sinking of my boat "freebird" wells next the sea on swing mooring

[susanne30]

hi
i know this is a long shot but just wondering if anyone saw my boat which is a mitilda 20 named freebird on christmas eve or sometime previous only it sank

On viewing boat sunday 29th afternoon i could see a dinner plate sized hole midway down port side below water level ,also damage in a similar position to starboard
side which i think points to the boat hitting something very substantial to cause a great amount of damage to a boat in my view built like a tank whilst on mooring

Please can i take this opertunatety to thank everyone at wells harbour who helped recover freebird which before christmas couldent have come at a worse time

only covered third party so all costs will have to be covered by me

Any info will be much appriciated

 

[LittleSister]

Sorry to hear of that.

 

[William_H]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Assuming it is a fibreglass hull then I think you will find the water damage to gear inside much harder more expensive to replace than actually fixing the holes. Fixing the holes will involve a process similar to filling holes for paddle wheels or seacocks (only bigger. You need to cut the edge of the holes to clean fibreglass. Champfer the inner and outer edges. You will need to be able to make a former which can be pressed against either the inside surface or the outside surface to support new fibreglass and resin. You lay up the fibreglass and resin from the opposite side to the former with patches at first inside the hole then progressively larger into the chamfered area.
When ths is firm enough to support itself without the former you remove the former and apply similar patch over the frist patch. Again filling the hole then extendiong to the chamfered area. If the resin is not fully cured you will get an excelelnt bond of the 2 patches one to the other. While the bond to the existing hull will not be as good the 2 patches form a shape like a yoyo so can not fall out. The former needs to be well coated with wax or cling film to permit release of the fibreglass. The former might have a half thickness plug in the middle to make the first patch only extend half way into the thickness of the origianl hull.
Final filling and fairing of the patch will take a fair bit of work. With paint or gel coat as the final finish.
If you use carbon fibre for the patches that will be much stiffer for both lay up and final job. Epoxy resin will make a better adherance to the original hull but needs UV protection while polyester resin can have the amount of hardener increased for quicker hardening especially in cold conditions. Obviously the patch needs to be as thick or thicker than the original hull. With perhaps an even bigger patch over the inside. good luck olewill

 

[Seajet]

susanne30,

that's awful, my heart goes out to you; I had a Scorpion racing dinghy I named Freebird ( Lynyrd Skynyrd fan by any chance ?! ) and considered the Matilda when they were first marketed over here - have the brochure in the unlikely event that's of interest right now.

A long shot, but would your mooring be in sight of any CCTV or webcams to see what happened ?

It sounds strange damage, if the boat didn't drag onto a fixed structure; if it's something floating it would seem very dangerous, I presume the harbourmaster is aware of what's happened ?

If Freebirds' mooring is non-drying, has anyone had a cast around in case the culprit is still there ?

I hope you get her fixed up affordably, if possible it might be worth getting someone onto it ASAP as after the widespread damage from the recent storms boat repair people are going to be busy.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[VicS]

hi
i know this is a long shot but just wondering if anyone saw my boat which is a mitilda 20 named freebird on christmas eve or sometime previous only it sank

On viewing boat sunday 29th afternoon i could see a dinner plate sized hole midway down port side below water level ,also damage in a similar position to starboard
side which i think points to the boat hitting something very substantial to cause a great amount of damage to a boat in my view built like a tank whilst on mooring

Please can i take this opertunatety to thank everyone at wells harbour who helped recover freebird which before christmas couldent have come at a worse time

only covered third party so all costs will have to be covered by me

Any info will be much appriciated

Sorry to hear about that.

Friend of mine had a Matilda at one time.

If you are going to do repairs yourself there is a mine of info and iuser guides on the Wessex resins website for the use of epoxy resin http://www.wessex-resins.com/westsystem/

Old but perhaps useful if you are going to use ordinary polyester resin at http://bluemoment.com/downloads/grp_repair_manual.pdf

 

[tillergirl]

Might be worth copying your post on the East Coast Forum. I know most read several forums but you never know.

 

[dleroc]

hi
i know this is a long shot but just wondering if anyone saw my boat which is a mitilda 20 named freebird on christmas eve or sometime previous only it sank

On viewing boat sunday 29th afternoon i could see a dinner plate sized hole midway down port side below water level ,also damage in a similar position to starboard
side which i think points to the boat hitting something very substantial to cause a great amount of damage to a boat in my view built like a tank whilst on mooring

Please can i take this opertunatety to thank everyone at wells harbour who helped recover freebird which before christmas couldent have come at a worse time

only covered third party so all costs will have to be covered by me

Any info will be much appriciated

So sorry to hear about this. The damage sounds like a torpedo like object has gone right through the boat. That would be some huge object travelling at some pace. Were there any other boats moored nearby?

 

[JumbleDuck]

So sorry to hear about this. The damage sounds like a torpedo like object has gone right through the boat. That would be some huge object travelling at some pace. Were there any other boats moored nearby?

Hitting an anchor or other pointy obstacle hard from above in big waves?

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

hi
i know this is a long shot but just wondering if anyone saw my boat which is a mitilda 20 named freebird on christmas eve or sometime previous only it sank

On viewing boat sunday 29th afternoon i could see a dinner plate sized hole midway down port side below water level ,also damage in a similar position to starboard
side which i think points to the boat hitting something very substantial to cause a great amount of damage to a boat in my view built like a tank whilst on mooring

Please can i take this opertunatety to thank everyone at wells harbour who helped recover freebird which before christmas couldent have come at a worse time

only covered third party so all costs will have to be covered by me

Any info will be much appriciated

Commiserations.
The fact that the two holes are opposite each other suggests that something went right through the hull. Are there any other indications which might point to this, or does it appear that the two holes were created separately? Are there any traces of any kind of paint around the holes?
It's unlikely that the boat hit a floating object on one side and then swung around to be holed by the same object on the other side, it would sink in the meantime. To have sustained this kind of damage, I would suspect that it was hit by a moving vessel. Perhaps if you report it to the police. They will have the resources to find out what other vessels were under way in the area at the time and check them out.
Good luck, olewill.

 

[Lakesailor]

It's a horrible situation. Especially so as there is so much damage and carnage about at the moment. I am sure the authorities will have lots on their plate, I wouldn't think that your loss will be very high on the priority list. Unless you find someone who has first-hand knowledge it may remain a mystery.
I would just concentrate on remedying the damage.
I would imagine your main problem will be the outboard. Get it off and stripped, crankcase flushed and oil replaced. Most of the motor should be resistant to a bit of seawater, but the cylinder bores need attending to a.s.a.p.

 

[jono_howlett]

Shame...

hi
i know this is a long shot but just wondering if anyone saw my boat which is a mitilda 20 named freebird on christmas eve or sometime previous only it sank

On viewing boat sunday 29th afternoon i could see a dinner plate sized hole midway down port side below water level ,also damage in a similar position to starboard
side which i think points to the boat hitting something very substantial to cause a great amount of damage to a boat in my view built like a tank whilst on mooring

Please can i take this opertunatety to thank everyone at wells harbour who helped recover freebird which before christmas couldent have come at a worse time

only covered third party so all costs will have to be covered by me

Any info will be much appriciated

Hi,

Really sorry to hear that. Seems keeping a boat in wells is a risky prospect
recently. We're moored up there but have not seen anything. Where is
Your mooring?

Jono

John of Gaunt

 

[Eyore]

What sad news, so sorry to hear that

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

That's bad news. Back in the 1990's my boat (Bruce Roberts 30) was de-masted at Wells next the Sea whilst moored at the harbour wall overnight. The mystery was never resolved. We think that a fishing boat caught the stay when the boat was leaning out at low tide.

 

[sailorman]

Win Gen boats there now i believe

 

[susanne30]

Hi,

Really sorry to hear that. Seems keeping a boat in wells is a risky prospect
recently. We're moored up there but have not seen anything. Where is
Your mooring?

Jono

John of Gaunt

Thank you for your mail.




Point 1 - the boat was reported sunk on the 24th December 2013 mid morning
and was recovered mid to late afternoon on the 24th December.
point 2 - the weather conditions were strong SW winds and rain.
Point 3 - The tide height on the 23rd December was 2.3m i.e. springs falling
tide to neaps
Point 4 -
Point 5 - Six members out the harbour staff turned out on the 24th to
recover the boat.
Point 6 - the vessel had been moored on a safe/secure mooring number at ....
East Quay
Point 7 - There is no video evidence
Point 8 - No other boats have been reported damaged around this time

sorry for the delay in getting back to you

regards