New Hatts Not Bulletproof?

[Sparky1]

Just saw this posted by a salvage/tow operator and thought it was interesting...

Had a new 54' Hatteras out at the Dry Tortugas drag anchor in a storm. He managed to foul himself in his rode and then bound the prop and shaft up so tight he pulled the port strut off the boat. 18 hours getting him back in.

I'll get more details later, but I wonder why this guy had to be towed as opposed to just coming in under his own power. Maybe he fouled both props, but even then... ???

 

[doc g]

Nothing is idiot proof. Enough horsepower and I think you could rip anything apart.....................................Pat

 

[Sparky1]

Yeah, it would be interesting to see what kind of power that thing had. According to this guy who pulled him in, it had 7 bladed 36" props, but I never thought about being able to pull off a strut like that. Then again, I'd never put an engine in gear without accounting for my anchor.

 

[Pascal]

woudl be interesting to hear more details.

I would ASSume that a 54 woudl have all chain so once that's wrapped up, it's all about torque! no hope of the line breaking. Still surprising that he ripped a strut though. He must have had quite a bit of thortlle on that engine.

can't quite understand how you wrap your own rope while dragging... no matter what the boat will be downwind of the rode, you'd have to power up quite a bit forward to get the prop close to the rode.

 

[Sparky1]

I too would assume an all chain rode and had the same thoughts about dragging an anchor. I can see dragging an anchor while sleeping and having a change in wind direction which could bring a boat back over it's own line while entangling it around a prop, but not chain. Even had that happened, it would be hard not to notice you were stern into the wind/current.

I would have to think this skipper made up the bit about a dragging anchor being the reason he got himself into trouble. Not everyone is honest about it when they screw up.

 

[Trojan]

I had a 30 ft. with 2 327s. I was on plane when I ran over an old floating 1/2 inch anchor line. It wrapped around both props stalling both engines and drawing both props up almost touching the bottom. Both struts were bent up inward towards the bottom. I went over and removed the line with a knife. I motored home real slow. I pulled the boat and used a 4 X 4 and a screw jack and bent the struts back straight. I was real lucky. Ran the boat four more years with no trouble. It doesn't take a lot of torque to tare things up.

BILL

 

[Pascal]

well, if you were on plane then your engines were putting out a fair amount of torque...

 

[67hat34c]

I know one boater who was honest when he screwed up!

 

[Sparky1]

Just one huh?

Still no new news on the Hatt in question, but I'll post again when there is.