First Contact!

[furball]

Sunday morning, leaving the Patapsco River, entering the Bay, I made my first contact with a submerged object! The object was a piece of timber, 18" square by 25' long. I was running east just after sunrise, at about 14-15knts in a 1ft following sea and the log was perpendicular to my path just under the water. Never saw it coming, just felt a single LARGE bang Throttled back to see it bobbing in my wake. Though for sure I'd find water coming in from somewhere. After a complete interior inspection found nothing, put her in gear, no noises, no vibrations, no water coming in at the shaft seal or rudder post and shaft looked good. Gradually brought her back on plane, nothing abnormal. steering was good, trim tabs worked, same speed/rpm so......went fishing, caught our limit and headed home. Tomorrow I haul the boat and see exactly what I did. I had a couple of friends along and I think we all thought we were going swimming after the impact. After inventory they just shock their heads and said the Albin is one tough boat, I must agree.
I do have a question. I have never had this kind of impact with this large an object. Other than the obvious impact site damage, is there anything else that I need to have checked?
I'll post some photos after we pull her tomorrow.
Thanks,
John

[jcollins]

I heard a Coast Guard broadcast about that log. Did you call it in? Look for the impact area. I had something take small chunk of my keel last year. It didn't affect anything but over the years water could seep in. I had it glassed over. I don't know if it was necessary but it made me feel better since I plan on keeping the boat for awhile.

[Carl]

I just got off the phone with John (JohnJG); he had his boat hauled out this morning to inspect the damage from the impact from the "timber" this past Sunday.
when they got it out of the water no one could believe what they saw!
they searched and searched to find the point of impact but had to pressure wash the hull to see it!!!!
the point of impact was right where the skeg turns down from the hull and
the timber did, indeed, leave a mark but it was about the size half of a penny but did not fully penetrate the gel coat!!!!

the boat went back into the water and John will be able to finish the season

it is quite a testament to the construction of his Albin 28 flushdeck...i've been on the water for about 40 years and never hit anything that hard while running a boat
I'm shocked about the lack of damage.
we must have hit it just right to have this kind of outcome.

seems our limit on Sunday was not as expensive as it could have been!
__________________
Mark
Saw this on another site.

[furball]

Boy good news travels fast
After checking for leaks, I did call it in to the Coast Guard.
Pulled the boat today and I was shocked.


The white 1/2 circle on top is missing paint and the center dot seems to be the only gelcoat damage. Rather be lucky than good, huh!
I put her back in the water and plan to get a few more weeks of fishing. I haul again in december and plan to do the repair then. I know how hard I hit that log and I still can't get over how everything looks.
John

[Mariner]

Impacts like this are a regular occurance up here in Puget Sound. They tend to happen more in the winter when the rivers are swollen and the dead trees get flushed out into the sound. One of the driving factors for buying the Albin was it's fully skegged prop and rudder. It allows us to take a hit like this and keep on trucking without much more than a quick glance in the bilge to make sure we're not sinking.

I would say I hit a truly large log on average about once per year.

[Anthony1013]

I bingo'd a rather nice size piece of timber one day as I was heading back to the locks.... scared the ba-jesus out of me! Like the rest of you, I checked for leaks then slowly started accelerating in anticipation of a vibration but nada. I was already scheduled to have my boat pulled the following week and to my surprise, just a little scuff in the bottom paint on the skeg!

Anthony

[Denis]

That was a lucky hit, the place of impact I mean. I am sure that area is quite thick and built up. Knock on wood I have never hit anything, just pure luck. I would be very nervous if I heard a thud like that. I am also very happy that the prop and rudder are quite protected on our boat. I look at the new drives that they are putting on boats, where the drive comes out the bottom of the boat and some props point forward. It would seem that they would pick up everything in the water and would take all the impact when you hit something. I like the way Albins are set up. D

[Mariner]

Denis,

Yes, the Volvo IPS system has the propeller facing forward. I saw a Q&A with one of their product reps and the reaction was pretty much just "well, that doesn't happen very often, and traditional propellers are just as exposed anyway". He must spend all his time boating in Florida or something, becuase log strikes are actually VERY common in some areas, and not all traditional propeller designs are exposed like that.

I had the same concern about the Cummins MerCruiser Zeus drive until I saw one in person. The drive casing is MASSIVE and made of solid bronze. You'd have to hit a solid nickel seamount to break the thing. Very impressive.

These azimuthing drive systems are the future of diesel engine technology. Expect to see all the manufacturers start offering them in the coming years.

[Denis]

I'll take a boat with a skeg any day.

[RicM]

Forward facing props seem like a basket of problems to me. The first time running into a field of lobster or crab pots I would be scared to death!

[Capt Ron]

Quick story. A friend of mine had a 1999 28 TE (he's the reason I bought one) and hit something hard. He had the same response, stopped immediatly and surveyed damage. Behind the boat popped up a 12 foot 2x12 plank broken in two. After the usual inspections he found no damage. Thank you Albin.

[Anthony1013]

Man.... I couldn't help but to think about this post as I was out today. I left my slip around 1, ran through the Locks to the salt water to drop some crab pots and you should have seen the carnage in the water! We have experienced a significant amount of rain here in the PNW the last week and several local rivers are flooding. These kind of rains flush the rivers of any debris (trees, houses, you name it...) which all drains into the Puget Sound. I saw 8 trees with complete root systems in only 2 hours.... I survived today, wish me luck tomorrow when I go up the pots!!!

Weekend plans of cruising to Pt Townsend are officially cancelled now.

Anthony

[RicM]

I think there are two factors at work here. One is the skeg and robust construction. The second and probably more important one is that none of us were doing 40 knots when contact was made! What might appear to be a limitation is in fact, an asset.