Lessons Learned from an Ill Fated Dive Trip

Some of you may have read the thread requesting advice for an upcoming trip to Key Largo (viewtopic.php?f=71&t=53395), along with corresponding replies and helpful suggestions from fusioneng (Bob). This is a follow-up trip report, with some information that may be helpful to others (and hopefully will generate some informational discussion).

My dive buddy and I put in at the corner where Garden Grove Drive and Atlantic Boulevard in Key Largo, FL. As an aside, this is a great place to put in at Key Largo if you have an AI or TI. Nothing larger than a kayak could put in there, and there are precious few boat ramps on the Atlantic side of Key Largo. However, the concrete barriers are just wide enough in one area to walk a Trailex with the kayak through. It's a straight shot out past Rattlesnake Key to anywhere you'd want to go.

Anyway, we launched on our dive trip at around 9:30 AM. We had the two tanks with BCDs and weights on one set of tramps, and two tanks strapped together on the other tramps. All gear had a line running through and tied to the boat. At no point were the tramps overloaded (max weight was about 130 lbs on the starboard tramp. In addition to our other safety equipment, I had just bought a Delorme InReach Exporer and set up a subscription.

We were about three miles offshore heading ESE in 1-2 ft following seas from approx. 10 mph winds from the NW. We had a full sail and were making about 4-5 knots (slower than I would have thought) when the following things happened catastrophically and too quickly for me to discern the order:

1) The front starboard aka pulled free of the front crossbar. In the process, the rearward force from the ama pushing against the seas split the crossbar at the aka entry point.
2) The starboard aka brace sheer bolt sheered off.
3) The rear starboard aka pulled free of the rear crossbar.
4) The akas folded in on each other, the starboard tramp collapsed, and about $2000 worth of scuba gear headed to the bottom of the Atlantic, held only by the line we had tied to the boat (we had really only intended to keep it from escaping the tramps; we never thought about the amas / akas / tramps escaping the boat.
5) The starboard ama / aka / tramp assemblies began to float away.

I reflexively grabbed the aka brace whose bolt had sheered, which was tethered to the aka. The ama floated past and I grabbed it by the handle. I yelled for my buddy (sitting up front) to furl the sail which, to Hobie's credit, can be done in about 1 sec when under duress.

We were now in 1-2 ft seas (nothing major) effectively anchored in place by dive gear, tanks, and weights somewhere below. We got the ama assembly tied to the boat so it wouldn't float away. We slowly and gingerly pulled on the line (very very heavy) until we could get to each piece of equipment and get it on board. We tried to re-attach the front and rear akas - we could get them inserted but not locked, so we used the ratcheting straps for the tanks to hold them in place. I used one of the extra sheer bolts provided by Hobie to reattach the aka brace. My buddy had to help me get the ama pushed back out far enough to lock the brace handle in place.

After some careful deliberation and feeling like the crew of Apollo 13, we concluded that we had "lost the moon" on this dive trip and decided we should use our spare parts and improvised repairs to get back home. Three miles back to shore was looking like an awefully long way for this couple of TI newbies. With the tanks and weights inside the kayak in my buddy's front seat (we didn't dare put them back out on a weakened aka and tramps), the front mirage drive was removed and he sat forward of the seat. I turned us around to a N / NNE heading and started a very close haul, heading back upwind past our takeout spot so we could tack back in to shore.

As we were heading back in, we started noticed that the port akas were trying to working themselves out of the crossbars as well. We furled the sail and went to work securing those with ratchets, parachute cord, and anything else we could use to hold them in place. We tacked in with a partially reefed sail to keep the loads to a minimum while making headway.

Past the channel markers, we turned SW and made our way through the channel, very lucky to have a broad reach against NW winds. We made it to shore, loaded everything up and called it a nice try. It was just about 12:30 PM. Total time out was about 3 hrs. Though this was a different adventure than we had planned, and a bit nerve-wracking, we never felt ourselves to be in danger or in need of using the Inreach for SOS purposes.

Although I have lost a bit of confidence in my TI, I've spoken with the dealer and repairs will be made under warranty (bought boat in August). I am more worried about understanding the cause and prevention going forward. Some mistakes I know we made and lessons we learned are:

1) I will no longer count on akas being or remaining locked in place. I am going to ratchet the akas together at front and back using ratcheting straps inserted in the gap between the aka pivoting knuckle and the bar that inserts into the crossbars. Imagine how many people sailing solo have hiked out onto the tramps on a broad reach. Imagine the akas giving way, getting dumped in the drink, and when you resurface your boat is sailing off into the sunset without you; as a consolation, I guess you would have an ama to hold onto.

1a) I am thinking of painting the haka insert bar a very bright and flourescent color. If it starts working its way out of the crossbar, I want it to be very noticeable.

2) I will have a laminated checklist attached to the boat. I have a checklist on my iPhone that I religiously use, but my iPhone was tucked away in a dry box for this trip. Even though I'm sure we checked the aka security before we left, in any other situation it could just as easily have been a checklist item that didn't get checked.

3) I will assume the aka could come free and secure all my gear to the boat accordingly.

4) I will seriously consider building and using hakas to transport dense gear. Although this gear was well within the limits for the tramps, I wonder if their density made them ride too low in the water, setting up some serious drag and strain on the akas. I just think hakas would be firmer and distribute the load better for dense and heavy scuba gear.

5) I will purchase extra replacement rudder pins and aka brace sheer bolts.

6) I will not, nor will I allow any crew or passengers to bring bananas or banana products on the boat. My buddy brought two bananas for an after-dive snack. He is not superstitious but I am. Look what happened. Just sayin'.

Other than mitigating risks, I am hesitant to go on a boat hardening binge (though I might utilize a few of fusioneng's tips). Being an engineer myself, I know that when you harden something that was a designed weak point, you risk transfering a failure to something more catastrophic. E.g., one might be tempted to use a stronger rudder pin. However, if the rudder pin holds in an extreme load, but the stern of your boat gets ripped out offshore, how cool would that be?

In the end, I learned some great lessons and the net loss is a bottle of water and down time while the boat is repaired. look forward to regaining confidence in the TI's capabilities.

I had a the rear aka disconnect a couple of times when the TI was new so I added leashes to the rear aka. See: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=41340


The front aka are held in by my Sprayskirts.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

I think I'm going to have to read that 2-3 times to fully understand what all happened. KayakingBob has a simple solution to akas slipping out of the cross bar joint--he simply runs a very strong line from the center of the cockpit (below the mast fitting) to the akas--one string on each side. It prevents the aka from coming out completely. He does the same in the rear. It is a great safety trick. Fusioneng also runs a line from the bow pad eye to the front pad eye on each ama. This prevents the amas from collapsing if the brace pin breaks for some reason. Another simple safety trick.

Personally, I am not a fan of tramps. If they have a load they will definitely drag in the water putting more stress on the akas. Hakas are the way to go for heavy gear.

All in all, your actions avoided a major disaster. It was bad enough, but could easily been much, much worse.

As I like to say, "when accidents happen, they happen when least expected, and they happen very fast."

As I finish this, I see KB has already responded.

Final question: are TI's more prone for akas to disconnect? If yes, is it because of greater "flexing" on the TI?

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

It's the accursed knuckle joints which Hobie has chosen to use to attach the akas to the crossbars. There was a time when the akas were attached with stainless steel pins and nothing on God's earth would make them come free. However, they were marginally more difficult to insert than the knuckle joints, so now we have a boat that is no longer truly seaworthy, but is a little easier to assemble.
As for replacing the aka sheer bolt with a steel one, no-one seems to have had any disasters doing this, unlike replacing the rudder pin, which, as you say, can result in the transom being torn off.

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Personally, I like the knuckle joints and do not want to give them up. We should all put a line tying the akas in. If we are going to venture off shore 2-10 mi, we need to be sure our boats are strengthened as necessary. Also carry a SPOT or PLB and a submersible VHF radio. It is all common sense.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Honestly - I do not understand why Hobie is not offering hakas for the TI or AI. There is clearly a market for this kind of accessory. Ideal would be a haka (made out of plastic or some other sturdy light weight material in the same size as the tramps with as much "holes" in it as possible to reduce the weight and avoid possible capture if in rough seas the wind blows under them).

My two cents.

Peace
Serbi

Wow, that must have been an attention-grabbing situation out there! I can only assume that the weight carried on the tramps must have had a major influence in your predicament. We just don't hear of enough examples of akas coming out to suggest there is a serious design problem.

Here are the five steps I have taken to harden up my aka/hull security.
1. Line from centre of front crossbar out to snap-shackles attached to the padeyes near the ama handles
2. Double bungees attached to the aka with a shackle giving redundancy of bungees.
3. High strength rudder line attached to one black "bungee socket" leading to a loop connected to the button on the aka. This will prevent total disconnection of ama from aka (ie. triple redundancy)
4. Mini spray skirts holding front amas in to the crossbars.
5. High strength rudder line linking rear akas to prevent them coming out ot the crossbars.

Items 1 & 4 prevent the front aka from separating, as well as ensuring the amas do not move away from the hull. In addition item 1 prevents collapsing of ama inwards if aka brace bolt fails.
Items 2 & 3 ensure amas remain attached to akas at both front and rear.
Item 5 prevents rear akas separating from crossbars.

As regards the rudder, I agree that retaining the stock rudder pin is a good "hull saver". I fit a new rudder pin prior to any serous offshore trip.
1. I have added arms out each side of the rudder, with lines leading forward to cleats near my seat, so I can still control the rudder even if the internal rudder lines break (probably over reaction as I broke lines early in my ownership, which I now suspect was due to an error in initial assembly).
2. I built a complete separate emergency rudder which fits into a reinforced scupper tube. (I discovered that attempting to use the Hobie paddle for emergency steering is lagely ineffective)

Agree entirely that Hobie needs to make factory hakas ASAP....

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Wow...That's what I'd refer to as a 'scrotum-shrivelling' experience!

To be honest, I've never considered that the knuckle-joints could come out while underway - I'll have to reassess this!

I'd prefer the older steel-pin attachment method too - simple & foolproof.

Tony - any chance of some photos of your additional AMA/AKA safeguards?

Cheers,

Mike.

I'll get some soon Mike

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Totch:
Jeeze I feel awful about your ill fated trip, as when we were discussing earlier about your trip I apparently didn't stress enough the need to harden your TI for offshore. Most of the time even on calm days once you get a few miles offshore the chop is typically 1 to 2 ft, and sometimes more when the wind picks up. One nice thing about the keys is we have the trade winds often, many times the winds are a steady 15 mph from the east making sailing very fast quite easy (the main reason I always take my huge spinnaker to the keys, but seldom use it in Sarasota).
Before doing the mods to my TI I also had the AMA's fall off a couple times. I believe the first time the right front AKA bar got caught up in the tramp and wasn't latched in properly (now I always triple check everything), the other time one of the rear AKA's came unplugged (still have no idea why). Ever since then I always have those 1/4" lines mounted from the bow to the stainless cleats on the AMA's (you will see in the video below), those lines prevent the AKA bars from folding, they also prevent the aka bars from coming out, and a side benefit is the 1/4 stretchy nylon line prevents the AMA's from rattling around when the AMA's are up in the air. I used stretchy nylon line, so even if I were to hit something and break the nylon sheer bolt, the stretchy line acts like a shock obsorber preventing further damage.
One other feature that I have that I didn't mention in the video is a spectra line running from the hull brace (where the AKA mounts, to the lower part of the AKA bar at the bottom of the curved part of the AKA bar just before it enters the AMA. What this line does is form the AKA bars into a triangular truss shape, relieving some of the stress on the AKA knuckles from the up and down motion of the boat rolling around in heavy seas, though I have never had a knuckle fail, I worry about it. The spectra line just stays mounted in the boat, it becomes loose when you fold the AMA's in, the only pain is when I want to remove the AKA bars completely (which is very seldom) I have to undo those lines.
We lash our scuba tanks to the rear AKA bars all the time and have never had problems (the tanks are no where near as heavy as a human), I don't believe having the tanks strapped to your AKA bars caused the problem, but they did make it worse once everything began to unravel.
As shown in the video we have our tramps and spray skirts re-enforced so we can climb and walk around on them if needed without issues (even with full dive gear on). I also designed another set of sprat skirts for behind the AKA's so the rear passenger can hike out, but we only use them in the winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BcdE0137Xk


Hope this experience doesn't put you off diving in the keys, here is a video my daughter took out at Western dry rocks (about 12 miles SW from Key West) last summer, we had a blast. The video doesn't do coral reef diving justice, I know of nothing more beautiful in nature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9NMZmFMTU4

Bob

Sometimes my aka pins appear to lock correctly, but are actually only partially engaged. When inserting the sleeves, I give them a couple of hard pulls. More than once, the sleeve
has slid back out. I only go out if they are solidly engaged. But I am going to install the aka ties...I am a belt and suspenders person.

Thanks so much for all the great feedback so far. I just can't say enough about the great people on this forum and the way everyone shares information.

Just to clarify a few things where I may not have explained well in my original post:

• The knuckle joint didn't actually fail. It was just that the aka came loose from the crossbar. It probably slowly worked its way out until at the very end where the force on the part that inserts just split the end of the crossbar. Everything else just probably failed as a result of that.
• All in all, it was a very valuable lesson and I look back at it positively (I must be growing mellow in my old age). We knew we were taking some risks, knew we probably need to harden the Hobie a bit if we are ever going to go farther than we are prepared to swim back. We have to keep reading, taking you guys' advice, doing what is within our abilities to make mods, and slowly ramping it up.
• Just so no one feels too badly for us , we did actually get to go diving. We went out on a chartered boat dive on Sunday and dove Molasses reef.

From what I have already read from the last few hours worth of responses, you guys have already provided some really great, elegant, and simple solutions. Bob, I have to give it to you - you really know how to mod up a TI! I might be a bit more timid, but there are several suggestions from you and the others here I will put in place.

I have to take some pictures for the dealer for warranty. Once I figure out how to post them, I'll add them here.

Thanks again for all the feedback,
Walter

Walter, I've provided "step by step" instructions for using Photobucket to host your pictures. Hobie does not host images, so you need to use some hosting service like Photobucket. My instructions are here http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7276&p=237495#p237495 Scroll down until you come to the post "How to Include Pictures (Images) in your Hobie Forum Post.

We would all enjoy your photos, I'm sure.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

That is a scare... I like the ideas of adding a "keeper" to the aka connections as a safety. Doesn't seem like that would hurt.



We have been considering hakas. There are a lot of issues. Cost and type of manufacture. Size for shipping. Would be best if they allow the amas to fold to name a few.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Yes, it would be nice if they allowed folding of the amas, but, don't get bogged down in making a perfect haka the first time, any more than making an AI or TI perfect the first time. If we were waiting for the perfect AI or TI before you marketed them, we would still be waiting. Personally, I think it is pretty straight forward: a simple, plastic, light-weight, wind-avoidance haka would be great. You could sell them singly, so that people who need a folding ama could buy a single haka. You can fine tune it in coming years based on feedback. Isn't this what Hobie is about?

Personally, with my style of sailing & fishing, I don't need folding hakas. Folding hakas will come under the marketing heading "Deluxe Hakas" and will be priced accordingly.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon