Sideways wobble causing impact and therefore marks on the lower edges of the socket, perhaps? Still a huge danger sign.

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Chris 249 said..
Sideways wobble causing impact and therefore marks on the lower edges of the socket, perhaps? Still a huge danger sign.

Sideways wobble is an arc so still vertical movement
give rise to interesting load on bolts then

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lydia said..
Anyone else pick up the bit about the diver.
How does the diver see wear marks without wear from vertical movement?

Should have been some alarm bells ringing if the diver saw wear marks

Getting back to being rescued. Who has a light on their life jacket and a mirror? Just ordered some of these but wondering whether an acrylic mirror or a stainless steel mirror would be the better design.

The thought occurs that if you end up in the water in the morning and the light lasts 8 hours it might be exhausted by nightfall as it is water activated.
Lifejacket will end up pretty full with the plb as well. Should have got a PLB with a light.

Most of the time I don't wear the darn thing anyway so maybe it is all irrelevant.

Jules... Your leaving yourself open for conjecture..
Lol...

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julesmoto said..

EastCoastSail said..
I casually crewed on Finistere in 2016 while working in WA. Such a loss, it still saddens me.

Scary as hell. Got me wondering what lies inside my TS drop keel. Many keel losses are so instantaneous with no time to react.

If it is a swing keel the lifting cable is a common failure. If it breaks it can cause a lot of problems. One case I know of where the keel fell down, it caused so much damage the boat was written off.

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Yara said...


If it is a swing keel the lifting cable is a common failure. If it breaks it can cause a lot of problems. One case I know of where the keel fell down, it caused so much damage the boat was written off.

Thanks but No I wouldn't own a swing keel - attachment by one bolt :( . It's a drop keel with a full centreboard casing right up through the coach house roof.
Not that that is infallible either as the lifting mechanism can still fail dropping the keel from its raised or semi- raised position down to the bottom of the boat until the retaining flange hits the bottom of the boat - in some cases flexing the bottom of the boat so much that bulkheads break right through or separate from the hull.

380kg of lead encased in the bottom of mine but who knows how strong above (pin hole leak or hairline crack into possible ply core for 25 years?)? The point of maximum stress whilst hitting waves heeled over would presumably be where it goes through the bottom of the boat which is exactly where the keel on Finistere broke off. That's why the picture in that report gave me the creeps. At least nobody appears to have messed with mine and the boat was in pristine condition (just like Nexba).
What you never know of course is how good the original designer was, how good the builder was (meticulously following the design regardless of cost?) and how good the guys in the factory were the day they put yours together - not to mention what previous owners have done which may be invisible or even disguised.

The best you can do is choose an apparently well maintained boat with a design which doesn't appear to be pushing the envelope.

How accessible are my lifejackets and epirbs again?

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julesmoto said..

Yara said...


If it is a swing keel the lifting cable is a common failure. If it breaks it can cause a lot of problems. One case I know of where the keel fell down, it caused so much damage the boat was written off.

Thanks but No I wouldn't own a swing keel - attachment by one bolt :( . It's a drop keel with a full centreboard casing right up through the coach house roof.
Not that that is infallible either as the lifting mechanism can still fail dropping the keel from its raised or semi- raised position down to the bottom of the boat until the retaining flange hits the bottom of the boat - in some cases flexing the bottom of the boat so much that bulkheads break right through or separate from the hull.

380kg of lead encased in the bottom of mine but who knows how strong above (pin hole leak or hairline crack into possible ply core for 25 years?)? The point of maximum stress whilst hitting waves heeled over would presumably be where it goes through the bottom of the boat which is exactly where the keel on Finistere broke off. That's why the picture in that report gave me the creeps. At least nobody appears to have messed with mine and the boat was in pristine condition (just like Nexba).
What you never know of course is how good the original designer was, how good the builder was (meticulously following the design regardless of cost?) and how good the guys in the factory were the day they put yours together - not to mention what previous owners have done which may be invisible or even disguised.

The best you can do is choose an apparently well maintained boat with a design which doesn't appear to be pushing the envelope.

How accessible are my lifejackets and epirbs again?

If I were you I would stay on dry land to be safe.
Nothing wrong with a swing keel if properly installed and serviced .
There are lots of old ts sailing with them including mine . Actually for where I now sail a swing is perfect. I would however not entertain a wire keel rope. Lots of modern boats have swing keels albeit hydraulically activated. Eg. Pogo. as is the old Cole 23.