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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

The Death of a Catalina

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Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/16/2008 : 20:35:01

Stole [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EbYtrjDWYI&NR=1"]this video[/url] off the Trailer Sailor site.

1997 250 TR WK (sold)
1984 O'Day 28 (sold)
1979 SISU 22
Bath, NC.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2008 : 21:12:55

Here is the narrative that went with the video:

"This is day two of videoing the death of the Catalina 27 on Lake Isabella after it's mooring broke. The first day also included the remains of the Santana 27 that suffered from a broken mooring too."

Better go check those moorings!

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 07:20:03

Probably a total write off, but really, the top sides look in pretty good shape considering the days of pounding. The owner did a good job of lashing the mast down.

I'm looking at the upside of this one... the boat is showing it's strength ... by now it could be in pieces around the lakeshore, and it's probably full of silt which is helping it stay in place.

On our bimini trip when we took a real pounding, my take on it was how well the boat handled it. Hat's of to catalina's strength.

Paul

Edited by - on

redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 07:23:52

One word. Salvage!

Where was the environmental police or somebody? Seems like quite the tragedy. One good crane or a big enought boat to pull it off.

sten

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 12:42:24

I did some quick and dirty math to estimate the load if a crane were to try to pick it up, or a boat try to pull it off the shore: Using rough dimensions of 8' x 6' x 25' and not allowing for the actual shape of the boat, you're looking at roughly 3300 cubic feet of material. If it were just water, that's over 200,000 lbs of water (62.4 pounds of water / cubic foot) to move. That doesn't take into account the amount of silt, sand, mud, etc. that's accumulated over the time period, each of which weighs more than water. Nor does it allow for any weight of the keel (which would be insignificant compared to the rest of the load). In any case, you're looking at moving 1000 tons of boat, water, mud, etc off the bottom, a daunting task.

I'm amazed at how well it's taking it's beating, I agree it's a testament to the construction of the boat, and makes me quite confident of my boat's ability to take a beating.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 13:25:27

Is that American Tons?

1,000 tons?

27l' * 9b' * 6h' = 1,458 cubic feet

1,458 cubic feet * 62.42796lbs/cubic feet = 91,000lbs

91,000lbs / 2,000lbs/short ton = 45.5ton.

Probably less than 1/3 of that ~= 15ton.

Paul

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 14:01:21

I suspect a salvor would put some air bags in the cabin and inflate them, expelling much of the water, and then drag her out where hopefully she'd float. Does the wind ever let up there?

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/17/2008 : 15:57:29

Paul,
Mea culpa... I've got no idea how I arrived at my 3300 cubic feet figure, earlier this morning, I'm going to blame it on:
(a) just woke up,
(b) used to using an RPN calculator instead of CALC.EXE (not used to having an "=" key to have to push, probably carried an intermediate step forward that I didn't see (with an RPN stack this is hard to do). &
(c) should have checked my work.

8' x 6' x 25'= 1200 cubic feet x (62.4 pounds per cubic foot) x (1 ton (US)/2000 pounds) = 37 tons +/-. Still a pretty good load.

Maybe the Mythbusters still have all their ping-pong balls left over?

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 07:03:10

David, I recently posted an article on Bank of America's Small business community involving some numbers.
The next day I had a mild panic attack when I realized I had not triple checked the numbers. Luckily they were correct, but it cost me a few hours sleep that night

Mythbusters are a fav of mine.

When in the military we were frequently tasked with 'how would you get out of that' scenarios, and this is a good one.

Game On:

How would you get the boat onto a nearby road?
What methods would you guys employ to get the boat out?
Game rules:
- No commercial crane available, Low-loader or trailer can get to the beach.
- Unlimited manpower
- Maintain the maximum value of the boat.
- Minimize the cost of the event.

Paul

Edited by - on

SCnewbie
Navigator

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166 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 17:43:57

Not sure if you can get a trailer to it. If not, I would do it just like we recovered a cessna 150 a friend of mine ditched in the mud a year ago. Add as much floatation as you can. Pump out as much water as you can. At high tide, pull it off the beach into the water. Need enough flotation so it won't sink on you. Tow it to a ramp or a lift and get it on a trailer (flat bottom if needed)

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 19:35:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by SCnewbie
 ...At high tide, pull it off the beach into the water...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Ahem... Lake.

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 20:37:03

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Game On:

How would you get the boat onto a nearby road?
What methods would you guys employ to get the boat out?
Game rules:
- No commercial crane available, Low-loader or trailer can get to the beach.
- Unlimited manpower
- Maintain the maximum value of the boat.
- Minimize the cost of the event.

Paul
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I'm thinking chain saws

Put a dumpster on that trailer on the beach to catch the pieces. The value of the boat is probably far less than the rescue operation would cost. Sell the lead (cast iin ingots)for C250 bow ballast

Edited by - on

bear
Admiral

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USA
909 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 20:43:57

Offer it as a training excersise for the National Guard.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/18/2008 : 20:55:50

Actually John, I was thinking along the same lines. Not sure how much lead is in the keel, but at $2/lb it'd probably be the most expeditious way to follow Paul's rules.

You're not going to float it off, at least not for a couple of years, they've started draining the lake to repair the dam (I did my research), the water level has dropped at least 20' since this was shot, and possibly as much a 50 depending on when the video was done.

Presuming you wanted to preserve the hull (I think that was Paul's intent). I'd be looking at lots of line, multi-part pulley systems, lots of shovels (remember unlimited manpower). Dig it out, careen it towards the "shore" and build a ramp up onto the level of the "nearby road" plus the height of the trailer you couldn't get onto the beach for some reason. Rig pulleys & lines, pull up onto ramp and onto trailer.

In reality, you could probably drive a crane right up to it if the sand was firm enough, because it's almost certainly high & dry, and been that way for months.

Edited by - on

Stardog
Captain

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USA
319 Posts

Response Posted - 08/21/2008 : 08:16:29

I've watched this video and thought about the situation since this thread was started, it makes me sad and makes me wonder who in their right mind would let this happen to their boat? If a boat is properly moored this should not happen, except perhaps, in hurricane strength winds. I'm guessing the owners do not live where the boat is moored. If my boat somehow ended up in this predicament, I would be out there with a shovel and pumps and floats if necessary; after the weather subsided of course. This boat is a helluva project boat and I've always loved projects.

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