Oops, ran aground! Question...

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taormina

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Well, took my eye of the ball today, out of Brightlingsea one hour from low tide, rising tide though, ran the boat up a shingle bank 2 foot below the water! Q crunch and grind,
was doing 20k, stopped in 2 boat lengths, gulp!
Boat is a Bavaria 30, VPs with DPE drives, so, got off the gas, legs kicked up as per on impact, dropped anchor, and waited it out, going again in 40 minutes, Phew, every thing seemed to go well, and normally for rest of 6 mile journey,
Question, will there be any damage, anything to watch out for etc. one thing to come out of it, the props are fine and real clean, seems a spin in the shingle works a treat for cleaning the props!
Thanks all
 
Sometimes a sudden stop twists the shear tube inside the leg, its designed to shear to stop any further damage to engine and drive. If you still have drive at the next service get your engineer to check them as they do have a habit of shearing when you least expect it.
 
volvopaul said:
Sometimes a sudden stop twists the shear tube inside the leg, its designed to shear to stop any further damage to engine and drive. If you still have drive at the next service get your engineer to check them as they do have a habit of shearing when you least expect it.
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Whats a shear tube ? Does my DPS drive have one ? It all seems to be physical connections in the drive , with no deliberate weak point.
There is a splined connector between the lower and upper unit though.
 
There are so many sand an single banks around that area. Sounds like you got away with it.
When it happened to a friend of mine. Alright it was me. You need to check the water filters. I had lots of single in there. Keep an eye on the water temp.
 
I would lift and get an engineer to carefully inspect the drives, props and the drive shafts.

Also check the hull carefully inside and out for damage especially on the bulkheads.

I would also inform my insurer ( even if you never make a claim) to put them on notice just in case a mechanical or structural problem arises in the future so you are covered. The lift and engineer inspection would probably be covered by your insurance but you need to consider the level of your deductible and the fact you make a claim.
 
I remember (vaguely) something about my insurance policy paying for a haul-out and check for damage after stranding, without losing no claims, and even if no damage was found. Maybe check what your policy says? Inevitably, I think, there will be chips on the hull that is best sorted cheaply now rather than later.
 
sounds a very fortunate grounding.... if there is one?

I know of a chap with an Aquastar 118, a few months ago hit a submerged breakwater at 18 knots... £45000 damage, ripped shafts and p brackets and rudders off and obviously some hull damage, anything less than an Aquastar and the boat would undoubtedly sunk, but his AS didn't let any water in. The one bit of good fortune was he did it in Holland and the boat ended up in a very good boat yard... and yes, it was on the chart, and last year he spent around £10000 on new nav kit.... sometimes you do wonder
 
EugeneR said:
I remember (vaguely) something about my insurance policy paying for a haul-out and check for damage after stranding, without losing no claims, and even if no damage was found. Maybe check what your policy says? Inevitably, I think, there will be chips on the hull that is best sorted cheaply now rather than later.
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+1 my insurance says the same.
 
Thanks for letting me know. As a matter of interest, do they have something like a deep notch in them to provide a failure initiation point, or is it basically a soft metal component that'll just lose the splines ?
 
We were in St Sampson Marina (Guernsey) earlier this year when a mayday shout went out from a yacht that had hit rocks. Marine and General engineers had a boat nearby and they responded. They got the boat back in and lifted it within onto their hard standing within 30 mins. The engineer that inspected the boat said the damage was severe and would take many tens of thousands to rectify - apparently the keel had been pushed some distance into the hull. the boat would have sunk if they hadn't got it out of the water quickly.
When we walked past it the day after and if I hadn't known about the damage I would have never spotted it. It looked fine from where I was standing but apparently the damage was on the inside of the hull.
The moral of the story - Your boat might look fine but it might be worth inspecting the hull closely from the inside.
I'd definitely inform your insurance company.
 
Bandit said:
I would lift and get an engineer to carefully inspect the drives, props and the drive shafts.

Also check the hull carefully inside and out for damage especially on the bulkheads.

I would also inform my insurer ( even if you never make a claim) to put them on notice just in case a mechanical or structural problem arises in the future so you are covered. The lift and engineer inspection would probably be covered by your insurance but you need to consider the level of your deductible and the fact you make a claim.
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the boat is coming out soon, but all seems well, it was soft shingle, it was mainly the drives that hit and kicked up....
 
Bandit said:
I will be amazed if there is not significant damage to hull, bulkheads or drive.
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I wouldn't. I'm no expert but the most vulnerable part of the boat is the props and if they've survived undamaged then that bodes well for the drives and hull. Sounds like the bank was soft with a shallow gradient.

If you want peace of mind then there's certainly no harm in a lift out and inspection (wouldn't take a surveyor more than an hour I'd have thought). I'd be reluctant to get your insurer to pay for this as you may have to declare even this small claim in future years (might end up costing you more in the long run). Notifying them that you've had this incident seems sensible.

All IMHO.
 
I grounded one of my previous boats at speed - not something I would want to repeat in a hurry :ambivalence:

Personally I would have it lifted and checked just to be sure..
 
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