfortune, but it makes me think to look more closely at my galley sink drain thru- hull as a possible source of the water that appears in the underlying port bilge after a spirited sail, and to check for water in the stbd cooler bilge and port settee bilge before leaving the dock. Thanks for that.
2. I suspect it would not be impossible to permanently eliminate those ports and close their holes if you wanted to do so.
3. I would agree with the post above that the boat may mostly be in need of drying out to ready it for use again....tho as to the motor?????
Good luck and don't give up the ship.
Ron

[edurbin]

Very sobering story. Appreciate your sharing it with us Fran. Have been knocked flat in my previous trailer sailer, but not in the Macgregor. Pretty scary when the sails are laying in the water and waves washing in the back. Anyway, that porthole looks a bit of concern.

I've had a bit of a go at the Bernoulli principle to do a rough calculation on rate of water ingress. Assuming port hole open (area about 0.03 square metres), and submergence depth somthing like 300mm, then the water is going to come in at about 73 kg/second. Suppose you were down for 20 seconds - thats 1500 kg of water in the cabin.

Craig

[waltpm]

Many years ago, shortly after I bought my new Mac 25 I got a call from my marina that the boat had sunk at the dock. I arrived to find the boat floating of course. (it's a Mac) but filled with water right to the cockpit floor. Getting in my partner and I found that flexible tubing that was used to seal the lifting keel cable had been installed incorrectly and pulled loose. We reconnected it, rented a big pump and in 30 minutes we could have sailed again. Took a couple of days to dry out the cushions and we were very fortunate the porta pottie had been empty.

[Frank C]

After seeing the pictures of those portholes, I doubt they could be the problem. As far above the waterline as they are, they surely couldn't have admitted enough water to initiate the lay-over, as described. I'm guessing there was some major leak below the waterline to fill the bilges BEFORE the first capsize. This bilge water caused the boat to roll, and then, perhaps, the porthole could exacerbate the filling of the cabin.

What sort of leak? ... I can't imagine, since the factory thru-hulls are above the designed-waterline. The only possibility of a non-impact, disasterous leak ... probably the ballast tank seams. However, once the bilges push the waterline above the factory thru-hulls, all bets are off.

Again - sorry to hear of your misfortune, and hope to learn the final analysis, Fran.