It is Done, The Split Hull is Home in NY

I am very pleased to report that the split hull owner's 3700 was delivered back to him last week and that on Friday he and his wife accepted the boat. This is great news and I am very excited for them both. I hope he gets to enjoy the rest of the fine NE sailing season.

Working with the owner as I have in recent weeks has been a pleasure. I know he has been under incredible pressure from all sides and so the positive news makes all this blogging more worthwhile.

His boat was originally picked up by the USCG on 12/7/06 before being taken under tow by the USCG and then a commercial operation. The boat was then taken back to OH. The boat was repaired and re-manufactured. (It had 3' of water in the hull after being towed). Today it is said to be 'better than new'.

The national media will not touch this story because "there is no blood in the water" and because of concern over advertising revenue, but I will. It is real, it actually happened and owners must be made aware that they must check their rigs and hulls. While the split hull may be the only one to have split clean through, that is simply one too many to have the weakest point of the vessel's systems to be the centerline of the hull laminate. (2.1% publicly reported hull skin failure rate).

This is likely my last post for a while now that the split hull owner has his boat back. I will return in the fullness of time with data on the saildrive and electrical issues. However, before I leave you, think about the following questions before you sail your Tartan or C&C again without getting an inspection from Tim Jackett* of Novis Marine.

1. Have you had your Tartan or C&C hull inspected*?

2. Is your rig too tight?

3. Have you checked your rigger's tension to be within the specifications that Novis Marine prescribes?

4. Where can I find the rigging tension specifications?

5. What is the hull inspection cycle?

6. Do I have an easily accessible canister-type life-raft and is it current?

These are just a few of the questions that I am sure any safety-centric owner (or his wife/husband/partner) could be asking before any passage offshore.

At the end of the day, Tim Jackett undoubtedly designs a lovely looking range of boats. That and all the slick blue-water capable marketing about epoxy hulls and carbon epoxy masts is the reason why we all go and spend a small fortune on these boats. I am sure that there are many that have no issues at all and yet for so many of us they are nothing but a liability from one repair to another - however much money and time we keep throwing at the deficiencies that we find.

Keep your eyes on constant watch for stress cracks, bulkhead movement, liner and tabbing problems, electrical anomalies and all the big-ticket safety items!

Adios for now....

* Owners are reporting that if you write to Tim Jackett he will respond quickly and get you setup directly or through a dealer with details on how you can use a digital camera to photograph certain areas and potential points of failure - likely based on their findings with the split hull. After he sees the photos Tim Jackett will provide his considered opinion on the risks your boat may have of splitting.

PS. Thanks to all of you that have generously given me so much data and especially to the split hull owner and his wife.