tommy after an intro like that what more can I say - thank you! Kafue - than you for welcoming me! To your question, what I consider 6' seas and what other consider 6' I think are miles apart. I know how "they" measure waves and my feet racing were at or below the waterline so 6' was over my head in a trough - can't see out! Only time it was that bad was the 1989 worlds at AC in NJ. There boats broke, people got hurt and broken vertebrae as well there. I read about all the people that run through 8' and 10' seas with go fast boats and say the same thing - where was I when that happened? I'll relate it to my 32' Sea Craft that I have now. One time we fished in 23' seas and ran in at 30 kts with no problem what so ever!!!! Not a lie the buoys told it, the depth recorder told it as well, BUT they were huge swells from an offshore storm and we're fishing in 5,000' plus water. So, did my boat go through 23' seas at 30 kts YES IT DID! Back to the point at that race in 1989 the winners of day one the rough day ran about 40 mph into the seas and 65 mph following at best - not the 90's people talk about. If you have good ballast tanks like we had and could balance the boat so it flew level and enters flat or plows through the waves it's not so bad. When you only have drives and tabs and all the weight is aft it's the throttling that helps it fly level. Give the sticks a slight chop before getting airborne and it pulls the bow down like a brake and the boat should fly bow down. Punch the sticks the bow should raise slightly before you launch. The throttle man has to keep the boat entering the water bow first in big head seas and not landing in the middle of the boat. We were blessed to have the Gancia dei Gancia and Ebel to play with here in NJ daily, I mean we ran them daily! Magnificent boats that used sound principles of balance to run them - I always applaud Buzzi despite our differences back then. Really it's a good baot and someone who knows how to make the boat run level and use the sharp bow to soften the blow - IMHO. Joe Gere ps I read what I just wrote and you think about how this Bertam rides people have mentioned first 1/3 runs out of the water and there is no support for the hull. I leave my boat in NC for the spring and fall in Wanchese, I know all those boat shops, see how they build the boats, maybe just maybe even though though the Clorox bottle builders are using hi-tech materials the hulls are still made the old way when they used all glass and very thick and they need something more to hold them apart? I know there should be failures all over then, don't talk silly Joe! But like a first post, someone has to push the envelope too far the first time?
Joe was the racer a just tried to kill myself in them for fun. The root of your problem that day may have been with what you have already said.
To clarify I did not mean to "Second" Teddy 1, but alacrity, in fact this thread is getting past the Bertram Bash and into something more positive.
Why whats the big problem? I cannot wrap my head around air pressure blowing out the transom. With the location of the cockpit hatches they would simply allow most of the air to escape.The little bit that was trapped in the transom I can not see blowing it out. Every 33 feet of depth is a atmosphere and the boat sunk in 80 feet of water so just over 2 and half atmospheres. This is not huge from what i believe, now if it went down in 200 feet i might buy it. I don't know, I am not a no it all on this subject.Maybe somebody of experience could put their 2 cents in and maybe we all might learn something new.
http://www.proboat-digital.com/proboat/20071201/#pg98 This may be more information than you wanted but, it may help explain cored construction and some of the problem areas.
If you guys have any questions feel free to PM me and I would be more than happy to PM back a reply. No question is to stupid, we all started somewhere.And feel free to ask as many as you like . I am not saying i am the all knowing guru, i am very very very far from that, but its amazing how much you can learn by keeping your mouth shut and listening .It has always worked for me.
Quote: Originally posted by Henning "The top edge is typically mechanically connected to the deck structure" If this was the case then here lies your problem. No adhesive to back up the mechanical fasteners. Here is a link to David Pascoes website where he refers to screws. http://www.yachtsurvey.com/Screwit.htm
Administrator please feel free to delete my posts.Great site ,sorry if all did not feel the thread was going in a constructive direction. Tommymonza
Gentlemen, The last two dozen posts in the Bertram Sinking thread have been split into the YF Yacht Club and titled: "Banter", because that's exactly what it had become. The Bert Sinking thread was suppose to about discovery, not idle chat. I know we have a few new members from OSO. You are welcome here, but this is not OSO. We try to focus on useful, relevant information, void of the banter that often plagues forums. Before anyone takes issue with me over this, I'm a go-fast guy too. Raced Skaters in the 80's & 90's. Currently have 2 Powerplays. That said, I love OSO and talking fast boats too, but this is YF.
One last puzzling question about the sunk Bertram video. At the beginning of the video it shows a short clip of what i assume is the interior of the betrams salon before the crash and it shows a ceiling fan and what appears to be a fireplace. I cannot find that on the option spec sheet. Are we sure this is a video of a Bertram
It was likely the interior of the photographer's apartment when he checked battery status in the camcorder before heading out.
I had a question that is more of a curiosity thing then anything else. The Bertram apparently has moved quite a bit on the ocean floor, what force keeps it stuck to the bottom? Is it a combination of lack of buoyincy and hydrostatic pressure, gravity. I only have experience with small objects in small quantities of water. Objects move across the floor relatively easy but there appears to be almost a type of vacuum present. It seems that once you seperate the object from the surface it moves quite freely and can almost float on its own. Simplified question: Would a boat on the ocean floor require more buoncy initially to get it off the bottom then would be necessary to just float the boat? And why is that if that is the case? Thanks
If I may be permitted to interpret your question I think you're asking if there is a magnetic or vacuum force that needs to be broken free of; meaning is more floatation needed to break it free than to maintain it floating. I believe the answer is yes, but someone should be along shortly with numbers.
Any specialist Dive company could do this with liftbags and a lift platform. As I'm sure you know, as air rises from under water it expands at a predetermined rate thanks to Hutchinson's Law. Liftbags have a bloody great big valve on top for this reason, manually operated. If you are a complete muppet, when you manage to shove the keel of the sailboat you are delivering into a sandbank, an old Avon dinghy also works well. After the swearing has stopped, take out the ratty old dinghy from the locker, throw it over the side with yourself and a dive bottle, put behind the keel and inflate. At this point, your best friend will now put the engine full astern. The old dinghy has many. many old lines hanging off it which make an awfully tasty meal for the propshaft. Now go to the galley and get a big knife, stab your best friend in the face for being a total knob and not listening. Jump back in the water and cut away the ropes. Back in the cockpit, kick the bleeding body of your best friend and remind him not to put it into gear like I said 3 times. Back the sails and drift away, turn about and the dinghy will follow Sailing is elegent.