650USD plus shipping
Have I been careless? “Any kind of grounding” is “serious damage”? These boats must be exceptionally fragile. I must be doing something wrong.
Some would argue you're not a cruising sailor if you've never touched bottom. Not applicable to Wednesday night club racers...
Personally, I would look at the hull rudder shaft seal. If it is slightly worn or damaged, it can slow/small seep just exactly like that. Hard to see unless you are specifically looking for it.
If it is one of the bolded ones then it certainly isn't the other.
That looks pretty similar to where I sail...Depends where you sail...
In some places you really don't want to take risks....
Can your boat survive a grounding in these conditions ?
Of course not - any prudent sailor knows that hard coasts mean hard ends for wrecked boats. However, there is a small cove by Sambro lighthouse (pictured) that allows access to the island on a calm, settled day. I would hope that a cruising boat can take a bump from the bottom in that cove that would not result in a compromised structure. Can a modern, grid-hung keel even dry out alongside without damage to grid or hull? Probably not. My point was that the criteria I would use for a cruising boat is probably not met by many modern design 'Wednesday night club racers". Touching bottom will happen sooner or later if you are cruising IMO.
Jeanneau seem to think otherwise - from their current brochure
Looks like a place to never take one of these popular Bump ‘n Sink boats. There is a difference between banging a hard bottom in otherwise navigable water and running a boat hard aground on those rocks. I have hit coral heads at moderate speeds … somewhat more than once. Once got stopped dead from sailing speed by a part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, too. One marina slip’s mud lifted the boat at low tide every day … ULDBs … not Beneteau-like things … no damage a few tablespoons of bog couldn’t fix.Depends where you sail...
In some places you really don't want to take risks....
Perhaps its no different. But would you lean a Bene 40.7 up against the harbour wall and let her dry out on a ten-foot tide? I have no idea if this is possible, unlike the Jenneau pictured above, drying out on the beach. I come from a different generation of sailors and boats. All my boats have been able to dry out and stand on their keels (and often did).
I am sure that lot of 40.7 have touched the bottom at 2 knots without major damage while entering a narrow cove. Drying it along a quay ? I would not try because IMO the chord of the keel is too narrow and you would end up relying on lines or halyards to keep the boat longitudinally upright.
