Part 1: Northern Marine 90' Yacht Capsizes Upon Launch...!

If he has a video of the complete launch, particularly if taken from various angles, it will be worth a fortune to the parties and their lawyers. Why give it away for free?

Very good point

Desktop did.

Another wannabe floating condo, trying to cram the space of a 120' yacht onto the hull of a 90'.
If that boat was designed by a Naval Architect he should loose his credentials and take up Mobile Home design.
Why is this such a mystery?
Top heavy boats have turned turtle since day one and the owner is as guilty as the builder and the designer, even if the owner is "hearth broken"

Easy to be Monday Morning Quarterback, but don't forget the 34' Silverton that turned turtle last year and numerous other ugly designs that should never go to sea, or be launched in the first place.

Why in Neptun's name were Loyds and Veritas not involved from day one?
Lots of experience to learn from and less drama if common sense, aesthetics
as well as proven nautical principles were involved in designing and building some of these fancy amateur yachts.

We do not know many actual details / facts at this time.

The Silverton case is totally unrelated, was attributed to Overloading the Flybridge / No warning label for Flybridge Passenger Capacity.

We do not know if downflooding from the transom door occurred in this case, or even if it did, if there were additional watertight compartments separating the lazarette from the machinery space or if the vessel actually grounded resulting in a tramatic loss of stability / increase in the vertical center of gravity.

For all we know at this moment, if the vessel was successfully launched, she may have had sufficient static and dynamic stability at her design condition to go unscathed for her entire lifetime.

True, she may have weathered many storms in many oceans, but judging from her exterior design, pictures and the results of the launching, she would be a pig in any serious conditions.
I could be wrong, but you don't have to be Einstein to see that this boat had more superstructure than the underbody could handle.

Nothing wrong about being very conservative rather than trying to cram too much square footage onto too little hull is it?

The transom engine room door does appear to be open.

It looks like they may have hit bottom around the same time that the stern achieved buoyancy. It seems inescapable that water was entering the open transom door, which negated the buoyancy and the yacht reached the bottom. It is possible that the door was closed at some point during these events, or the natural roll of the boat brought the water line away from the door opening. I am struggling to explain how the yacht regained buoyancy and floated further out into the basin.

Someone finally got some dock lines out towards the end of the video.

I agree, I dont see how that could be called a world explorer when it looks dangerously top heavy.

That thing sinking may have saved lives.

I wonder if they will rebuild or declare it a total loss and scrap it for parts.

Fraser Yacht at Launch

Well sir, I submit the following evidence, and with all due respect, Fraser yachts (Josh's employer) was the Owners Representative for this launch, not PM, your right. Please see the photo from the launch day of the Fraser Yachts staff on sight acting as Owners Rep. Your comments are misinformation. I've attached the image, i hope it works..... If not I'll re-post.

The vessel may not be top heavy, the proper amount of ballast may be missing is all. Let us not judge so quickly. USCG and other like formulas dictate if a vessel is stable and safe. Perhaps, in time, these calculations may be made available for review by the public. Until then, I'd not cast slander onto the hard working folks at Norther Marine and support staff.

What is your personal interest in the project, Olderboater?

You seem to be exceptionally vocal about this situation, and have been doing some serious theorizing. Maybe the answer is because you have the info and you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it does raise suspicions.

If your stated concerns are your true concerns then don't you think the best thing to do is to wait and see what the facts are surrounding their business practices, ownership structure, reasons for closing, etc?

Like you have said, you believe yourself to be someone providing an oversight mechanism that is missing. It would be prudent to discuss what you know, at this point, or what you can observe through what is known.

I suggest that what you are doing is flirting dangerously close to becoming part of a nasty fight that you seem to know very few facts about.

All this not taking into account that not many months ago you were on here telling us how you had just moved from Norman where you had a small ski boat and were looking for suggestions on larger ones. Northern marine did not fit your criteria, so again I wonder what? about your impetus.

questions

After reading a lot of info on line (mostly speculation but some info seems legit) - I have some questions:
1. As seen in several photos and the latest video of the sinking, the swim step hatch is open (before it goes into the water). We have also seen the dramatic rescue of the 6 crew that was on board through a lower port. Why did they not just exit through the stern hatch? Was the stern flooded with water during the launch?
2. Once the boat heels over, it appears to me that the vessel is very light. Notice the bulb at the bow is way above the water and it appears the keel maybe at the water line. An in build stability report indicated the total ballast required was around 16 tons and that 8 tons should be added for launching and the rest installed for trim/water line. I would say they had less than 8 tons of ballast for the vessel to go over and sit that high in the water.
3. I have heard that NM has closed it doors. Is this permanent or just while they work this issue out. I can imagine this incident requires full attention from the management staff. I do not understand why the yachtvid post would be done if the company is closed permanently. It appears the video is trying to soften the blow to NM - why do that if they close the doors? My wife and I are going out on our boat this weekend which happens to be in Anacortes. We saw the yacht last saturday before the launch (our boat had just been put back in the water after bottom paint - in the same marina). We will drive by the yard tomorrow night and see if there is any info to gather.

I think this incident was caused by several factors - not enough ballast installed, water intrusion into the aft compartment during launch, stability issue with the launching method (forward area of the hull not fully supported by the water, while the aft end could not hold level on its own). I hope that last part made sense. I read a post by someone (seemed like an engineer) that indicated the boat would be unstable if just the aft end was buoyant and the forward half still supported off the narrow dolly. I did not explain it well but the post made sense.

Anyway, I hope we all find out why - although most of the accidents like this stay behind closed doors. All of us could benefit from the knowledge gained from this failure.