105' yacht sinks off Fort Lauderdale

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On vessels of this size it is really important to know how the boat is laid out and with what systems and how those systems are rigged.

Sometimes its active flooding where a system on the boat is pumping water in, and once it becomes enough, another opening or system backfloods and the process accelerates as more places that can flood do. I have seen on smaller vessels where this often is self correcting because the system that starts the flooding gets terminated (engine, electric pump, etc) before the rising water becomes critical.

Sometimes its passive flooding where water starts coming in through a failure ( say popped hose) and the same progressive flooding overwhelms the pumps.

One can discuss why roving checks don't see these failures early on or why the crew doesn't feel the boat's motion change...but it happens more than you would think.

Then there is just the outright catastophic failure that is unwinnable.... something like a wet exhaust system exhaust flange fails so the engine is pumping water in and water is coming in through the hole. Easily this can overwhelm pumps, exhaust makes the engine room difficult to work in till it clears.

Everytime someone comes up with all the solutions to these problems...somehow some vessel and crew manage to get into this situation.

But you are absolutely correct in speculating ON THIS INCIDENT....MUCH more info is needed.
 
Vessel Name: SERENA III USCG Doc. No.: 1142493
Vessel Service: RECREATIONAL IMO Number: *
Trade Indicator: Recreational Call Sign: *
Hull Material: FRP (FIBERGLASS) Hull Number: SSUR2013B303
Ship Builder: S2 YACHTS INC Year Built: 2003

Length (ft.): 42.5
Hailing Port: WESTPORT CT Hull Depth (ft.): 7.8
Owner: Hull Breadth (ft.): 14.9
Gross Tonnage: 33
Net Tonnage: 26
Documentation Issuance Date: June 30, 2004 Documentation Expiration Date: *
 
Not sure that is the same boat......
 
stubones99 said:
Vessel Name: SERENA III USCG Doc. No.: 1142493
Vessel Service: RECREATIONAL IMO Number: *
Trade Indicator: Recreational Call Sign: *
Hull Material: FRP (FIBERGLASS) Hull Number: SSUR2013B303
Ship Builder: S2 YACHTS INC Year Built: 2003

Length (ft.): 42.5
Hailing Port: WESTPORT CT Hull Depth (ft.): 7.8
Owner: Hull Breadth (ft.): 14.9
Gross Tonnage: 33
Net Tonnage: 26
Documentation Issuance Date: June 30, 2004 Documentation Expiration Date: *
Click to expand...

Are you saying you think this is the yacht in question? This shows it's only 42.5'. ??? Maybe it's another yacht with the same name?
 
Sorry guys, These things are often in meters, so I thought it was longer ... my mistake.

Stu
 
So it sank so quickly they couldn't deploy the life raft ?
 
looks like they just made it to deep water (900+ feet) at 11.7 nautical miles out.

Looks like bad luck. 13 miles out, 13 passengers, just bad luck.
 
The boat sank in 1200 feet of water in the Gulfstream with strong currents so it is not likely that the insurance company will even do an inspection.
With 13 people on board and at night there was a good chance the owner was on board, the life raft was deployed and there were rescue boats on the scene. I saw on local television it took two hours to go down. No injuries reported.
 
The alarms were probably going but if it were hose failure IMO they would have alerted the crew early enough to do something. IMO it sounds like a large hole not just an even large cooling or exhaust hose.
 
Again all just speculation.


I never said it was a hose and I guess wrongly assumed a newbie wouldn't know that hitting something and causing a large hole would make a boat sink fast...even though that's not guaranteed.


Your idea, while valid...is just that...random speculation at this point.


here is equal speculation....night, lots of untrained passengers on board, unknown flooding.....


captain decides best to get alarm out, get the passengers off safely in the dark...by the time he finally searches the bilges and they have enough water in them that he can't find the source says to himself "not enough pay in this job for this" and joins the others.


Just speculation...but that's all we have at this point because all we know is the boat sank and even a salvage crew didn't pass on anything obvious to the media.
 
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I crewed as engr on a 90-something footer, about 30yrs old. The amount of plumbing below deck was phenominal. Some metallic, some hose, lots of fittings and valves. Some carrying seawater at sea pressure. None of that stuff was accessible so had to be original. If a leak formed down there, there would be no way to trace to the sea cocks and get it isolated before bilge was awash. Trash down there would clog pump strainers. Also, engines had 12" underwater exhaust with big gate valves that sure looked seized.

That boat scared the crap out of me.
 
oscar said:
This is a forum where crew and owners of this caliber yacht hangs out. If there's scoop you'll find it here. A few posts down there is a link to some dramatic IR footage from a CG helo......

Yacht Serena III sinks off Ft. Lauderdale - General Yachting Discussion | YachtForums: We Know Big Boats!
Click to expand...

Based on the posts I read......not sure I would take too many there seriously until you get a few posters that know the boat or the crew personally.

Their comments had little to do with the technical aspects of a yacht sinking...even discussing grounding without knowledge of a previous grounding.
 
Ski in NC said:
I crewed as engr on a 90-something footer, about 30yrs old. The amount of plumbing below deck was phenominal. Some metallic, some hose, lots of fittings and valves. Some carrying seawater at sea pressure. None of that stuff was accessible so had to be original. If a leak formed down there, there would be no way to trace to the sea cocks and get it isolated before bilge was awash. Trash down there would clog pump strainers. Also, engines had 12" underwater exhaust with big gate valves that sure looked seized.

That boat scared the crap out of me.
Click to expand...

Which is why the engine room should have waterproof bulkheads with water tight doors. Unless there is someone in the ER that door should be closed and latched.

At least that's how it would be if I got to design it....... :nonono:
 
oscar said:
Which is why the engine room should have waterproof bulkheads with water tight doors. Unless there is someone in the ER that door should be closed and latched.

At least that's how it would be if I got to design it....... :nonono:
Click to expand...

You almost never see that on a boat unless it is built to class. And even then depending on to what state of class it's built it my not be 100% water tight.
 
If you read the ABS record in the link I posted, you could see that it has nine watertight bulkheads.
 
Gots to close the watertight doors, too. Before the water gets too deep.
 
psneeld said:
I guess wrongly assumed a newbie wouldn't know that hitting something and causing a large hole would make a boat sink
Click to expand...

:blush: Yes, even as a newbie, I had assumed they had not hit an iceberg...

Psneeld responded perfectly to my initial query.
 
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