Yacht Sinks In Malibu

[lumina]

Hi All,

Was wondering if anyone could identify th make of this boat !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWR6mOzvB2k

 

[petohazy]

Looks like a Mickelson Sportfish. Very popular on the west coast.

 

[luckydave215]

That's a Mikelson. Looks like a 50'
They're Tom Fexas designed and Asian built. The two owners of the company are based in San Diego (where they are delivered on freighters and commissioned) so there's a lot of them in SoCal.

 

[The Revenge]

That's a shame.

 

[MikeP]

Wow, if that video won't make you seasick, nothing will! Whatever happened to image stabilization?

Looks like everybody got out ok - wonder what caused the water to not stay outside?

 

[Jasper]

Sad is the right word!
I carry wooden bungs of all different sizes, just wonder if there would be time or situation to get them in place.
What could have caused this, no rocks in sight, no other vessel.
Lost a shaft? Someone loosen a through hull cock?
Man, it would be a terrible feeling, especially in the places I fish and I have no tender or raft, just jackets, which ain't going to stop the "biters" from getting a meal!

 

[The Revenge]

Get at least a raft on the front of that pretty boat.

 

[Ross Macdonald]

Not that it matters, but it's not a 50 mikelson. It's either a 48 which came out before the 50 was made. The 48 has no pulpit and does not have an integrated swim step. These boats are totally cored. They came out with the 48 in 1992. Not sure when they morphed into the 50. The other possibility is it's a 42, which they built from 1986-92. Ross

 

[Glory]

That's alot of boat to sink that fast with nothing in sight to hit. Makes me wonder what failed.

JM

 

[Seabrooke]

I read an article in "Soudings" a week or so ago about a 2 year old, 72ft Nordhavn Luxury Sports Fish worth about $4.5 million that sank at it's berth.

These photos are from Soundings Magazine which I have just started reading and it is and excellent publication. (No affilliation at all)


.

The owner had a "Tuna Tube" live bait system (to pump a continuous flow of water across the gills of the live bait) installed at a boat yard in Mexico near his Marina. The boat yard used 2" Bronze fittings for the through hulls connected to a large centrifugal pool pump then what amounted to "household kitchen sink drain quality fittings" off the pump. One of these failed - of course - but it happened to be a weekday with not many folks around as well as blowing up a storm with 30kt plus winds and nobody heard their bilge alarms until it was too late.

When they did see it, the marina staff didn't have keys to access the boat and down she went. She sat there for three days before being re-floated.

According to the article the seacock on the through hull (about 3ft below the water line) was left open and the water tight door to the engine space was left open too.

The boat had emergency pumps but they are manually activated and a large hydraulic pump but that is run from power from the main engines or generator.

Why would somebody with a magnificent vessel like this settle for poor and shoddy workmanship like this??? Then again maybe they had no idea and just pay the bills.....

I must stress here that the boat manufacturer has nothing to do with the fitting of the tuna tube.
Well, it WAS worth $4.5m

 

[Ross Macdonald]

We were on the next dock over in Marina Puerto Los Cabos when this Nordhavn sank. If you want the true story, PM me. What was described here is not exactly the way it happened. There were many dock rumors that surfaced in the days following the sinking. It was very bizarre to go to bed and the next morning think you are hallucinating when you looked over at the big Nordie sitting on the bottom. As for the boatyard, It is the same yard and personnel as their other yard in San Diego called the Marine Group. I had to have 2 strut bearings replaced there and they did excellent work, on time, on quote. When the Insurance company adjusters and surveyors came in, you can bet they were going to make sure they didn't pick up the tab. After days of floating, hauling and surveying the boat, they determined there was nothing the yard had done that caused it to sink. Other factors were involved. Also I have no loyalty or connection to this yard. But I did tell the yard manager about rumors and he showed me signed, notarized and documented written statements from the insurance company that nothing they did caused this....FYI Ross

 

[Seabrooke]

We were on the next dock over in Marina Puerto Los Cabos when this Nordhavn sank. If you want the true story, PM me. What was described here is not exactly the way it happened. There were many dock rumors that surfaced in the days following the sinking. It was very bizarre to go to bed and the next morning think you are hallucinating when you looked over at the big Nordie sitting on the bottom. As for the boatyard, It is the same yard and personnel as their other yard in San Diego called the Marine Group. I had to have 2 strut bearings replaced there and they did excellent work, on time, on quote. When the Insurance company adjusters and surveyors came in, you can bet they were going to make sure they didn't pick up the tab. After days of floating, hauling and surveying the boat, they determined there was nothing the yard had done that caused it to sink. Other factors were involved. Also I have no loyalty or connection to this yard. But I did tell the yard manager about rumors and he showed me signed, notarized and documented written statements from the insurance company that nothing they did caused this....FYI Ross

Hi Ross,

Wow! That's interesting.

I took the details of the post directly from a detailed article. It was very much a tech style piece aimed at focussing owners of boats take the responsibility to do as much as possible to mitigate flooding risk.

Happy to remove the post if you think it would be the right thing.