Speaking of Keel Failure...

[Gramp34]

I'm trying to figure out what happened to this 2003 Hunter 426DS at http://www.usauctions.com/8016-2003-...ter-426ds.aspx


Special extra shallow draft version, maybe?




From what I can see the nuts are still on the keelbolts, so the whole keel stub is on the keel. Someone has ground back the bottom paint and gelcoat on the hull and stub.

It looks like most of the stub was cut free, except the front and very back where it's ragged. The hull laminate at the aft end of the keel hole is white. Maybe it's delaminated?

The keel shows some abrasion at the front, but not too bad:


The back end shows collision damage:


Do you suppose the boat backed into something hard enough to delaminate the keel stub from the hull?

Given it's a fairly shallow keel with a long attachment to the hull, you'd think it should be able to withstand a grounding, especially in reverse...

Well, I'm puzzled.

Tim

[Faster]

Yikes!.. looks like it tore part way off and they had to cut away the rest. Not very reassuring if you've just spent megabucks on something like that, is it??

[sailingdog]

It is a Hunter... .

The back end of the keel looks pretty well mangled... If the damage was caused by moving in reverse, they had to be going fairly fast, but I am guessing that the rudder in the fourth photo is from the same boat, and it doesn't look badly damaged, and I find it hard to believe that they hit something with the keel, but missed it with the rudder in reverse.

[bubb2]

I have seen damage like this before. During hurricane Floyd an anchored boat drug anchor and grounded sideways on an rocky beach with the hull laying toward the beach and keel toward the surf with the keel weadged in the rocks. The called tow boat could not move the boat with an bow line or an stern line. An line was tied around the base of the mast. The boat started to right with the sideways pull but it was to much strain on the keel and it snapped at the hull keel joint.

[camaraderie]

Gramp...location is turks and caicos where coral heads are abundant as are reefs. Such damage could easily happen without rudder damage. 2Gringos is based there in Provo...perhaps a PM will get you more info.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Gramp...location is turks and caicos where coral heads are abundant as are reefs. Such damage could easily happen without rudder damage. 2Gringos is based there in Provo...perhaps a PM will get you more info.

True, a coral head might be small enough to get between the two and wreck one, but not the other.

[Faster]

Hurricane/beaching damage makes sense too... although the hull doesn't look too beat up (on the visible side)

[bubb2]

Originally Posted by Faster

Hurricane/beaching damage makes sense too... although the hull doesn't look too beat up (on the visible side)

I agree with you. It is puzzling

[JohnRPollard]

You know, there is something funny about those photos. It's a bit hard to say for sure, but in some of the photos, the trailing end of the keel does not appear damaged. Also, there should be a few other boards in the photo of the damaged area if that is the lower trailing edge we are looking at.

It looks to me like the one photo which shows the damage was taken at a different time, when the keel was still attached (loosely anyway) under the boat (note the different shadow and the jackstands.) Take a look at other photos at the link Gramp34 posted. Maybe some of you sleuths can study it a bit more and see what you think.

[sailingdog]

Jon-

I believe those photos are from the auction website, and not taken by Gramp34. The photo of the after aspect of the keel does appear to be taken at a different time or with the keel in a different position from the others, but none of the other photos really give any good view of the very aft end of the keel, so it is hard to say what exactly the case is.