Bertram 630 Sportfish Sinks?

Aliens? Has anyone checked the captain or mate for signs of **** probing?

Someone who would prefer that the boat never be found.

......

Not really. If all of the bulkheads break free from the stringers, the boat will twist and flex throughout, with certain area's that are more re-inforced staying rigid, until it bends,cracks and then it all peels away. Remember that at 35 knots there is a lot of different forces in different areas as the boat goes over waves and so forth...... once one vital area tears free, it all starts tearing free, because without the bulkheads it loses it's rigidity.

?

having reviewed the photos again. IF the transom "broke" off , from impacting the bottom , surely there would be some "crushing" of the gunnels ? looks to me like it is a "clean" break . AND , so it continues .....

In my 100's of hours underwater, (SCUBA) and fairly extensive work doing salvage, recovery work, and technical diving, I've seen boats sink underwater. We've taught classes where we'd actually sink and raise the same boat several times over a weekend, teaching how to rig lift bags, lines, etc., etc.

Boats don't fall through the water like a chunk of lead and hit the bottom with great force. That being the case, and from my experience of being underwater, watching other boats "fall", I'm pretty confident in saying there is no possible way the transom sheered off the back of this boat from the impact of hitting the bottom.

This to me, is the largest item of curiosity on this entire subject.
I can get over the buoy hitting the boat, the chain theory, the delamination, the catastrophic failure up front. I just can't wrap my head about how the transom came off the boat in such a clean fell swoop. (from the images I've seen). It just doesn't make sense.

There are a few other things that don't quite add up, which if you've studied the pictures long enough, you should see them. If not, I'll refrain from mentioning them as to not stir the 'conspiracy theory' pool of sharks.

Once the legal case is filed away, the ink dried in the paper, all parties have gone home, attorneys paid, and people names, reputations, and considerations have been accounted for, we'll hear from the Captain and Crew and finally get the real story of what happened.

Several pages ago I joined the thread with exactly this question, repeated it several times too - nothing much There were about two semi-adequate godzillaless theories (being torn off by air cavity forming inside the transom as ship sinks, or being ripped off by internal stresses forming in the hull as it fractures at 30+ knots. look it up about 7-8 pages back), but neither exactly *clicking*. So yea, barring anything truly fishy such as these underwater secret towing theories popping up from time to time, the brutally torn off transom remains The Funny Thing of it.

Or not. Depends on what is written with that dried ink, if NDA ninjas are loose, the Cap and the Crew may well stay silent. What I mean is that we may hope for it but in no way can we really expect that as a given, so we're stuck with what we've got for now.

Guys, we've had a humor break few pages ago already, Godzilla, bloody scary salvage boys and stuff. Now Elvis enters the building... Let's cut it))
And you know, I'm no expert, but seeing how brutally a *soft* medium such as air can tear apart things at mere hundreds mph in vartious sportcar and airplane crashes, I guess the water can do that too.

delam???

As a professional yacht builder (actually a minor league competitor of Bertrams) with a lot of experience in cored composite construction, I had to register and log into this forum to add my two cents worth.
I've read a number of posts that alleged problems with core seperation but from the pictures shown, it appears the core was adhered to the skins as well as could possibly have been. The core looks exactly like a leading cross-linked PVC foam {brand name omitted}, grid scored, and all the kerfs, the gaps between the blocks, are filled with resin, which is actually a credit to Bertram and their lamination work. Many times these gaps aren't filled and that is what causes the majority of cored hull failures. I also believe I observed numerous locations where the skin seperation actually fractured the core, and some where the core didn't fracture but left a thin layer of core attached to the skin. Both are entirely normal events when a cored panel suffers a catastrophic failure!
Whatever event started this terrible damage, it most certainly didn't start with a core failure! Hull to deck joint failures could initiate delamination, but the damage shown indicates a major impact below the hull to deck joint, and a tremendous amount of force would have been required to tear the entire hull laminate "across the grain" halfway down the length of the hull. I didn't see any pictures of the foredeck, but if the missing sides of the hull are still attached to it, delamination is almost certainly ruled out.
My initial observation of the damage was that the boat was "clotheslined". I repaired a boat years ago that had run into a concrete pier (the concrete won), peeling back the foredeck and the upper portion of the hull nearly to the front of the cabin, this looks almost exactly the same. I know there is a lot of barge traffic in that area. Maybe one was running that night with the lights out? Just an idea?

I dont know if this has been asked but, is the tuna tower still attached?

the tension is between laudable short-term corporate goals and laudable long-term corporate goals. these are tough decisions. but if they say what you are advising them to say in your post, it is very likely to result in very negative short-term pain (i.e. the pending litigation). i would think they could say something significantly more nuanced that what you propose.

That is a very interesting question, andit would explain an awful lot.

Hi,

Didn't it sink in broad daylight?

I had assumed the same thing. But after reading that question about a tow I went back and looked at the press report and it does not mention a time of day. I think everyone has been thinking that it was during daytime but a cursory review did not find a definitive answer. Although I could just be overlooking it. Is it possible it was at night?

The C/G report does state early morning, so it is possible that they could have left in the dark. The damage that the boat sustained looks more likely hitting a tow then high flyer buoy to me. Hitting that type of buoy should have only resulted in some gouges or fouled running gear at most and not total destruction. I don't buy the buoy theory nor do I buy that a 63 Bertram could self destruct at any speed. Just my $0.02.

Foward as is if it hit the bottom stern/tower first?
Would a surveyor spend much time checking jointery between deck and hull? Possibly missing damage from improper strapping and lifting of the boat. The cracks in the hull look like inward flex cracks, there appears to have been enough movement to tear the exterior laminate. If there was proper bond between the laminate and foam then I would expect to see pieces of core on the inner AND on the outer skin.

Very very interesting.......

Welcome Bill.
Beautiful sporty in your avatar/picture!

Thank you Bill, I think finally, you have pointed us in the right direction, with your expert opinion!