Catamarans for cruising. Numbers continuing to grow.

dunedin said:
As Chiara says we can see very clearly and precisely that the catamaran was not in any imminent danger of sinking.

Clearly we don’t know the other circumstances, but your attempt to contradict Chiara’s statement about the rate of sinking seems to be rather pointless
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You got no idea, frankly. None, zip, nada.........
 
Chiara’s slave said:
But we do know the cruise ship was 80 miles away when it set off to help. And there we have a photo of a catamaran apparently floating ‘normally’, in the same shot as the ship and it’s rescue craft launched and near the distressed vessel. The cat is absolutely certainly not just about to disappear beneath the waves. A leaking escape hatch, we know that. Smashed, or a defective seal, or some silly b**** opened it at sea, we don’t know that. But the hatch is above the normal waterline, so even if it’s open or smashed, the initial water ingress might seem a lot, but really isn’t. Offshore multis should be carrying gear to mitigate the loss of the hatch. Thing is, with these type of incidents, you yourself could get to the bottom of it with a quick chat with the crew, and a minute looking at the boat if still floating. But, most likely, we’ll never know the true nature of the problem, because reporters don’t know what questions to ask, and the evidence is adrift or sunk. An investigation likewise rarely gets to the real truth, as most people are unwilling to admit fault. So what we don’t know is likely to remain hidden.
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Question. Have you ever taken a catamaran with escape hatches to sea. Or rather ocean? Disregard the hatch above the waterline stuff. Neptune makes waves. Is the hatch seal true or fluff? None of us knows.

All this from a photo or two......but once again, the Forum Accident Investigation Board flings itself into action based on......virtually nothing. Apparently...
 
capnsensible said:
Question. Have you ever taken a catamaran with escape hatches to sea. Or rather ocean? Disregard the hatch above the waterline stuff. Neptune makes waves. Is the hatch seal true or fluff? None of us knows.

All this from a photo or two......but once again, the Forum Accident Investigation Board flings itself into action based on......virtually nothing. Apparently...
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I sail a trimaran with one regularly. We carry a piece of ply, a wedging stick and associated bits, and some sealant. I’m well aware of wave action, if we opened our hatch and sailed on regardless, our deck would be at sea level in 10 mins, apart from all our waterproof compartments, (8) preventing that happening. A leaking seal would make me very grumpy, as my duvet would get wet.
 
capnsensible said:
You got no idea, frankly. None, zip, nada.........
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Try not to hurl insults, as that is a clear and unmerited breach of forum rules - plus reflects badly on you.
Please stick to logical arguments - what of what my post #101, or the previous one was incorrect?
At the point of rescue the catamaran in the photos was clearly floating within 10cm or so of its normal load waterline.
You are not the only person allowed to post opinions.
 
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Chiara’s slave said:
I sail a trimaran with one regularly. We carry a piece of ply, a wedging stick and associated bits, and some sealant. I’m well aware of wave action, if we opened our hatch and sailed on regardless, our deck would be at sea level in 10 mins, apart from all our waterproof compartments, (8) preventing that happening. A leaking seal would make me very grumpy, as my duvet would get wet.
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With all due respect, Lake Solento is a tad different to open ocean. I got a bit of a slap (56 knots of breeze and very bumpy seas) delivering a Fontaine Pajo Athena across the Atlantic. Around a week before we got to the Azores. The power of the waves hitting those escape hatches was rather interesting.

I had the stbd aft cabin as skippers perks and did have my own private sea water streams dripping through it and they did make my sleeping bag and mattress wet. Not only that, I smoked at the time and I'd run out of cigs. One of my 2 crew went on watch with a bucket on string around his neck so he didnt have to go far to vom. I also managed to set my fleece on fire whilst putting the kettle on which thereafter was known as my 'smoking jacket'.

Anyway, I'll trot out the old accident thing of all the holes in the cheese lining up for the rescued peeps. And still none of us know Jack about the holes, their size or what type of cheese it was.
 
dunedin said:
Tried not to hurl insults, as that is a clear and unmerited breach of forum rules - plus reflects badly on you.
Please stick to logical arguments - what of what my post #101, or the previous one was incorrect?
At the point of rescue the catamaran in the photos was clearly floating within 10cm or so of its normal load waterline.
You are not the only person allowed to post opinions.
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Again, with respect, that is no 'hurling of insults'. But still none of us have any idea whatsoever happened and inferring something from one photo is somewhat fanciful.

Again again, I will trust that those at the scene, in full possession of the facts, made a good decision.
 
fredrussell said:
It has never occurred to me that multihulls have an escape hatch below sea level on hull. Is this the norm?
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Yes, although not normally below the waterline, but just above on the inside face of the hulls. Helps if the boat ends upside down which means the escape hatches on deck are then below the water! Great for viewing when lying in bed and screaming along at 15 knots.
 
capnsensible said:
Question. Have you ever taken a catamaran with escape hatches to sea. Or rather ocean? Disregard the hatch above the waterline stuff. Neptune makes waves. Is the hatch seal true or fluff? None of us knows.

All this from a photo or two......but once again, the Forum Accident Investigation Board flings itself into action based on......virtually nothing. Apparently...
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I’ll always mildly disagree with your dislike of speculation - I think we all learn something from discussing all the possibilities and reveal a lot about ourselves and our individual biases and fears. We rarely learn anything about the incident itself.

But on your question about escape hatches, I have delivered a cat with escape hatches across the Atlantic and they were a pain because they leaked perpetually whilst giving lovely turquoise views of under the sea as the catamaran hit its cruising speed and the back end of the bow wave sat neatly half way up the escape hatch plus waves going higher of course. Duck tape mostly solved it but a big leak there would make sailing near impossible I think.
 
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