What Happens to a Totaled Boat?

[bgallinger]

Originally Posted by Jd1

Walk away! Doing structural repairs is no way to learn fiberglassing. Simply asking the question when you live 2000 miles away clearly shows that you have zero concept of what will be involved.
Sorry to be blunt and all .... but give your head a shake !

There's your answer!

[denverd0n]

The hull is "fractured" and "twisted." Yeah. That's a boat that is probably going to cost more to repair than it could ever possibly be worth. And it may well be impossible to repair at ANY price!

Walk away. Move on with your life. Good luck.

[james247]

Originally Posted by DenverSailors

Our 1981 Gulfstar Sailmaster 39 was knocked off her stands by Irma in St. Augustine a week after we bought her. I met with a marine surveyor last week who believes she will be “CTL” (Constructive Total Loss). The hull is “fractured,” the boat “twisted” as she fell, and the mast bent such that it is a total loss.

It took a us many, many months (years, really) to find her, and the only time we floated her was alongside Captain Bill of BoatUS as he towed her from the seller’s dock to the yard for a bottom job; I bonded with her mostly in my dreams.

I understand that if she is totaled, the insurance company will write me a check, and offer me the opportunity to buy her back for virtually nothing.

I would rather be sailing than sanding, I have next to no experience with fiberglass (though I’m sure Don Casey can show me the way!), the Perkins 4-108 was overhauled in 2015 and has low hours since, and I live 2000 miles away.

What would you do?

Keep her, dig in, get it done, and keep the dream alive?

Walk away?

What happens to boats like this when they are auctioned?

Thank you in advance.

Depends on how cheep is cheep. Strip out anything of value. Sell it and buy something that's not twisted
There are lots of great spares in the rigging , the motor anchors warp , chain road etc.

[Cormorant]

Originally Posted by DenverSailors

... I met with a marine surveyor last week who believes she will be “CTL” (Constructive Total Loss). The hull is “fractured,” the boat “twisted” as she fell, and the mast bent such that it is a total loss. ...

Did the surveyor have any thoughts on whether it would be worth fixing her?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by David M

I have seen boats cut up with a chainsaw, thrown in a dumpster and hauled off to a land disposal. It's not that you should. It's just one of the options.

This is the method I've witnessed most often after the insurance company declared the boat a total loss.

You will see the large dumpster brought in and put near the boat then day by day there's less boat, but.......

It's a really good chance for folks that like boats to get a real good look at the inner construction of a sailboat.

On the last one I witnessed (a 40 plus footer), they saved the keel (bolt on), spade rudder, and other stuff.......

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/cobbsmarina...type=3&theater

The boat sailed into one of the 4 man made "islands" of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

https://www.google.com/search?q=ches...4ctALGSUAiCHM:

[notiesbob]

Cash the check, free the bonds, live for another day. I've been on the working and billing end of catastrophic marine work, where loss of property and life occurred. Unless you are a total romantic the exercise you are contemplating with leave you poorer and hateful. If you must be, be obsessed with your sailing dreams. Don't walk into a nightmare.

[DenverSailors]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Did the surveyor have any thoughts on whether it would be worth fixing her?

We discussed it in passing and he indicated that the fiberglass repair to the hull would, of course, require completion on the hard, but the remainder would be better done as she floated. That was one of the intriguing aspects of the project because I could, conceptually anyway, motor her to our dock near Tampa and complete the work there. Or so I thought.

[Cadence]

Just one more walk away. Take the survey seriously. Let the insurance co. flit the bill for disposal.

[Dave22q]

For the non expert there is only one option; strip it and run. If the engine was not pickled shortly after the recovery it is most likely junk.

[CHRIS V CLEMENT]

I have a Gulfstar 41 that was totaled after Hurricane Katrina. The hull was badly scuffed up and there was a "smiley face" crack near where the propeller shaft exited the hull. The boat had been lifted by the storm surge and dropped on top of a piling. The boat did not sink, so I knew that the Perkins 4-108 and the Northern Lights Generator were OK. Both reverse cycle air conditioners were OK too. I hauled her at a yard that would let me do most of the work myself and live aboard on the hard. I bought a Sears rolling A/C unit, sent the exhaust out of an open port, and the condensate thru the open knotmeter sending unit hole. The crack in the bottom was my biggest concern. I ground away an oblong area approximately 24" long x 18" wide. The solid fiberglass was over 1" thick. Once all damaged areas were exposed inside the outside the hull, I added 2 layers of glass mat to the interior, and slowly added the layers of mat and cloth to the exterior until the hull was flush again. My spars were fine, but you should be able to sleeve your dented area, possibly only on the exterior with lots of countersunk stainless steel screws. Insurance was not an issue. I currently carry full liability and $75,000 of hull coverage with United Marine Underwriters. GOOD LUCK AND GOOD SAILING.

[sailon46]

I was recently Oct 12-29 in St Croix Green Cay Marina repairing my scratched up (Gelcoat) boat by Maria. Anyway at the same dock there was a Fountain Pageot Cat about 42-44ft that had sustained damage to the stern of port ama with the result of sinking the port side of the boat in the 7 foot deep marina while the stbd ama kept half the boat out of the water in a tilted position. I witnesse a sport fishing boat come in from Puerto Rico with 5-6 individuals that had just purchased the totaled by the insurance company boat for very little$ Within 48 of their arrival miracle happened in front of my eyes the 30 hp port Yanmar started purring like new. The generator started running like new, the Tohatsu ob run like new the boat was refloated and the 2-3 foot hole was repaired. They put the sails on it and bimini, dodger etc and sailed it to Puerto Rico. Your question was what happens to totaled boats, the answer is these guys from Puerto Rico are fixing as we speak three other totaled boats in the BVI (Tortolla), and making quite a living doing it. By the way the half sunken cat in our Marina was under water for 3-4 weeks covered with all kinds of scum, which they cleaned and was such a sight to see this reborn boat sail again. FYI
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[jmschmidt]

These guys who suggest you take the money and run are probably right but the term "Constructive Total Loss" (CTL) is a legal term used in the insurance industry. The term "Constructive Receipt” is a legal term in commerce. In this usage the word “constructive” means you didn't really receive the money but you benefited by it anyway. “Constructive Total Loss” means it may not be an actual total loss but we (the insurance company) say it is because we don't want to screw around with you and the people necessary to do the repairs.

The repairs may be simple or complex, they don’t care, they just want to pay you and get rid of you. Especially since they have enormous claims coming out of Irma and Maria and don’t want to have to mess with individual boat owners when they have whole fleets of charter boats to negotiate with. And surveyors get paid the same regardless.

My boat in Nanny Cay was first judged to be “CTL” but guess what, after I viewed the photos from the vantage of 50 years of experience working on boats I told them “I don’t think so.” They came around and she is under repair right now; she remained upright and afloat though out Irma but endured gelcoat scrapes, scratches, bent lifeline and other stainless tubing from being rammed by other boats (luckily small ones), broken windows from flying debris and bent props, but nothing seems terminal.

Good luck.

[boatpoker]

I've done three total rebuilds on 37-45' cruising boats.
My wife should have had me committed after the first one.
DON"T do it.

[redhead]

Scenario: You are twelve miles offshore and the seas are huge and the weather looks like it's getting worse.

Question: Will you bet your life and others' on the structural integrity of this boat?

Answer:

[TheThunderbird]

A crippled, fractured or TWISTED grp structure just demands a pit hole and a graveyard.

No structural engineering would suffice.

You can't repair a broken glass. What you see on the mast equally holds true didn't he hull, you just do not see it.

I am sorry, you need to move on.