Passing ship holed my dinghy

[steve yates]

I think. Jilling about the edge of the shipping lane in the thames estuary the other day, waiting for a container ship to pass, I noticed a couple of flecks of smut float down onto the deck.
Oh aye, thinks I, no deiselparticulate filters required for ships then ( having just had to replace mine on the car) then crossed on and thought nothing else of it.
I carry my dinghy on the foredeck, like so

the next day I walked over the coach roof and glanced down, bugger me! It looked like someone had been sticking a ciggarette through the floor of my dinghy!

Is there any other conclusionI should draw other than that this was caused by that passing ship?

Its a hypalon dinghy so pretty tough, its been on the foredeck for about 3 months but Im fairly sure I would have noticed it if caused by something else before.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Have you been anywhere near the big fires that burned on either side of the Thames estuary recently? I bet they chucked a lot of burning embers around too. Or is it just hungry seagulls?

 

[bedouin]

Not convinced - the clustered pattern doesn't seem quite right for that and it would have to be a pretty big ember to cause those holes.

I would like some form of animal was involved

 

[AntarcticPilot]

One of the damaged areas (the uppermost in your photo) looks more like someone took a knife to it. Could it actually be malicious damage, and actually caused by cigarette burns, and a knife? I can't imagine anything emitted by a big ship diesel engine being big enough or hot enough by the time it reached your deck.

Just a thought - has anyone been welding anywhere near you?

 

[Clancy Moped]

Rats?

 

[jdc]

1. It's a localised area, on a surface which is mostly vertical as stowed aboard, and
2. there are many scratch / chafe marks running more or less SE-NW on your pic (look at the black webbing strap).

Although I first thought of air-gun pellets, actually I think it's mechanical damage / chafe. Kicking strap? Where is the detailed photo taken from in relation to the overview? And what is the little jam cleat?

The cuts may be coincidence as the dinghy is hardly new and I think that if it was only those few you'd probably not have noticed (they're typical of pulling the dinghy ashore where there are some barnacles - maybe less common in the Thames, but we've plenty in Cornwall!) It's the holes which stand out.

 

[25931]

I think. Jilling about the edge of the shipping lane in the thames estuary the other day, waiting for a container ship to pass, I noticed a couple of flecks of smut float down onto the deck.
Oh aye, thinks I, no deiselparticulate filters required for ships then ( having just had to replace mine on the car) then crossed on and thought nothing else of it.
I carry my dinghy on the foredeck, like so
View attachment 140361
the next day I walked over the coach roof and glanced down, bugger me! It looked like someone had been sticking a ciggarette through the floor of my dinghy!
View attachment 140363
Is there any other conclusionI should draw other than that this was caused by that passing ship?

Its a hypalon dinghy so pretty tough, its been on the foredeck for about 3 months but Im fairly sure I would have noticed it if caused by something else before.

I would expect to see some blackening from burns.

 

[newtothis]

Emissions controls on container ships are a bit iffy, but not that iffy.
Also, if that had been hot soot, I'd expect the holes to look a bit more melted. These look abraded.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Moths

 

[SaltIre]

Although I first thought of air-gun pellets, actually I think it's mechanical damage / chafe. Kicking strap? Where is the detailed photo taken from in relation to the overview? And what is the little jam cleat?

Rubber bullets.

 

[Minerva]

The edges of that big hole in the middle is almost perfectly beveled. I’m going for it’s been worn away by abrasion of something - is that your kicking strap in the picture?

 

[guernseyman]

The group of six or so, lower left, is interesting. Some look charred, or something, and not (yet?) holed.

 

[jamie N]

No sign of anything being being burnt through on this hole, but some evidence of chafing.
When was it last inflated Steve?

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Looks like mouse damage to me.

 

[capnsensible]

Rats. But on the bright side there's a chance that they aren't rabid.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Rats. But on the bright side there's a chance that they aren't rabid.

Or pregnant......

 

[Uricanejack]

If it had been soot from the ship it would leave lots of big black marks on your deck. By the time it had come out the funnel and floated down it’s pretty much cooled of and just a old plain dirty black mess. Which crumbles as soon as you touch it . And is difficult to clean without spreading it everywhere.

 

[steve yates]

Mmm, interesting. Sounds like a coincidence I noticed it the next day. I think I should rule out soot then
Dingy was inflated in early may when i patched one of the tubes, floor was absolutely sound then.
Chafe is possible, that is the vang in the pic, but it doesnt usually lie on the dinghy like that, normally its attached to the boom. I had detached it the other day while fiddling with it. Will have to go pop down and see whereit sits in relation to the dinghy floor when its attached, to see-if its a possible cause. Thing is, I havealways stowed it there if not towing it, and she has done many more miles like that in Scotland a few years ago than she has done since floating again this year in Essex.
Obviously I cant rule out that i have packed it differently somehow, but chafe doesnt jump at me as an obvious reason given where it is.
This shows it stowed the same years ago.

 

[davidej]

Lovely photo. Wherissitt?

 

[steve yates]

Its lochinver, she sailed up to there and back from cumbria over a period of 10 months.