My condolences to the family. What a terrible thing to happen.

This could have happened to any of us. Very sorry and my prayers are with the family

My thoughts and prayers go out to this family!

First of all my condolences to the family. Very sad.

Looking at the pictures the spot where the hull seemed crack is not very uncommon on lakes. There are people making a living fixing them at the lake of the ozarks. They happen from the washing machine waves that lakes generate when there is a lot of boat traffic. I had my boat reinforced in that area but it was done improperly and cracked. And this was on a 388 hustler. The crack didnt effect my performance at all and after seeing those pictures I feel lucky nothing major happened as hard as I ran the boat in the ruff stuff at the Lake. Those cracks look very scary.

What's the size of the of waves/wake are we talking about that did this kind of damage to a boat of this size?

Kinda what I was thinking......came down hard and jerked the wheel, or the wheel jerked him. That is why hydro steering is so important on fast boats that expect to be in the air.

None-the-less, prayers go out to he and his daughter. RIP

rick, excuse me if i have the wrong name, my heart pours out ot you. no words can possibly compare.

may your princess be in ever lasting piece.

i dont know you, but i assure you i give my love to you and your family.

god bless.

He said that at the last moment he thought he might actually go under the wake (wave piercing), and that when he made contact there was a loud pop from the rear and then the boat pitched right. Not the kind of pitch you'd feel if you turned the wheel, more like if weights had shifted in the rear. There's fiberglass cracking down the sides along the transom. I'm guessing that when the top came off the rigidity of the bottom compromised and the boat distorted at the rear.

It sounds to me like the boat was weakend with age and came apart with the forces of hitting that wake at an angle. Straight on and it may have simply dived through with some slowing. At an angle those wakes can make the boat shudder fiercely. I've felt this, even in my 38 Special, and it's why I avoid such angles.

[QUOTE=Turbojack;2160113]
Did the Hull pop on the launch or on the return? I first thought the hull failed at the seam but the pictures show that was not the case.
QUOTE]

Have another look. The overlapping seam is where it split. I took close ups of the bent rivits and followed the seperation around the rear. About half way around the rear to the right, the split leaves the seam, but the rest is seam.

god bless her little soul, sorry rick may she RIP