Quote:
Originally Posted by sa meredith
VTSteve...
Although I may be wrong, I not certain you read post #315 from last night.
It is what brought this thread back up. Info that that most poeple never had, I believe.
Maybe you did read it, but just did not reference it in your post.
Would you not consider this important info that pertains to the sinking on Winni?
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I did read that, and have read the threads from Pascoe's site many times. The reason I didn't consider the information to pertain to this particular incident on Winni, is that from all the information gather on this thread it doesn't seem to pertain to the sinking? I have not read anywhere that this particular Winni Cobalt sunk because the hull was compromised. Maybe it was, but nobody's indicated it yet, and one poster stated that someone familiar with the recovered boat says it looked fine. Maybe that's not correct?
I think people may (and some have), gotten the wrong impression from reading that post, and Pascoe's threads. I doubt there's more than one or two boats on Winni that would meet his standard of "good" construction. I will say one more thing with a high degree of certainty. If you stuff a good sized wave on a Sea Ray, Cobalt, Bayliner, fill in the blank Bowrider, you stand a good chance in some circumstances of taking on more water than your boat can reasonably handle. This is especially true if your boat has a number of people onboard.
I had a rather precarious experience once on my boat. I was out on Champlain trying to get my boat to the dealer on a particularly rough day. I had only a one-day window of opportunity to do this, and my determination exceeded my common sense. Winds of 35 mph from the south make for big water that even 30 footers plus avoid on this lake. Stupidly, I continued on. From crest to trough (the way most people "see" waves, was getting into the 6' to 8' range before I realized it. The freqency of the waves was such that rollers started to come in faster than I was prepared to handle them. Even using the bow up and speedier than comfortable tactics, a few times my bow dipped through a wave or two. I managed to head back without suffering any consequences, other than a shattered ago and a very real feeling of mortality.
As precarious as my situation was, I put myself (no one else aboard) in that situation. I was stupid that day and learned a lesson. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I had been in the same size bowrider. If left open, hundreds of pounds of water would have entered the open cockpit. Given the right circumstances and a full load, the onboard water could have shifted forward, driving the bow of the boat deep into either an oncoming or following wave. I don't know in this particular incident whether they were dealing with following waves or straight on. I do know that in the ocean, fishing type center console boats have been to capsize from water over the transom, as the scuppers can't possibly keep up with a quick thousand pounds of water.
Unless I've missed something, I don't see the relevance of a possibly defective hull in one case being pertinent to this particular sinking. I've read a lot of stories about boat accidents and sinkings, everything from Crownlines to Hatteras yachts. Unless warranted by the facts, I don't feel the need to post about one incident involving a structural issue. People should read more of Pascoe's reviews, or buy one of his books if they want to know what's up.
Please forgive me if there are facts I overlooked that indicate a massive structural issue in this incident.