Another Cat bites the dust

[dec0guy]

Nautilus was 14m (approx) Cougar Catamaran.

Anyway the owner obviously is not best mates with this guy:

HOMER SINKS MV SIMPSON - That's how several marine industry insiders see it. Due to Homer's past histroy, red flags have also gone up with insurance investigators, so a payout may take several years and involve returning to court. It will also be interesting to see how the safety investigation pans out. Assessing competence and delving into a significant medical issue laden history should throw up some interesting information. One lesson those of us on boats can all learn from is to always drop our anchor when drifting out of control near a reef! Then again shouldn't that be a no-brainer? Doh!

http://www.mantisdive.com.au/news.htm

[Dean1]

Myles


There are no bilge alarms in KC's because you cannot access the bilges there sealed and should not leak! I do know of a 2400 that got a few hundred liters of water in one section due to home installed bungs in the rear corners of the deck , the idea was to stop water pooling there ( scuppers are in the centre) but he expossed a gap between the deck and the hull when doing it but didn't notice , so when fishing water flowed from the deck into one of the rear chambers. It did only enter one section , so he still had 8 uneffected ones for bouyancy.


I dont know how Powercat do there hulls but it sounds like there not sealed sections!

I had a similar event Ian im sure you remember? The plastic spinouts in my rear bulkheads got broken from crew standing on them over time and while fishing the banks one day they busted right through causing water to slowly wash into these bulkheads causing the whole rear bulkheads to fill with water. It was sitting low in the water and we still managed to fish the banks that day and head back in at night so yes they certainly do the job!! I should have headed home now i think of it!!

Some of the water did manage to leak into the next bulkhead where it stopped and it took me 6 months to realize this water was trapped in there but sorted this out with a few spinouts. Now ally/stainless spinouts live in the spot of those plastic ones. Those plastic ones are rubbish i advise anyone with them to replace with stainless or ally.

You wouldnt want to be in a mono and have a bilge pump crap itself in this case coz it'd be a dismall outcome

[Scott nthQld]

Just a bit of an update on the pwercat that sunk and HOW it sunk.

Firstly the boat was taken and still is at Townsville Marine, a local boatyard. Powercats hulls are NOT foam filled, but are supposed to be sealed with 7 different sealed section along the sponsons. Townsville Marine supplied the tools and labour for the insurance inspection. I was in there today, saw the boat and quizzed them about what went wrong.

Ok so what happened is this cat had an aluminium pod fitted from factory, bolted direct to the transom and sealed with sikaflex around the edges. There are bilge pumps fitted in the 'sealed' pod, and one in each of the sealed bulkheads....you know for 'justin', seems like a good idea until you hear how they were fitted.

There were holes drilled through the transom into the pod section to accommodate for the cabling and exit pipe for the bilge pumps, also the same through all the bulkheads for the other 14 bilge pumps (7each side in each sealed section). All pump were fitted with float switches and were powerd in a loop from what I could understand (sort of like chrissy lights, if one bulb in the chain is blown, power doesn't reach the rest and any bulb after the blown one won't work), each pump also had independant power so if need be you could turn one on at a time.

Now for the fun part. Each of the holes drilled through for the piping and cabling for the bilge pumps were left UNSEALED and as such water could travel from the pod right up to the front bulkhead if any water happened to get in. Remember all this was done in the factory on a brand new boat.

The boat sank because the pod started coming away at the edges, breaking the sikaflex seal and allowing water to get into the pod, as the pod has filled, water has gone from the pod and travelled up towards the front of the boat, filling each sealed bulkhead as it went.

What about the bilge pumps and float switches that had been installed you ask? Well, every float switch was buggered, don't know how that happened, but that what I was told. When the owner woke up, he crapped himself and flicked the manual switch for the bilge pumps, the switch that runs them on the loop. One pump turned on, the second in line was buggered and they were going down fast. The skipper panicked and didn't try switching the pumps on individually, when the bilge pump failed they had time to up anchor and take off to try and dump some of the water (like when you forget your bungs, or how scuppers work etc). Well that just made it worse, because of the position of the leak, it just forced more water in and made them sink faster, hence why there was 'no time' to grab the epirb and bail. We all know what happened after that.

No one could tell me why the pod came loose, nor why the bilge pump were inoperative, considering they've never been used before. however it was mentioned that is is a possibility that the insurance company might take it further with the manufacturer.

So basically, if what I was told is true, IMO it boils down to dodgy workman ship, from 'sealing' a POD with sikaflex and not sealing any holes drilled to accommodate pipes and cabling, especially below the water line. And (if what I was told above is true) all this was done by the manufacturer which just makes it worse IMHO

[Dean1]

Nautilus was 14m (approx) Cougar Catamaran.

Anyway the owner obviously is not best mates with this guy:

HOMER SINKS MV SIMPSON - That's how several marine industry insiders see it. Due to Homer's past histroy, red flags have also gone up with insurance investigators, so a payout may take several years and involve returning to court. It will also be interesting to see how the safety investigation pans out. Assessing competence and delving into a significant medical issue laden history should throw up some interesting information. One lesson those of us on boats can all learn from is to always drop our anchor when drifting out of control near a reef! Then again shouldn't that be a no-brainer? Doh!

http://www.mantisdive.com.au/news.htm

Are you saying the boat in those pics was a cat??? ( nautilus) I saw pics of her afloat and it definately wasnt a cat?????

[Almako]

Ahh apologies it was a cat.

[Dean1]

Ye i got it wrong too sorry This pic looked like a mono

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/att...3&d=1230533874

[firecat150hp]

I really feel for these guys if indeed a pod crack or leaking seals got them un a wares.
My little 4.9 Whaler is in the shop right now as it filled up.
Culprit was "cheap arsed " 'silicon sealant'(this stuff should be banned on all boats) scupper flanges and a well rotted transom. 'Some one' and for the sake of a quick money exchange for "New Motors" neglected or forgot to inform the owner....."Me"
The silicon dislodged and the water pored in filling the already hereditary susceptible saturated foam in the sponsons and 4 inches up the floor in a minute flat.

Bilgies "ON" and head for home.....That's how quick it was.

About 6 or 700 litres pored out at the ramp and the boat was that heavy a bump on the 'tunnel guide' cracked the starboard sponson.

In a way it was a favour as the boat is now getting an entire re-build of transom/floor, an extra 600mm in the length and a full hard top wheel house.

Water needs to balance with the atmosphere....this natural equalisation via a leak is measured in seconds...not minutes or hours..."seconds"


Again I've been there and "Criby1" is my witness. Be calm should it ever happen and get under way with pumps a blazing ASAP. Hopefully forward momentum will do the reverse and draw the water out."It did for us...sort of"

Regards Steve

[stinky-stabi]

I guess if a boat is sinking, it makes no difference what sort of boat it is, plenty of big ships sink too, when a boat is full of water it is no longer a boat! it is just a pile of fibreglass/steel/aluminium/wood that is no longer water tight (for whatever reason)

unless its a RBB

[Snapperscott]

Interesting… we followed a mate in his plate boat 6-7m and started trolling 24kms out and he had already turned back without us noticing on was on the radio and mobile phone telling us to come and follow him because he was unexpectantly taking on water quickly. His 200hp was redlined the whole way back with four blokes sitting on the nose doing about 5knots. We followed to make sure they made it (and put the lures out all the way back in given the speed) and it drained back at the ramp for a solid 10mins. Reason? A bloody small hairline crack along the keel. Hard to believe that much water got into the sealed floor but I saw it with my own eyes and was 100% sure they were in the drink within 5 mins but alas they made back safe. Happens very very quickly scary stuff.

[Red Emperor]

Why didn't he just undo the bungs and drain it out on plane all the way back? Would of been safer. I've done it many times!

[bannana]

I bought a second hand 3000 K/C (Dec 2005 model) and it had a self filling hull!! Thats right. it didn't have one sealed compartment in the whole floor as well as no foam.

I found this out when I cut a hole in the floor and put hatches in and dicovered about 500 ltrs of water. Dont think for one second that every compartment is sealed unless you see it with your own eyes.

This boat had the ability to have water go from one sponson to the other and then run from front to back. I took the boat to Springwood marine and told them the water problem and sold it at a 50k loss. i could of sold it privately for more but I couldn't lie and sell a dud.

I see its now back up for sale. When I first read this thread I thought maybe it had sunk.

[battleon]

Interesting… we followed a mate in his plate boat 6-7m and started trolling 24kms out and he had already turned back without us noticing on was on the radio and mobile phone telling us to come and follow him because he was unexpectantly taking on water quickly. His 200hp was redlined the whole way back with four blokes sitting on the nose doing about 5knots. We followed to make sure they made it (and put the lures out all the way back in given the speed) and it drained back at the ramp for a solid 10mins. Reason? A bloody small hairline crack along the keel. Hard to believe that much water got into the sealed floor but I saw it with my own eyes and was 100% sure they were in the drink within 5 mins but alas they made back safe. Happens very very quickly scary stuff.

Glad to see you had your Priorities right

[outta line]

I know this is a old thread .. Dose anyone know what year /model the powercat was ? ... My guess is if it had pods it must of had the bigger 175hp on a 2600 or larger models ...

If all those facts are true it's the pods that were the main issue with a knock on effect that made it sink..

I only ask as Iam looking into buying either a 2400 2600 I don't won't one with pods so should eliminate that problem unless I put a hole in the hull and chambers army sealed like the one that sank

Cheers