Well picked up a used Nacra 500. Very good shape. No hull issues, until today.
Went for a sail. Winds forecast at 4-6. We got to lake and closer to maybe 15. Some small whitecaps
Anyway, got boat headed into wind raised main and the boat just pivoted on the dock and next thing we know we are abeam the wind with main up.
Boat was hitting the dock which did have "bumpers"
At one point we both got off boat to try to pull around and turn into wind.
Bad idea. The windward hull came up, rudder clear of water and we almost lost it.
So back into boat and a real struggle to get main down.
We did not sail as we just could not get away from dock as we were at a dead 90 degrees to wind.
Load back on trailer and now the hull which looked perfect has many small creases and a couple of rounded dimples.
No clue why this happened as there were bumpers along the dock.
The creases are not soft but are very visible.
What do i do now? Did i just throw away $5,000!
A guy at the ramp said no big deal just heat the hull with a heat gun and than apply ice water to the creases and they will pop out?
Aside from this how does one get away from the dock if pinned like we were? Obviously lower the main but than what?
It was way too windy for us to out there but after driving 2 hours we wanted to sail so badly.
Lastly, I have never seen a power boat made of fiberglass get damage like this and they are always bouncing along the docks.
Any help or advice for this new idiot wanna be sailor??
Have I ruined my cat ??
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 04:45 PM
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 05:14 PM
Hey saltspray don't feel bad, just the wrong combination of circumstances for your first attempt.
The first thing was even though it is hard to do you should resist going out on more than minimal wind until you get the hang of it. Everything gets much more difficult and intense as the wind rises, it won't be long before you handle today's wind no problem.
Second thing is that launching a catamaran designed for the beach from a ramp and dock is one of my least favorite things. Beachcats ideally should be pointed into the wind when raising and lowering sails but that's not always possible from the dock. If the boats on the windward side you have the problems you had today and if it's on the leward side it can be hard to get on board because only the narrow bow is at the dock.
I'm not sure what happened with the damage, maybe some pictures of the boat and the dock would help. Could be that there were hard fasteners in the padding.
Anyway don't give up, you've only just begun.
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 05:21 PM
Thanks, Damon
Cannot post pics. Too dark and phone having issues. A bad day.
The damage is just linear creases and a couple of thumbprint size indentations.
Not through the gel coat just creased.
Not soft to touch.
Any thoughts on the idea of a heat gun followed by ice water?
I just watched a video where a guy removed a dent in a car with heat and canned air. -
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 05:29 PM
The heat/ice thing sounds unlikely and unless the car was a Corvette it probably didn't have a fiberglass body.
Your Nacra is fiberglass cloth layup with gelcoat on top, very stiff and can't be "massaged" like steel or plastic.
Wait for the fiberglass repair experts to chime in before doing anything.
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Damon Linkous
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 06:07 PM
It's not ruined, but the heat and Ice isn't going to work.
The Nacras in that ear were prone to "denting" as the core is a little soft. My i20 would get them from time to time, didn't take much to dent it. A knee from someone losing balance on the trapeze was plenty. It's simply cosmetic, I wouldn't worry about it.
As Damon said, launching from a dock sucks, you would need someone to get into e water and putt the boat head to wind, or move to the leeward side of the dock.
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Posted: Mar 07, 2015 - 06:08 PM
Hey saltspray,
Been there and done it, and many others here did it.
The damage you described (no soft spots) doesn't mean you
ruined your cat. You damaged the outer layer of your Nacra skin.
No worries. Now the most important thing is not letting water in
to the fiberglass construction. So protect the dents with some
waterproof duct-tape or similar.
Second, take some clear pictures of the damage in daylight and
post them here.
There's plenty people here (including me) to help and advise you.
André
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Posted: Mar 08, 2015 - 07:05 AM
Don't worry about the "dents". You Nacra 500 has a foam core with fiberglass on the inside and gelcoat on the exterior. You simply dented the foam core and gelcoat.
There were about 10 of them in my Tiger when I bought it. I called them "speed dimples".
Non structural. I sailed the GT300 with them and the boat had done it for he previous 7 years.......
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Posted: Mar 08, 2015 - 01:07 PM
Every one is saying the crease/dents are not a problem, but they are making this judgement sight unseen. Likely they are correct, however the only way to know for sure is to do a thorough inspection. Most likely all you did was compress/dent the core. However, there is always the possibility with this type of damage that delamination also occurred. You should do a coin tap test all around each damaged area to inspect for delam. If any delamination is detected, repair it now before it grows and you end up with real problems. The repair would be as simple as doing an epoxy injection. Also, I would not put duct tape on the damage. This is a waste of time and all you're going to do is make a sticky mess and mask any existing damage. Do a very thorough visual inspection of any damaged area. If there are any signs of gelcoat cracking, this means additional repair is needed in order to prevent water ingress into the laminate. Most likely no significant damage occurred, but you are much better off giving everything a good examination now.
Regarding why powerboats can bang off a dock and not get damaged while the cat got beat to hell it's pretty simple. Power boats have the luxury of being able to sacrifice a few extra pounds of fiberglass because they can make up for it in horsepower strapped to the transom. If your beach cat were built like a powerboat, it would be a dog on the water. Cats are built plenty strong enough for their intended purpose, but they're not designed to be bounced of docks and flipped into pilings.
How to prevent this from happening again? The best way is to launch from a beach rather than a dock if that is possible. If the dock is your only option, then you have to make sure that you always lash your boat to the downwind side of the dock. This will insure that if the boat does power up, it is blown away from the dock, not into it. I would also save hoisting the mainsail for the very last thing you do, i.e., everyone is ready, boat is loaded ready to go, hoist the mainsail, hook on the boom, cast off the lines and go.
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Posted: Mar 09, 2015 - 12:56 AM
+1
http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures?g2_itemId=113124
Edited by klozhald on Mar 09, 2015 - 01:15 AM.
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Posted: Mar 09, 2015 - 07:55 AM
how about you paddle off the dock, get a few 100' away at the least and drop an anchor before you raise the main? this way you can get wind shifts and you will just pivot on the anchor line and not risk dock damage -
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Posted: Mar 10, 2015 - 01:22 PM
Then there is the rocky bank downwind, and near, from the leeside of the dock from where you tied the boat. This is called: being between a rock and a hard place. Yes, I've been there. One reason I've been asking about raising the sail on the water with not too much encouragement that it would be easy to do so.
Aaaha... anchor
Edited by goodsailing on Mar 10, 2015 - 01:23 PM.
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