It Seemed Cool When We Designed It

I hate these doors but they become a necessary evil on big boats.

There is more to the story. Nobody in their right mind would open the transom door at sea especially in the PNW. They wouldn’t have left port without checking the door either. So why did it open? Since when closed the door is tilted forward loss of hydraulics could not hav ever it fall down and there has to be locks anyway

Being an Italian boat… I wonder if a short or electrical malfunction did not cause the door to open while underway
 
I wonder if they lost power, some how opened the door to unload a dink to use as a raft, and then the CG showed up. Given the way it is flopping around if they were strong enough they might have been able to get it almost closed but not sure about secured.
 
Looks like they deployed life rafts. At least they were thinking proactively at some point.
 
It would seem logical that you would have an over center mechanical latch system with dog engagement given the risks of inadvertent deployment. Looking at it that does not seem to be the case. Reminds me of all the bad car ferry designs that used to be around.

Certainly something to look at on you next purchase;)
 
Something else that bugs me is this is foreign flagged yacht. I get the "we want to extend safety for everyone, everywhere" but something sticks in my "craw" about using taxpayer funds to bail out, literally, a 1 percenters super yacht that is contributing nothing to our economy here without reimbursement. The whole idea of "flags of convenience" and indeed the Jones Act needs to be reworked.
 
The boat was successfully towed to a harbor.

Additional info indicates that the crew detected smoke and activated the fire suppression system. This of course shut down all machinery incl engines and generators… if batteries were already submerged there was no way to restart and restore propulsion, AC power or hydraulics…. No AC power or no hydraulics means no emergency bilge pumps. No hydraulic, no way to close the door.

Usually these doors have a relief valve so you can release the pressure and use an alternative way of moving it. Depending on where the valve is located, it is possible that with the waves coming in and out, there was no way to safely reach it. Some of the pictures show lines had been rigged from the top of the door to the aft deck capstans. But with hydraulic pressure in the system there was no way to move the door….
 
GeeBee said:
Something else that bugs me is this is foreign flagged yacht. I get the "we want to extend safety for everyone, everywhere" but something sticks in my "craw" about using taxpayer funds to bail out, literally, a 1 percenters super yacht that is contributing nothing to our economy here without reimbursement. The whole idea of "flags of convenience" and indeed the Jones Act needs to be reworked.
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I agree with you in theory but in this case we don’t know the nationality of the owner… he may not be a US citizen. In any case I don’t believe the $26 annual documentation fee or the one time $18k sales tax would really make a dent in the USCG fuel bill :)

At least it flagged in the Marshall Islands, a country with close ties to the US

As to reimbursement, if the USCG starts charging foreign flagged vessels in need of assistance, what will happen to US flagged vessels assisted in other countries ?
 
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