- Joined
- Apr 15, 2008
- Messages
- 13,731
- Location
- California Delta
- Vessel Name
- FlyWright
- Vessel Make
- 1977 Marshall Californian 34 LRC
I had an interesting 15-day trip on the California Delta that ended with a wild ride home on Saturday. I was travelling through Suisun Bay during a period of a strong "king tides" ebb and higher than forecast opposing winds. I had just passed Port Chicago and turned SW toward the Benicia Bridge when I faced a series of 5-6 ft waves with a period of about 3 seconds. The boat handled the pounding very well which fortifies my confidence in the hull but what happened next really caught my attention.
As I was rounding wave crest 2, I began reducing power further from my already reduced thrust when I felt something hit the prop. "Holy crap!! What was that?" I exclaimed to no one.
I immediately reduced power to idle and shifted both engines to neutral. A rev of the engines seemed normal as I continued my hobby-horse ride through the next crest or two. Returning to fwd gear resulted in no unusual noises or vibrations and I continued to negotiate the remaining waves assuming perhaps the prop had cavitated or I had hit some floating wad of grass or weed. When I reached my slip, I found the nature of the problem.
After tying up at my slip, I noticed that my rubrail was missing and a section of it was trailing behind the boat still attached to the aft port corner. The portion attached to the starboard side was missing. Pulling the remnant onto the dock, I found only about 30 ft remaining with a diagonal, rough slice at the tag end.
Apparently, my 2 year-new Mate-USA Radial 52 rubrail peeled off from the bow during the wave pounding and passed under the boat like a 'U', suspended from each aft attach point. The wave action caused the rubrail to impact a prop which sliced the rubrail in two. It's mounted on a T track and is installed by reverse-bending the vinyl insert to open the channel allowing it to pass over the T track.
On Monday I called Mate-USA to discuss the event and price a replacement insert. I spoke with Charlotte Sundquist who listened to my brief recollection of the story and quickly offered to assist in the remedy by sending me a replacement insert with end caps on VERY favorable terms. She stated that she had only heard of this happening once before and it was in very similar conditions in Florida...standing 6 ft waves on a short period.
So now, I have a new project facing me...installing the new insert when it arrives next week. I love learning new skills!
Two minute video showing the installation process.
Another loss to the trip was more my fault. My 41 year-old boat has a few extra mounting holes from removed equipment in the FB console that were never properly sealed from the elements. I normally keep my boat in a covered slip with a canvas completely covering the FB console and bench seat. In the past during some wet transits with the canvas stowed, I have had water dripping from the inside console to my lower helm header, then onto the lower helm. It's always been a few drops that were quickly resolved with a small towel and soon forgotten.
This time, I had the canvas cover off the FB helm and took MUCH MORE water over the FB than I had ever experienced in the past. I was cleaning up water with a second towel when my Xantrex LinkPro SOC meter began giving me readings of high amp draw (600A!) and a quickly diminishing % SOC. Battery Voltage was 0V. The steady 600A and 0V indications were suspected as erroneous by me but I needed to confirm I didn't have a serious short. A quick look at my analog voltmeter confirmed normal voltage. I suspected the water had seeped into the LinkPro but needed to confirm no short just in case. I immediately went to my Master Battery Switches located outside my fwd ER door. (Important point: I have these wired to control LOAD only, not the alternators' charges.) I switched the house to OFF rendering all nav, comm and house equipment inoperative. A quick look at the analog voltage confirmed I still had normal voltage with no change. Since I did not have a short, I re-connected the house bank and ignored the SOC readings, monitoring the analog voltmeter instead. My new SOC meter arrives on Monday.
All together, this made for a very memorable ride home after an idyllic trip in the Delta. Over 14 days, the deck and windshield never got wet. Conditions were perfect for summer cruising. Day 15....not so much!
Live and learn!
I'd like to give props to Charlotte Sundquist and Mate-USA for their outstanding customer support. Although I would have preferred my rubrail never depart my vessel, if it does, it's nice to know the company will stand behind it. At this time, I'm seriously considering adding some fastening hardware to the bow bend of the new rubrail to reduce the chance of the new one peeling off in similar conditions.
Below are some pics from my yard repair a couple years ago when the rubrail was originally installed. At the very bottom is a shot of the sliced rubrail.
As I was rounding wave crest 2, I began reducing power further from my already reduced thrust when I felt something hit the prop. "Holy crap!! What was that?" I exclaimed to no one.
I immediately reduced power to idle and shifted both engines to neutral. A rev of the engines seemed normal as I continued my hobby-horse ride through the next crest or two. Returning to fwd gear resulted in no unusual noises or vibrations and I continued to negotiate the remaining waves assuming perhaps the prop had cavitated or I had hit some floating wad of grass or weed. When I reached my slip, I found the nature of the problem.
After tying up at my slip, I noticed that my rubrail was missing and a section of it was trailing behind the boat still attached to the aft port corner. The portion attached to the starboard side was missing. Pulling the remnant onto the dock, I found only about 30 ft remaining with a diagonal, rough slice at the tag end.
Apparently, my 2 year-new Mate-USA Radial 52 rubrail peeled off from the bow during the wave pounding and passed under the boat like a 'U', suspended from each aft attach point. The wave action caused the rubrail to impact a prop which sliced the rubrail in two. It's mounted on a T track and is installed by reverse-bending the vinyl insert to open the channel allowing it to pass over the T track.
On Monday I called Mate-USA to discuss the event and price a replacement insert. I spoke with Charlotte Sundquist who listened to my brief recollection of the story and quickly offered to assist in the remedy by sending me a replacement insert with end caps on VERY favorable terms. She stated that she had only heard of this happening once before and it was in very similar conditions in Florida...standing 6 ft waves on a short period.
So now, I have a new project facing me...installing the new insert when it arrives next week. I love learning new skills!
Two minute video showing the installation process.
Another loss to the trip was more my fault. My 41 year-old boat has a few extra mounting holes from removed equipment in the FB console that were never properly sealed from the elements. I normally keep my boat in a covered slip with a canvas completely covering the FB console and bench seat. In the past during some wet transits with the canvas stowed, I have had water dripping from the inside console to my lower helm header, then onto the lower helm. It's always been a few drops that were quickly resolved with a small towel and soon forgotten.
This time, I had the canvas cover off the FB helm and took MUCH MORE water over the FB than I had ever experienced in the past. I was cleaning up water with a second towel when my Xantrex LinkPro SOC meter began giving me readings of high amp draw (600A!) and a quickly diminishing % SOC. Battery Voltage was 0V. The steady 600A and 0V indications were suspected as erroneous by me but I needed to confirm I didn't have a serious short. A quick look at my analog voltmeter confirmed normal voltage. I suspected the water had seeped into the LinkPro but needed to confirm no short just in case. I immediately went to my Master Battery Switches located outside my fwd ER door. (Important point: I have these wired to control LOAD only, not the alternators' charges.) I switched the house to OFF rendering all nav, comm and house equipment inoperative. A quick look at the analog voltage confirmed I still had normal voltage with no change. Since I did not have a short, I re-connected the house bank and ignored the SOC readings, monitoring the analog voltmeter instead. My new SOC meter arrives on Monday.
All together, this made for a very memorable ride home after an idyllic trip in the Delta. Over 14 days, the deck and windshield never got wet. Conditions were perfect for summer cruising. Day 15....not so much!
Live and learn!
I'd like to give props to Charlotte Sundquist and Mate-USA for their outstanding customer support. Although I would have preferred my rubrail never depart my vessel, if it does, it's nice to know the company will stand behind it. At this time, I'm seriously considering adding some fastening hardware to the bow bend of the new rubrail to reduce the chance of the new one peeling off in similar conditions.
Below are some pics from my yard repair a couple years ago when the rubrail was originally installed. At the very bottom is a shot of the sliced rubrail.
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