Yipee!!! ... My Bavaria Keel is still attached!!!

XDC said:
What is the blue cable for? What does it attach to?
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I reckon its either attached to a big drum of cable that allows you to retrieve the keel when its fallen off:encouragement: or perhaps to a warning buzzer......

It is a well documented modification in Bavaria Keel Tappers and Bumpers club!
 
Baggywrinkle said:
I think it's a lightning conductor. It's attached to the metal anchor point of the shrouds ..... and there is nothing up the mast which requires quite such a high-current earthing connection.
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Interesting. So if your mast was struck by lightning this would in some way ground it ... through a keel bolt?

And if it didn’t ground it where would the strike go?

I’ve always thought it spread it around the boats electric circuits and fried everything hence the principle of a Faraday cage/oven to protect things.
 
XDC said:
Interesting. So if your mast was struck by lightning this would in some way ground it ... through a keel bolt?

And if it didn’t ground it where would the strike go?

I’ve always thought it spread it around the boats electric circuits and fried everything hence the principle of a Faraday cage/oven to protect things.
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This is the best source of detailed data on lightening and boats I've found:

http://www.furledsails.com/article.php3?article=676
 
XDC said:
Interesting. So if your mast was struck by lightning this would in some way ground it ... through a keel bolt?

And if it didn’t ground it where would the strike go?

I’ve always thought it spread it around the boats electric circuits and fried everything hence the principle of a Faraday cage/oven to protect things.
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... there are alot of thunderstorms in the Adriatic, I've been in a few and it's not fun.

I know of 2 boats that sunk due to a lightning strike blowing the log/sounder out of the hull ..... and a ferro cement boat off Argentina that blew its hull apart as the strike went through the mesh used for the cement and made a big hole.

I don't like lightning, so yes, I'm hoping it gets into the shrouds and exits via this blue wire through the keel without frying everything on board - don't what to test that theory though. The wire was on the boat when I bought it.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
... there are alot of thunderstorms in the Adriatic, I've been in a few and it's not fun.

I know of 2 boats that sunk due to a lightning strike blowing the log/sounder out of the hull ..... and a ferro cement boat off Argentina that blew its hull apart as the strike went through the mesh used for the cement and made a big hole.

I don't like lightning, so yes, I'm hoping it gets into the shrouds and exits via this blue wire through the keel without frying everything on board - don't what to test that theory though. The wire was on the boat when I bought it.
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You can hope but I think you are more likely to blow a hole in the bottom of your boat and sink! I have actually seen a lightning strike onto a keel stepped dinghy mast with a boat ashore. The hole in the bottom was huge... The traditional precaution is to hang your anchor chain over the side from your shroud.
 
I reckon that to dispell all the cobblers written about the Bavarias and their keels, a good plan would be to ask someone who has sailed several across various oceans.

My desk is open for business.

Smiley.
 
Absolutly. As Chairman Mao said in his little red book " True Knowlege is the Product of Direct Experience "

He got lots of other things wrong, but that one is on the money.

IMHO, of course.........................
 
Bobc said:
The one on my 2003 Bavaria is still loitering about under the boat. I do have some nice big osmotic bubbles in the rudder though (made by Jeffa, not Bavaria).
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Mine is still there too! Amazing! Every time I go down to the boat I expect to see her upside down with the rudder in the air on the mooring...but no.

At this rate, a year into Bavaria ownership, I'm starting to worry that the big roll of gaffer tape I bought, plus my Sea-Searcher keel retrieval magnet, and my stiff brush for removing Portsmouth Harbour mud from my anemometer cups, might all have been a total waste of money! Who can I write a sternly worded letter to?
 
capnsensible said:
I reckon that to dispell all the cobblers written about the Bavarias and their keels, a good plan would be to ask someone who has sailed several across various oceans.

My desk is open for business.

Smiley.
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The North passage through the reef at Green island, Antigua claim a surprising quantity of boats. The last time we were here there was a Bavaria on the reef. It had spent most of the night there bouncing about all be it on the sheltered side so not too bouncy. The next day I watch the salvage guys tow it off on its side in to deeper water. The damage didnt look too bad. I asked the salvage guy about the rescue and he said he has pulled a few of the older Bavaria's off the reef here. He said they were surprisingly strong compared to some other modern boats he had dragged off.
 
A nice dry bilge you have there. The one thing that slightly surprises me is that each bolt just has a washer to spread the load. On my Jeanneau which is now 21 years old there are some quite substantial square steel plate "washers".
 
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Norman_E said:
A nice dry bilge you have there. The one thing that slightly surprises me is that each bolt just has a washer to spread the load. On my Jeanneau which is now 21 years old there are some quite substantial square steel plate "washers".
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It's one of those things where you think intuitively that it doesn't look too strong, but they've held for 20 years so far .... I don't know how exactly the hull around the bolts is constructed but a surveyor did tell me that if you try to "strenghten something up" then it is very possible that you actually end up distributing the load to somewhere less able to deal with it, or end up concentrating stresses on a smaller area, which were better distributed in the original design.

I think I'll leave them well alone and trust that Bavaria knew what they were doing - I do hit them with a hammer occasionally to see if any of them sound 'off' or dull. So far all is OK.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
It's one of those things where you think intuitively that it doesn't look too strong, but they've held for 20 years so far .... I don't know how exactly the hull around the bolts is constructed but a surveyor did tell me that if you try to "strenghten something up" then it is very possible that you actually end up distributing the load to somewhere less able to deal with it, or end up concentrating stresses on a smaller area, which were better distributed in the original design.

I think I'll leave them well alone and trust that Bavaria knew what they were doing - I do hit them with a hammer occasionally to see if any of them sound 'off' or dull. So far all is OK.
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Remember the brown bit of GRP is not the bottom of the boat, it's the top of the keel matrix. Look at the top right "hole" and you'll see how much deeper the hull is. The thin washers are stopping the keel falling out the bottom of the boat, and probably transferring the load straight down into the highly reinforced tubes that the keel bolts pass through, rather than a flat GRP panel.
 
This Bavaria owner saved the cost of a haul out to check his keel :cool:


I believe the skipper was one of those in the water, read it here some time ago.
 
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Too slow? Not facing into wave?

Recovered nicely though, it is the entrance to one of the Portuguese ports, famous for its swell.

No sh**! :D
 
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