This Reckless Design Flaw is Sinking Boats | Step 398

as i am a retired broadcast engineer i have long felt television is not living up to its promise/use as an educational tool. the two of you have restored my faith in this concept, THANK YOU! add to this the fact that you both are natural teachers (my mother was one and you both remind me of her "style"". Please keep up the great work!!!

Excellent rant. I really appreciate your explanations and learning opportunities. Rudders, compartments, bilges and pumps.

It's always cool to see you two get into architect mode!

I regularly mention in sailing communities that it's absurd to have an offshore boat that could potentially sink from rudder damage. A watertight bulkhead between the rudder and the rest of the boat is a critical design feature necessary for any boat to be considered blue water, IMO. Glad you're talking about this in detail.

Professional commercial mariner here, US tanker fleet for almost 20 years, life-long regatta kid and now cruiser, AND armchair-wannabe-naval architect (since I was a kid as well). THE BEST AND CONCISE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND explanation (with visual aids!!!) of some really core, but overlooked, principles of naval arch. Nobody gets away from the engineering triangle, “High Quality, Fast Production, Low Expense…chose 2”. But you guys, your work, and your sharing is amazing! Long time subscriber and enjoy your work, helps inspire me on my boat jobs at home. Good luck as the refit continues!!!

Canada here. Well said brother. That wasn't a rant. That was a lesson in " Buyer Beware ". And how to stay alive. Retired renovation carpenter. Love the both of you . And your work.

Our 1977 Rival 38 centre cockpit ketch didn't have any watertight bulkheads. As part of our big refit we have created multiple watertight compartments within the forecabin (plus entry to it that's above the waterline, will have a bolt close watertight door to use at sea). We are creating watertight compartments under the aft cabin bunk for rudder post (will leak a bit around the solid steering connection). Also a coffer dam around our 3 seacocks (2 cockpit drains 1 inlet for watermaker, deck wash etc) and propeller shaft (will leak a bit around the aquadrive).

As a 50 yr young American / Italian, I absolutely adore the both of you. I’m happy you’re back working on your sailboat and look forward to your continued adventures across the oceans. I’ve always loved the way you show other cultures and share your experiences and tell your stories. Such talented young couple! So much respect and admiration 🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼

I have an aluminum 28 ft sailboat which i bought several years ago. It is aged 56 years now and over some years I reinforced it with additional stringers and bulkheads. So now it has 6 watertight bulkheads which are placed corresponding to your ideas of fortifying a boat against water ingress. Even the skeg itself was enlarged and reinforced, because I don't sail regattas anymore but like singlehanded long distance sailing, where rudder agility is counterproductive. I hope that these modifications will be helpful in high latitude sailing which is on my bucket list for the next years. Fair winds to all of you sailing guys out there.

Dan, you did one excellent presentation on why water tight bulk heads are critical to be in any blue water boat! I think what you and Kika are doing is fantastic and you will have a super safe nice yacht when you are all done. It wasn’t a rant, rather an excellent , simplified explanation of the facts. Very well done! 😊🧐🧐⛵️

We have a Duncanson 43', a 35-year-old blue water cruiser. An Australian designed yacht built to survey standards. 5 watertight compartments including a crash bulkhead fore and aft. All fittings passing through a bulkhead are sealed with bulkhead glands. Even if the main saloon is awash the vessel will remain afloat. Yes, we have a skeg hung rudder, which was tested recently when we ripped off the bottom of the rudder. The skeg was totally undamaged. We sailed 100nm to the nearest lift out facility, lifted the boat, dropped and repairs the rudder in 19 days and continued sailing.

You make excellent points in this video. I would like to add some input based on many years of offshore sailboat racing. Spade rudders can increase the capability of not sinking the boat by doing a couple of things and these are: 1) Use an internal rudder tube that is very strong and that goes between the inner hull and the cockpit deck. The rudder shaft rides on bearings in this tube; 2) Have the rudder shaft engineered so it is the weak link in the steering system so that if the boat hits something big enough to tear the rudder off, the shaft snaps and you lose the rudder, but not the boat; 3) Carry a spare rudder if you are going offshore. It doesn't take up as much space as you think and if you do lose a rudder (shaft being weak link), you can replace the rudder at sea; and 4) absolutely have a watertight bulkhead between the rudder shaft and the balance of the boat and try to make this watertight compartment as small as possible, even to the point of having a bulkhead before and after the rudder shaft. Another point is bilge pumps. Pretty much all, and I repeat all, bilge pumps installed in commercially manufactured sailboats are there only to remove nuisance water that may accumulate in the bilge. They typically have flow rates of less than 100 GPM (usually less than 50 GPM) and can be overwhelmed by losing a 1" diameter penetration point in the below waterline area. If you are serious about going offshore, look into getting a bilge pump, or bilge pumps, capable of 750 GPM to 1,000 GPM. These may not save the boat in a truly catastrophic incident, but may save the boat in a situation where you lose a hose or fitting on a hull penetration and need time to plug the water entry point. There are commercially available marine grade bilge pumps in this size range and they are not that expensive when compared to looking at total boat loss or having to abandon the boat in a deepwater situation.

The terms for the hardware for a transom hung rudder and also that skeg hung rudder, are gudgeons and pintles. The gudgeon being the sockets or sleeves and the pintles the pins. The rudder alone is not the only thing affecting balance which changes ALL the time, having to do with sail trim, centers of effort and centers of resistance beneath the water. When sails are properly trimmed so that the center of effort balances, you can leave the helm and she'll steer herself. This is most easily achieved on a schooner. My Bosun on a 125' classical schooner, trimmed the inner jib and staysail upon coming on deck from lunch then she eased the foresail, came back to the cockpit and eased the main about 6 inches, sat down and said, "You should be all balanced now Boss." I let the wheel go and ate lunch in the cockpit while we talked for 45 minutes without touching the wheel and stayed on course within 3-5 degrees either side.

1980 Trintella 44. Front crash compartment. Chain locker is set back such that it is below the waterline. It keeps the weight of chain low and away from the bow. It drains with a 3/4" pipe to the main sump in the saloon. The main sump has a 2000gph bilge pump with an alarm that runs when the pump runs. In addition, there is is a 3700gpm emergency pump, a 2000gph shower bilge pump and a 1500gph engine bilge pump. The rudder is a 3 bearing skeg hung type behind a half height bulkhead. This also drains with a 3/4" pipe to the main saloon sump. The rudder shaft is s/s 90mm diameter at the centre bearing tapering to 60mm at each end to save weight. Built like a brick outhouse😀 the centre bearing is a bronze with a grease gun permanently attached. The rudder will be coming off this winter for the first time in 44 years. The boat has done 40,000nm in the last 10 years alone!

I never would have understood what you were talking about when you were talking about your bulkheads and sectioning off the boat with them until you went over that in this video. At the end of the video I said to myself, it all makes sense to me what they are doing and why. Thank you for using the other boats to explain it, because it now makes me think twice about sailboats and how they are built.

When you get to installing alarms , use several different types of voices for the alarms so you can tell them apart instantly.

I do not sail but I learned a lot today. Thank you very much for this great episode.

Tusen takk DK for this tip regarding watertight bulkheads. Beneteau Oceanis 500(1988). No watertight bulkheads in this boat. There is a bulkhead in front of the rudder, so it is possible to make this watertight, but a lot of cables and heating ducts going through this at the very bottom, so they must bee sealed of somehow. Also 12! Through hull fittings, but have replaced all of them with Trudesign this year. keep up your magnificent work.

Dan and Kika hi from Calgary. Dan best sailing channel rant ever. But seriously it all makes sense and you delivered a clear and informative message with passion. I just love how both of you approach a project, with a plan, proper preparation (eg shipping container workshop) logical solutions, not living on the boat while completing the refit, gutting the interior, confirming the issues, hiring professionals when required and hard work. Uma is going to be one helluva boat when its complete.

Something to think about is how many, many years from now, if one or both of you starts to lose your memory, you will have all these wonderful videos to look back on to relive this adventure and share with future family and friends.