Chipped paint found under sunken Similan speedboat

PHANG NGA, 15 February 2016 (NNT) – Marine officials have spotted a long strip of missing paint on the bottom of the tourist boat that sank near the Similan Islands last week.

An inspection discovered indications of paint having been scraped from the bottom of the speedboat, a fault which had then allowed water to leak into the boat. The missing paintwork and damage, meant water could leak into the boat, which later sank. All 50 tourists and crew members on the boat were rescued from the sea by nearby boats.

The shipbuilder confirmed the sunken speedboat had never hit a rock or any solid object to its knowledge. Inspectors assumed the missing paint might have stemmed from a production error. The company owning the sunken speedboat pledged to compensate all the tourists and crew members for their loss of belongings.

Most of the tourists said they felt much better after being rescued and were grateful to all those who helped save their lives.


-- NNT 2016-02-15

...... delete, wrong sunken boat.

Good gravy. That's the best they have?

...... delete, wrong sunken boat.

I know where you're coming from. Too many to choose from.

Perhaps they should organise a numbering system for boat sinkings and bus crashes so we can at least have a reference point.

Must've run across something in the water, perhaps a tourist?

Most of the tourists said they felt much better after being rescued and were grateful to all those who helped save their lives.


No surprise with that sentence

So what if the boat has a hole here and a crack there ?water sipping in? no problems we

have buckets... she still good to take on dozens

of people, nothing will happened, Mai Pen Rai.....

So the only thing keeping these speedboats afloat is a coat of paint?

I guess they missed the bit where the Marine Department ordered an inspection of all similar boats to see if they have the same defects.

Tourist safety is a priority after all.

These boats are so poorly constructed (very thin hull) that these incidents do not surprise me. If western standards were applied for construction, people (weight) capacity and horsepower limits I think problems would be limited to the personnel operating the boats.

Missing gelcoat is what they mean on a fibreglass boat. This could be due to the amount of times they have run them onto the sand. Sand is very abrasive and will rip off gelcoat and keep wearing through the fibreglass ntil repairs are done. "Why need repair? Boat only 6 year old!" Preventative maitenance is not a biggie in Thailand. Elsewhere these things would require a yearly survey.

I always feel a little better after being rescued myself. On those occasions when I was not rescued I felt very bad.

Safety is not a word associated with Thailand.!

i was surprised that they wernt trying to find the last tourist they ran over and make them pay for damaging the hull....

So the only thing keeping these speedboats afloat is a coat of paint?

Something lost in translation on this report.

....does this make any sense.....

...in the quest to deflect any blame or liability......

...insane...

Yeah, the company will pay up just as soon as their insurance pays out. Or am I being overly cynical?

Maybe it scraped over a boat that had previously sunk due to lack of paint.

I learn something every day. I had no idea that it was the paint that made a boat water

tight, and safe to use in a commercial vessel.

I cant accept the findings on the sunken speedboat that a strip of missing paint caused water to enter and sink the boat it would have been noticed before the boat was launched.

If a fibreglass hull then a poorly laminated strip involving a resin bonding fault could potentially progressively create a "soggy" area which externally would be not easy to identify but at any time with even a minor abrasion/ impact/ stress could make it peel off.

A poor repair to previous damage could also result in the same.

Happily there were no fatalities but it should result in some increased standards/ certification of commercially operated vessels.

<snip>

but it should result in some increased standards/ certification of commercially operated vessels.

Dream on - money talks and standards/certification are forgotten/ignored ...

If a fibreglass hull then a poorly laminated strip involving a resin bonding fault could potentially progressively create a "soggy" area which externally would be not easy to identify but at any time with even a minor abrasion/ impact/ stress could make it peel off.

A poor repair to previous damage could also result in the same.

Happily there were no fatalities but it should result in some increased standards/ certification of commercially operated vessels.

I'm pretty sure most of these speedboats are made of timber....ply sheeting....the ones I've seen anyway,