So after speaking to my pal Rick and Bruder Tim, I thought I would post a bit of an update. Zusammen is on the hard at City Boatyard which is 12 or so NM northwest of the City Marina that we were at for the last two weeks. The boat was partially repaired at the dock at City Marina. The pushpit (solid part of the lifelines in the stern), the davits (thick metal arms that hold the dinghy out of the water while sailing), dinghy and dinghy outboard are now all repaired. The davits and pushpit had to be removed and sent to a stainless welder to be straightened and polished. The dinghy had been scuffed where it contacts the starboard davit arm and the outboard was painted; it looked like an angle grinder was run up the lower unit (part that is in the water while driving).
While Zusammen was undergoing these repairs we were going back and forth with Knucklehead's insurance company about a water leak that we discovered. It took us over a week to finally nail down where it was coming from. We did so after speaking to many experts and pals (Big "shout outs" to Dick on Cambia who spent sleepless nights pondering our challenge while pinned to a dock in Florida; George C and Bob M for answering countless queries). We had eliminated all likely spots that this leak could be coming from and were left with the rudder post. In Zusammen, the rudder is mounted in a tube that is fiber-glassed into a space between the hull and a structural "box" that sits above the hull by ten inches or so. That box (shaped like a trapezoidal prism inside the hull, wide side down) has only a couple of holes in it, making inspection of the rudder post impossible. We tried mirrors, lights, digital cameras and video. The insurance company would not authorize any work to be done to fix the leak because they couldn't see it. Any further work would be on my nickle unless it was later proven to be caused by the accident. Great.
We believed, that this leak had to be caused by the accident as we never had this much water in the bilge before...I hired a surveyor (Janet Peck - she's great) to come in with an arthroscopic scope connected to a video camera and a computer for capturing what the camera "sees". She climbed into the lazzerette, got the camera rolling and after a few minutes, I heard "Ahhhhh, there you are" from the bowels of Zusammen. (Get it, "bowels" - athroscopic scope?, ok I won't quit my day job. Wait, I don't have a day job...) The cause of the leak is a small bit of "tabbing" around the rudder post that has broken free from the hull. "Tabbing" is heavy fiberglass cloth that is laid into corners at angles to join structural components of the boat. when the bottom of the rudder was pushed hard sideways through the water (as we spun 180 degrees during the accident) the tabbing at the post was pulled up from the hull creating a weak spot that water could "weep" through.
The surveyor captured video, wrote a report and sent all this evidence along to the insurance company. The insurer wanted to inspect Zusammen when she was out of the water to make sure the leak wasn't the cause of an impact, like a grounding or hitting a log or something. When they were satisfied, they let me know they would pay the bills associated with the repair as well as a place for us to stay and rental car.
I was down at the boat this AM and the rudder was pulled out last night, the rest of the autopilot gear was pulled this afternoon, their team had a meeting to devise a plan and to get the quote off to the insurance company (I can't even guess - but not cheap). I feel confident that they will do a good job. The surveyor know they glass guys at the yard and recommended them for this work. I am hoping that we'll have holes cut tomorrow and they guys will be well on their way. I'll head back there early during school time and check in.
A huge relief to find the problem and be getting fixed by good guys. Lex and I are a bit stir crazy in Charleston and want to keep moving south, but the kids are having fun and the weather has been great, so no worries. We'll be in southern Florida soon. If we get a good weather window, we'll try to go outside from here straight to Feradina Beach and then another outside jump to Saint Augustine. We'll keep you posted.
Thanks to Kinder for getting us some new lights and Bill for some advice. Best of luck with the boat search and the new boat (respectively)!
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