Well that was a first - I've never intentionally grounded "Papillon" before - she's a bilge keeler (twin keels) so it's all possible, but either way this was a first on anything other than the (very) soft mud of my normal mooring..
In the end I need not have worried (though I did!) - just motored forward very gently - minimum revs - until there was a gentle scrunch as she stopped. Threw a mooring rope ashore - tied her to a post - and then just waited for the tide to go out..
I'd arranged to have a lift from our tractor and mechanical (hydraulic) hoist - one of these:
..heart in your mouth stuff when you see the hoist straps slip until they hold! Either way she's now back on her trailer, same spot as before... it's like she never went into the water...
Next step is to get her repaired as soon as possible - have contacted one of the local repair companies, and passed them the following..
This is the bottom of the mast where the mast foot came out - some damage but surprisingly little...
Roller furling - bent at 90' - if it can be repaired great, but not sure.. perhaps you can get replacement foil material and graft it in???
Deck plate with mastfoot still attached - and a trio of stripped plugs - when the mast went over the side the wires got pulled out...
...should hear from them Monday ..fingers crossed for a quick and cheap fix!
In the end I need not have worried (though I did!) - just motored forward very gently - minimum revs - until there was a gentle scrunch as she stopped. Threw a mooring rope ashore - tied her to a post - and then just waited for the tide to go out..
I'd arranged to have a lift from our tractor and mechanical (hydraulic) hoist - one of these:
..heart in your mouth stuff when you see the hoist straps slip until they hold! Either way she's now back on her trailer, same spot as before... it's like she never went into the water...
Next step is to get her repaired as soon as possible - have contacted one of the local repair companies, and passed them the following..
This is the bottom of the mast where the mast foot came out - some damage but surprisingly little...
Roller furling - bent at 90' - if it can be repaired great, but not sure.. perhaps you can get replacement foil material and graft it in???
Deck plate with mastfoot still attached - and a trio of stripped plugs - when the mast went over the side the wires got pulled out...
...should hear from them Monday ..fingers crossed for a quick and cheap fix!
She's your ship so you've got the final say, but I've always been a bit leery of repaired masts after a major material failure - perhaps you can get a used mast of another boat that's no longer in use?
ReplyDeletegood luck
Just a thought... How much extrusion goes up inside your roller furler? Is there enough to chop off the bent section. Either way I would of thought you'd be able to get that part replaced rather than replace the whole lot.
ReplyDeleteThe mast foot looks not too bad, the holes for the rivets have been destroyed but the void could be filled with chemical metal and then drilled and tapped to take machine screws instead of rivets.
ReplyDeleteWhen mine broke it took most of the side walls from the foot with it!