The Marlow 76 'Clam Chowder' sinks off Puerto Rico

[Bajansailor]

I just saw this article in Passagemaker Magazine - the Marlow 76 'Clam Chowder' sank on Sunday while on passage 25 miles north of Puerto Rico.
The four crew members abandoned ship to a life raft, and were picked up by the USCG.
76-Foot Motoryacht Sinks Off Puerto Rico, Crew Escapes in Liferaft

There is also an article in Maritime Executive -
U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Four from Sinking Yacht

Here is a link to the current 76 on the Marlow webpage.
76 Voyager

 

[jrudge]

Looks like a relatively new boat ( from the limited pics).

I suspect many of us ( me included) think that unless we hit rocks the thing is not likely to sink. That statement is probably true but sometimes unlikely things happen.

 

[Bajansailor]

Marinetraffic notes that she was on passage from Palm Beach in Florida.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5262522/vessel:CLAM CHOWDER

The Passagemaker article notes that one of the crew reported that the vessel flooded via the 'toy garage'.
The general arrangement drawing below (taken from the Marlow website) shows two tenders stowed aft - it looks like they have side doors for launching the tenders. However there are no side profile photos of the vessel on the website to confirm this, and I cannot find any Marlow 76's for sale on line to refer to.


The photo below was also taken from the Marlow website.
It sounds like the door in the transom (or one of the side doors, if fitted?) was compromised somehow, which seems a bit strange, especially as she would have been motoring into the seas, heading SE from Florida to the Caribbean.

 

[MapisM]

It sounds like the door in the transom (or one of the side doors, if fitted?) was compromised somehow, which seems a bit strange

It does, but not totally unheard of.
Otoh, looking at the boat plan, I'd expect the boat to be designed with more than enough buoyancy also with the garage completely flooded.
Assuming - as it seems obvious - that the garage is a fully w/tight compartment.
Then again, not with the inner w/tight door open (and possibly also the second one before the e/r).
Not saying it was/they were, obviously - how could I?
Just wondering.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I saw the same report in the Passagemaker email today. A crew member lost a finger launching the life raft. I wonder too how flooding one of the toy compartments could sink the whole boat. Yet another court case for David Marlow to swerve I guess

Where's gludy when you need him?

 

[Bajansailor]

I would also assume that the aft bulkhead between the crew accommodation and the 'toy garage' should be water tight - but maybe somebody left the watertight door in the bulkhead open by mistake (?).
Ships have panels on the bridge showing the status of their watertight doors - would a vessel like this typically have a light and / or an alarm to tell you if this door is open or closed?

Changing tack, re Gludy, I saw on his Multihulls R Us Forum that he has his St Francis sailing catamaran for sale in New Zealand for US$ 800,000 -
Suliere is now for Sale - St Francis 50 with huge spec

 

[rickp]

Can't deny he actually got out there and did some proper cruising! Paul and his partner line-handled for me when I transitted the Panama canal. The St Francis 50 is a nice boat and deserves to be back on the water. I hope Paul's family get their health problems sorted, but I've not heard from him for a while.