Why I’ll Never Trust a "Performance" Boat Again | Sailing Truth Show

I was in the middle of a delivery on a Farr 47.7, when the bilge pump went off... What followed was an insane story that nearly killed me. I'll NEVER take another 'performance' production boat offshore. In this episode of the Sailing Truth Show, I’m sharing the full, documented story of a delivery that almost went catastrophically wrong. This isn't just a story about a bad boat; it’s a lesson in how engineering shortcuts in the factory become life-threatening emergencies in the real ocean. What we're covering: The Discovery: How we found the keel separation while underway. The Design Flaw: Why "performance" grids often fail where traditional builds don't. The "Proof": Looking at the photos and the structural reality of the Farr 47.7. The Takeaway: How to inspect a bolt-on keel before you trust it with your life. This experience was so pivotal that I included it as a primary case study in my book, "Be The Captain." If you want to know exactly what I look for when auditing a boat's structural integrity—including the diagrams of how these joints should be built—you can find it all in Chapter 2. 📖 Get my field manual: https://bethecaptain.com/ 📖 Livestream Chapters 00:00 Intro: A serious story of catastrophic damage 00:41 The Cheeki Rafiki tragedy & the industry cover-up 01:07 Video Dissection: Beneteau First 47.7 grid separation 02:44 The delivery mission and boat specifications 04:03 The incident: Water intrusion near the Windward Passage 05:45 How production boats are built: Grids and methacrylate glue 07:35 Build quality differences: Hanse 588 vs smaller boats 20:48 Lessons from the Cheeki Rafiki loss 22:37 Livestream Q&A and Book Giveaway instructions 39:58 Keel bolts and potential points of failure 41:35 The "Keel Stub" advantage (Oyster 45 construction) 58:17 Point load damage on a Hallberg-Rassy 01:18:12 How to fix leaking keel bolts (Ref: Ocean Cruisers) 01:19:29 Reviewing viewer boats: The legendary Cal 40 01:31:07 Safety first: Why I tell the "scary" stories 01:32:45 Final book winner announcement (Allen Gant) 01:33:39 International shipping and Second Edition updates 01:34:27 Super Chat: Gulfstar 40 "Built like a tank." 01:35:02 Sign off and final thoughts #sailing #farr477 #boatbuild #offshore #blue water #yachting #bethecaptain #sailingzingaro #SailingTruthShow #maritimehorror