Dealing with beam failure at sea

[Tristram Cheer]

Hi All,

We've just recently dealt with some rot in the top of our rear beam which has got me thinking, Should a beam fail while underway what would be the best way of dealing with it. So far my ideas have ranged from nothing to using strops to  roping the hulls together. None of them so far seem to be 'good'

Was wondering if anyone else out there had any idea's/plans for a beam failure

[Brett Parker]

Hi Tristram

Brett here from Tapasya,

 I think the secret here is to keep on top of maintenance and keep a close eye of parts of your boat. Its probably the first time Catknapp has been apart since being built. I am pulling apart Tapasya and putting her back together. She's about 14-15 years old now. The good thing about our boats is that they can be pulled apart(not always easily) and thoroughly checked and repaired if nec.

In saying that its ,amazing what can be done with rope , lashing , wedges, bolts, chain and other spares that should be carried aboard anyway. The parts under the most stress are the inside lashings of the front and particularly  the rear beams. I am going through all these potential areas to make sure everything is good to go. During my current haulout, I have discovered a foremast beam about to fail. It 's not repairable so I'm currently building another. I'm about to lift all the beams to thoroughly check and repair if nec anything that needs it. This way I have peace of mind for heading offshore which I plan to do in 2017.

I have wedges on top of my beams to keep lashings tight. Don't want to be tightening lashings at sea any other way than driving a wedge in a little further. On my trip to Tonga on my T30 I would walk around the boat every evening checking tightness. If your lashings got loose, this is going to stress things they way they weren't designed to be stressed and failure of one could lead to failure of others.

Prevention , prevention!!!!

I think its unlikely that you will get a beam failure on a beam in good condition. What do others think?

hope you come and visit this summer Brett