Diary of a sunken boat

Under Water

This nightmare situation is common in boating.  My boat (Ronin 681) has been my baby for many years.  It is pretty much just the way I want it.  Loaded with electronics, solid, fast, and easy to single hand.  In the last year, I have sailed her less, but she is still in good condition.  Since I travel al ot overseas, the first contact I received was by email.....

Below are the first two emails I received with the bad news.  As I did not ask permission to reprint their email, I have deleted the names.

Subject: Ronin--the Cal 25

Date: Wed, 27 Jan 99 9:47:06 EST

From: YYYY<YYYY@yyy.gov>

To: husarc@bah.com, mmayfield9@aol.com, mmayfield@contraves-brashear.com

Matt,

Dave is in Annapolis this morning, and he asked me to e-mail you to let you know that Ronin sank sometime between Sunday afternoon and most likely yesterday. Apparently it was raised back up. ZZZZ said it was open so he went over to see if someone was working on it, and when he looked inside, it was clear that the boat had sunk.

Charlie, ZZZZ asked if you'd call him on his cell phone at (703) 402-XXXX. Also, could you e-mail XXXXX and let him know?

How's everything else? I know you were in Asia for a long time. Are you back yet?

Talk to you soon,

YYYY

Subject: Status on Ronin

Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 14:12 -0500

From: "XXX" <XXX@xxxxx.com>

To: "mmayfield9@aol.com" <mmayfield9@aol.com>, "mmayfield@contraves-brashear.com" <mmayfield@contraves-brashear.com>

CC: "husar_charlie@bah.com" <husar_charlie@bah.com> 

Matt,

I got a call yesterday morning from Charlie that Ronin had sunk. He had received a call from Mr. Gilday (sp.) at the dock. In-Depth Divers raised the boat last night and we're able to get the remaining water out. Apparently, there was a leak on one of the head pipes. Also, I didn't see that the holding tank was connected to the Y valve? On their instructions, we left the engine in the water overnight, and I went down there today at lunch, pulled the motor and took it immediately to Viking for service. I am in the process of pulling all of the sails and cushions, etc. off the boat to hose down and dry out at my house. Will continue with internal cleaning this week/weekend. The water has been very clear and the boat appears in good shape, not just my opinion, but Charlie's and In-Depth's also. In-Depth normally charges $100 per foot, ...... I told them I would talk to you and get back to them.

Sorry that you heard about this from someone other than me first. I wanted to assess the situation last night before contacting you so that I could tell you more than 'it sunk'.

XXXX

When I arrived, the boat was already floating.  All in all it looked pretty good.  There was a musty wet smell.  Others had already removed the cushions and sails.  The motor was left in the water until the mechanics could start the rescue.  Charlie came by and showed me the pictures of the rescue:

Missing boat

A good gauge of a racing boat's extra weight is to line it up with identical boats.  The best boat will float the highest  Here on Cal Row, you can see my boat Ronin is slightly overweight.  You can see it just before Charlie's black Chicken Little.

Underwater 1

As you can see, the 'emergency survival beer dispenser' has risen to the top for easy access.  Had this been at sea, there would have been no boat, but there would have been beer.

Under Water 2

Rescue

The actual mechanics of raising the boat was to put inflatable bladders around the boat to raise it off the bottom.  Next, the water was pumped out. 

Next, all the remaining equipment was removed from the boat, sorted, and what was salvageable was rinsed.  The the boat was hosed down with fresh water..  I bought a small electric bilge pump to aid in the pumping.  It was then scrubbed with a bleach solution.  This seemed to take care of the last of the smell.

The Damage

A number of things had floated off when it sank: some life jackets, the hatch boards, some of the floor boards.  In addition, the wood interior where it was not well varnished showed some extra wear.  All looks easily repairable.  The electronics, on the other hand, was a total loss:  Autohelm ST1000+ autopilot had water sloshing in it, Handheld VHF, Autohelp ST30 depth/speed, KVH Sailcomp 103 racing compass, Apelco Loran, 3 fuse panels, spot beam, 2 flash lights, and the battery were total losses.  Binoculars, 6 charts, and one of the mechanical compasses was lost.  Other things miraclasly survived.  The engine was dried out by a professional (Viking Marine about $130), and the gas in the tank seemed well sealed.  We added Dry Gas and it ran just fine.

How did it happen?

When the boat was raised, water was apparently still rushing in.  All the valves for the head and holding tank are in the bow under cushions, which at this time were waterlogged and very heavy.  Charlie said when he closed the valve to the through hull the water stopped.  With the cushions removed and the boat dry, I opened up the through hull and no water appears.  One more piece of information-- All my vales are located right in the same dark compartment.  The Y-valve for the holding tank was set on the exhaust overboard position, while I have been working on a long term holding tank replacement project.  I suspect, one of the crew reached in and switched the Y-valve in an open hose instead of closing the through hull valve.  The result was catastrophic.

Insurance

Yes, I did have insurance with Travelers.  I had a $3000 policy with a $500 deductible.  I filed a claim Saturday morning when I saw the boat.  Now we find out how good my insurance is....  It took a number of calls to keep things going.  All in all, Traveler's have been pleasant.  Here is basically what happens: 1. They want you to refloat the boat boat immediately and get the engine repaired.  They are willing to send you a check for this immediately even before they decide if you are covered  Tip: keep the engine under water until it goes to the shop to minimize damage.  Next they will get an independent marine surveyor to assess the damage.  In my case, the surveyor immediately called me to tell me that it would exceed by deductible.  Even being conservative, and with the minimal damage, his estimate was $7k replacement + salvage+motor repair.  Now we enter into the area of 'totaled' boats still valuable.  Keep in mind, the boat was racing competitively 5 days after the sinking.

As expected, the boat was totaled by the insurance company.  They offered to let me buy it back for $350.  End result is that I got $2500 to cover the $7k of damage.  In addition, I get to shop for a new insurance company.  If they choose to keep me, I will need to have a full survey first.  They are covering the salvage cost as separate from the $3k limit.

Lessons Learned

  1. Keep the through hulls closed.  Take the time to open the hatch completely before opening valves to make sure you are opening the right one.  Make sure inexperienced crew has been taught how to put the valves back in a safe position at the end of the day.
  2. My experience brought me to re-consider the merits of sealing the thru-hull and installing a porti-potti.
  3. When you boat sinks, raise it immediately.  If you don't have insurance coverage, most divers/salvage people will negotiate.  Just move fast.
  4. Clean everything up with lots of water and bleach.
  5. Electronics should be opened up, rinsed with clean water (contaminants cause wet things to fail), dried in the sun or oven, cleaned with alcohol if possible, and then checked if ok.  I never did these steps and my electronics were all lost
  6. Check your insurance.  If you are under-insured, you could loose the entire boat on a minor claim.
  7. If you are not using your boat enough, it is time to sell it.  See the ad