Sean

been there, done that with a 42' sea ray delivery from LI to Charleston many years ago for an owner who was in a hurry.

long story short, we stuffed it into the back of a wave at about 8-10 knots in 6-8 ft seas. separated the deck from the hull with ease at the pulpit . the newly formed opening became a funnel until we surfed it into atlantic city on one engine... not one of my favorite days of boating.

wjb21ndtown

That does sound like a bad day of boating! Customers want their boats delivered to meet ridiculous demands such as "we have guests meeting us at the dock at 4p.m.! Really??? You're not even going to get comfortable with the thing before you take your friends out in it? At that point the purchase sure seems to be more of a show piece than a wanted, desired piece of machinery that is going to get used by the owner.

It is sad to see how many great great boats sit full seasons with little to no use on them.

That said, your experience with the SeaRay sounds a lot like what I think happened to the Bertram here...

phragle

iTrader: (3)

The bottom line here, is that this wasn't a race boat in race conditions, it was sport cruiser/fishboat in conditions it would normally encounter. Somebody, somewhere along the line phucked up. Will somebody ever be man enough to admit it... will somebody be paid off to quietly go away?? or will it turn into the eventual game of pin the tail on the donkey...

spk1

Im not sure if its been said yet, but I keep trying to figure the transom and shaft housing damage, and my best guess is that after the boat stuffed and sank, and Im thinking the original damage was probably not quite as catastrophic as the later pictures show, still a manufacturing defect for sure, but Id be almost certain that after the distress calls were sent out, a few salvage hunters, found the wreckage, and tryed to move it deliberately so they could take their time in the dismantle of a 1.8mm yachts equipment, The only real way I see that shaft housing and transom ripping off like that is from a tow vessel pulling the hell out of it.

Scarab Billy

I am no expert either...but I read what Bertrams spokesperson said about the sinking and the storms right after and wonder...if storms moved the boat, then did all the damage showing now...wouldn't the boat be full of sediment? If the water was moving enough at that depth to move that heavy boat I would think all of the horizontal surfaces would be full of sand and sediment. just my 2cts

Scarab Billy

My other thought is...what would you use to try and drag a large and heavy boat like this along the bottom, like has been suggested? A profesional tug? maybe..but someone would know about it. It would also leave a deep trail in the bottom I would think. The horsepower to try that would have to be substantial. I just don't see it but hey..i'm sure someone has tried it. just sayin

Steve 1

They would lift it with bags then tow it in.

Scarab Billy

Lift bags I understand...I have done that myself. They are suggesting someone has tried to pull the boat underwater and caused most of the current damage.......

wjb21ndtown

I agree... Anyone that knows anything about boating, water, and weight (i.e. anyone with the capabilities to go down there in dive suits and hook up cables to the thing) would know before hand you simply can't tow a boat that is underwater.

I think a more reasonable explanation is that the transom blew out due to water rushing from the bow to the stern (either above water or below water), and that the rudder bent when the boat hit the bottom. As others have posted this wasn't a typical transom that we see in our offshore style boats where the thrust comes from the transom. The transoms on the sportfish type of vessels are much weaker.

Steve 1

Could have been from looking at the running gear.