Bertram 630 Sportfish Sinks?

I wouldnt pretend to understand much, but should it rather find some easier way, such as blowing out the abovementioned rudders or actually satisfying itself with a crack or half-rip (it's not as much as that it couldnt escape really fast given the route)?

As a second thought, it might really be that, and explain *rudders being pulled out* too, in that those were actually pushed out...

IMO the damage to the rudder and the area in the pocket that's penetrated by the rudder is consistent with damage that I've seen on other fiberglass vessels that have been grounded.

Engines have 2 things of value to them, parts and data tags. The expensive parts are ruined, and the data tags would have stolen serial numbers. Those Carolina salvage boys don't have any interest in this unless someone is paying them cash to salvage it for them.

with the below notice, i would be very surprised if anyone would go near it.

and with a 110,000 boat dropping in 80' of water, without the deck, wouldnt the CG be more towards the stern, and thus the stern being the first point of impact...? the damage of the rudder and prop would be from just the boat's movement in the tide...?

far

Far, remember the motors and fuel tank (which is in front of the motors) are still far enough forward to push the boat down bow first or close to it.

Silence

Enjoy following this thread, the "banter" is educating, enjoyable and often humbles an average boater in the depth of knowledge amongst..some of you!
What I don't get is the "Absolute" silence in a relatively tight and small community about the Captain & his mate. Here are 2 guys whose lifes income, reputations and self esteem is being affected by rumour and speculation amongst their peers and we hear NOTHING from them, even in a subtle fashion. They must have friends you guys know, family, colleagues to share a Christmas drink with and ponder their situation. I know if my professional reputration was being questioned or speculated upon by my peers to this degree I would do something...

The fuel tanks, even when filled with fuel, are positively bouyant by close to a pound per gallon. As the fuel gets run out of them, they gain bouyancy by about another 6 lbs per gallon run out.

They are wise to stay quiet until this is settled. The captain made the worst error in all of this in taking the boat to sea without it being properly insured. He left himself open to liabilities that most captains cannot afford. I'm sure his attorney has told him to keep his freakin mouth shut, because he's on the hook for over a million dollars easily.

Silence

Agree with that Hennig.
However, whether he hit something or not, or whatever happened, that error (departing un-insured) does not change.
From Ferritti/Bertram's perspective though, this speculation is probably costing them many millions worlwide. Imagine how many potential buyers are googling this story...Before I invested a lazy $mill plus I would take the time to surf the web.
So let's say the Captain did actually strike the beacon and this did contribute to the "catastrophic failure" and sink the 630 etc, Bertram would encourage a statement from the one person on the scene who would lessen the impact on the company, this thread would be vastly different in it's content. But we get nothing and are allowed to keep the debate alive. If the Captain did not hit the beacon, it was poor build quality etc. then at least the Captain is absolved of the worst part of his negligence. Either way the insurance issue hangs him.

Even if the captain hit the bouy shown in those photographs, it would indicate a poor build quality issue since the level of damage on the bouy is not indicative of the level of force that should be required to cause that level of damage to the boat. The boat was also showing indications of general delamination issues.

IMO, FEB holds a minimum of 2/3rds liability in this. The only good thing about this whole event is that it came apart where it did with two professionals aboard in frequented waters and not off the coast of South Africa in the Southern Ocean with the owner and his family.

FEB made their statements early on before the video/pictures were made public, and they got caught painting an inaccurate picture. They are also wise to stay quiet at this point.

The wisest thing all around is for Marine Max to process a claim on their insurance.

SHAZAM! the standard LCG (guessing) would be around 5-10ft aft of midships, now take away the deck and half the top sides, belongings, anchor/chain/winch, beds etc and that LCG will move aft even more.

to further my case the centre console part that broke away is now aft...? if that boat went nose first to the sea floor that part would be in front, and on the floor in front of the console....?

far

Why hasn't anybody taken photos of what the buoy chain looks like and made them public, this would put to rest a lot of theories?

But the problem is, between their earlier statements and photos of delaminated boat, they ain't got much meaningful things to say. If by some miracle they find, present and win some other reason for what's evident but the obvious one, they will be able to come out loud on the top. If not, their best bet is probably just keep low and wait for the whole thing to blow over. Imagine how many potential buyers are not googling much of anything.

Probably for around the same reason. To "put to rest" a lot of theories will likely require a little more then public photo analysis. Catastrophic hull failure is evident, but the direct cause of it may remain mystery - be it a supposedly light scratch on the buoy, a dolphin hit, just especially rough wave, or whatever. Now that the stuff had hit the fan, as Henning outlined, quite each party involved is interested in staying shut (and few friends in the know would want to do someone involved a "stern" kind of service by revealing something sensitive out of order). From my perspective, they might aswell settle this sealed under some confidentiality and non-discloisure agreements. The topic contains mostly enough information already.

Aside from the transom miracle)))) Honestly, both *realistic* theories (Capt J's and SHAZAM!'s) suggest the worksmanship or design... quite below what I can imagine even given the photos. As said earlier I'm no professional in this but is it really possible for GRP structure to just fracture in halves under what appears to be the operating, or at least predictable magnitude of loads?

Keep in mind that there is going to be litigation coming, all sides are more than likely being told to keep quiet by their attorneys.

Amen...same goes for Bertram

Vacancy

VACANY:
One of the Icons of US Marine Industry has a VACANCY in the PR Department for a true Professional. If you have true Courage and like a CHALLENGE please contact the retiring PR Team, Call Marcel Marcieu or Stevie Wonder for an appointment....

Seriously, got to feel for the owners, staff and dealers (inc. Marine Max) who are in limbo.

I think I agree on that and I now recall on all past post to what the Carolina boy's might had done to that sunken wreck

I've read all 36 pages of this thread and seen the pictures and can only offer one piece of advise to Capitano65. You asked in post # 397 about which type of boat to buy. I think you should buy a boat made from the same materials as that little yellow buoy.

That exhausts my expertise.

HA!
Good one!

Amen to that too...LOL