Hit dock a little hard

Jacktrop99

Jacktrop99

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New to me 248 “I've had 2 Grady’s before” The other day me and my buddy are docking in and out of neutral at a lower speed but faster then usual, I jumped off and the front hull hit at a 45 degree angle, I heard a cracking sound but when I looked, zero damage to my boat and the dock was cracking and rotting all around, this is a familiar dock I use and it’s always in bad shape just looking for piece of mind my boat is ok since I’m anal about stuff
 

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I can't imagine there would be an issue if there wasn't any obvious visual damage done to the boat/hull. I think the more likely explanation would be that the wood dock, which you admittedly say is cracking/rotting all around, was the culprit for the cracking noise.
 
Hard to imagine jumping off the boat in that picture, approaching the dock at a 45* angle. Would mean jumping off the bow. Maybe it's my age, but having had 2 people slip and fall in many years of boating, nobody gets on or off without being able to have one hand on the boat, and one foot on the dock.
Boats are cheaper to repair than people.
 
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I'd inspect the inside of what I could in the area and also the gelcoat side again. If both have no damage, you are very likely ok.
 
DennisG01 said:
Truthfully, there's no way to say definitively without inspecting it... which is rather hard to do from here and/or w/o pics and since "front hull" is rather vague.
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It hit the main hull “under the stripe” at a 45, I didn’t get it sideways enough to be parallel with the dock, where I hit looks the same as before white and perfect, the dock did have cracking all along the leading edge “not from me” so that’s probably what I heard
 
Mustang65fbk said:
I can't imagine there would be an issue if there wasn't any obvious visual damage done to the boat/hull. I think the more likely explanation would be that the wood dock, which you admittedly say is cracking/rotting all around, was the culprit for the cracking noise.
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I’ve just never heard a cracking sound like that, but entire leading edge of dock is cracking and wood looks bad from salt water so that’s probably what it was, side of boat looks the same as before no marks and white
 
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To dismiss without further inspection is foolish. Your life depends on your diligence in precautions hence: EPIRBS, radios, life vests, floatplans, firstaid kits, flares, etc ...negligence puts Coast Guard, Sheriff's, rescue personell at risk.
 
Jacktrop99 said:
I’ve just never heard a cracking sound like that, but entire leading edge of dock is cracking and wood looks bad from salt water so that’s probably what it was, side of boat looks the same as before no marks and white
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I guess, really, only you can answer your question. This is not a knock on you, but the information we have been given is largely subjective, you know?

I do think there's a good chance that everything is OK - but there's no way I could feel comfortable saying that, for sure, based on subjective info.

At a bare minimum, look closer at the impact area for small, hairline cracks. Then sound the entire area for weak spots. And, as noted above, do the same to the area on the inside.

If a CLOSE inspection of the area doing something like this turns out fine, then it should be good. But this inspection, of course, depends on your skill set in this area - and only you can attest to that part
 
If you hit with the rub rail, it is possible (but no likely in this case) that the cracking you heard was the joint between the deck mold and the hull mold. That is not easy to inspect. Just keep an eye out for water where you normally don't have a water issue. For example, the bilge may have more water than usual or the bilge pump(s) may run more often. If there is a seam separation, water leakage will generally only happen under speed.

I have been biting my tongue throughout this post and I can't stay silent any longer:)
You know what they say; Don't approach the dock any faster than you wouldn't want to hit it !
 
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