Irma damaged my boat, how serious is this?

[sailingunity]

I'm in Houston (we just survived Harvey), my boat is in Florida. We sustained some damage in Irma - Reynolds marina port side tie. The docks are about 9 feet off the water with fender boards to about 5 feet above the water, but they were completely submerged during the storm. Basically the surge came in and wind pushed us up in to the dock railing, repeatedly, ugh.

What do ya'll think. I know this can be repaired for sure, I've done some fiberglass work in the past but never anything this big. Being the hull deck joint does that complicate things? Once all the rough stuff is ground off, how do you ensure the new fiberglass bonds to the old?

Yes I know the fenders are tied on poorly.

[S/V Illusion]

It's inconceivable anyone can assess damage and repair on the internet.

Call your insurance agent, file a claim and hire a good surveyor.

[JPA Cate]

Get a couple of estimates from recommended fiberglass repairer (someone like minaret would be ideal, but he's far away, I'm afraid). The surveyor is a good idea, too. Then present them with your report to your insurance.

Good luck with the repairs.

Ann

[sailingunity]

Haha when you said inconceivable I thought of the princess bride.

I know a complete assessment of the damage cannot be made over the internet. From the pictures is clear the damage has gone through several layers of fiberglass. I was more curious if anyone had off hand knowledge of repairs of this type (at the hull deck joint).

I have filed a claim, but given the 5% named storm deductible it's likely I won't get much. The surveyor is a good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

I'll probably have to DIY it.

[Suijin]

From a glass work perspective, that's not all that bad. Grind it out, glass and fair it, gelcoat, polish, done. That said, that's just for what's visible in the pictures. It may have been just rubbing hard against the piling, or it may have been bashed repeatedly. The extent of damage to the laminate may extend farther than what is visible.

But I'm with Illusion. Get the insurance company to look at it and fix it. They may well be relieved that it's not another total loss that they're looking at and instead a (relatively and hopefully) minor repair.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Yes I know the fenders are tied on poorly.

Lousy fender job.. Treat the repair as 2 different projects, repair the hull and then repair the deck

[sailingunity]

Originally Posted by Suijin

The extent of damage to the laminate may extend farther than what is visible.

Right without being there I don't know. Hopefully being near the top it did not delaminate much.

Originally Posted by Suijin

But I'm with Illusion. Get the insurance company to look at it and fix it. They may well be relieved that it's not another total loss that they're looking at and instead a (relatively and hopefully) minor repair.

Pretty much every boat on this side of the dock got damaged in a similar fashion. If I had been there, I would have deployed anchors on the starboard side to keep it from hitting the dock.

[geoffr]

The damage from the photos looks pretty minor assuming no structural damage which needs to be assessed.

As an earlier post said grind it back and re-glass. If you know what you are doing that's pretty easy. The harder part will be making it nice and match the rest of the rail.

Crossing my fingers for you that there is no structural damage. (if there is it will be a larger and more ugly job as you'll need to remove interior finished to get at the damage).

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

I'm in Houston (we just survived Harvey), my boat is in Florida. We sustained some damage in Irma - Reynolds marina port side tie. The docks are about 9 feet off the water with fender boards to about 5 feet above the water, but they were completely submerged during the storm. Basically the surge came in and wind pushed us up in to the dock railing, repeatedly, ugh.

What do ya'll think. I know this can be repaired for sure, I've done some fiberglass work in the past but never anything this big. Being the hull deck joint does that complicate things? Once all the rough stuff is ground off, how do you ensure the new fiberglass bonds to the old?

Yes I know the fenders are tied on poorly.

You are a lucky guy, despite the last carnage in the caribbean your boat suffer minor damage, and yes new fiberglass bond to the old one , the only isue is to match gelcoats and if you want a new look maybe a pro paint job .. good luck.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

...but they were completely submerged during the storm. Basically the surge came in and wind pushed us up in to the dock railing, repeatedly, ugh.

I would also inspect below the waterline for damage.... it may have hit the dock or something else repeatedly as well as the boat rolled or bobbed about.

[maxingout]

The damage is repairable, but you may be surprised by how much glass you have to grind away to get to good/undamaged glass. If you have a dry lay up in the glass, the damage could extend farther than what you see in the picture.You may end up with a sizable irregularly shaped hole. You also need to have access to the damage on the inside of the hull. I would want to overlap the repair with good glass on both the inside and outside of the hull.

[Cadence]

From your photos, count your blessings.

[Meacenas]

Looks like you were darn lucky compared to many others. This is not a big big deal, I did a very similar repair to our Venture. Take your time, grind it down, feather it, use the proper glass technique to rebuild it to slightly above the surface, grind it down....there are YT videos and books that show you exactly how. Its a long ( ish) process, but its definitely repairable and you will hardly know its been damaged when done.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Right without being there I don't know. Hopefully being near the top it did not delaminate much.



Pretty much every boat on this side of the dock got damaged in a similar fashion. If I had been there, I would have deployed anchors on the starboard side to keep it from hitting the dock.

Sailingunity:

Here's a couple of thoughts, don't know if they fit for your situation or not.

1) sometimes people lash old tires, one on each side of the dock, top and bottom, to each other as "bumpers" against bouncing.

2) a fender board. It needs to be 6-8 ft long, and 6-8 in. wide, about 1 -1/2 inches thick. You mount it where it will rub on whatever the hard things are that are next to your boat. You place your fenders between your boat and the fender board. It will squeak and carry on as it rises on whatever's trying to chew up your boat, but it is not a beauty item. It is for chafe.

3) Yes, having an anchor off amidships, and led back to a winch, can keep you off the dock, too, and might have helped in this instance. Also, going up a size in fenders, and having more secured could help. There are s/s rubbing strips you can install, where the fender lines will chafe the fiberglass, put them where the chafe will happen to save the fiberglass.

Ann

[UNCIVILIZED]

Hire a surveyor on your dime, & pay him extra to take his time, do lots of testing, fully inspect everything on the boat, up to and including the rig/rigging, along with taking mucho pics. This in addition to what your insurance company does. As the guys they hire will be stupid busy, worn out, in something of a hurry, & will miss things. So that between this, & the fact that insurance companies want to minimize their losses, they'll pitch you a low ball figure for the repairs. Probably for just the item in the pic only.

But... If you have your own in depth survey, you then have documentation of everything that's wrong, along with the multiple estimates you get on your own, for the costs, time (labor), & equipment to fix it.
Also, get copies of all of your surveyor's pics, so that you can study them at your leisure. Including by expanding them on your screen to look for problems, as well as having other folks look them over. On your computer, or via email, etc. And if you can, find a neighbor who knows boats well to go over everything with you/for you a few times. Since the more eyes you get to inspect things, the better the results of the inspection. As no one catches everything.

You also need to consider that the damage may not just be localized to the region in the pics. As for example, such poundings can cause issues with significant lengths of the whole hull to deck joint, sometimes on both sides of the boat, to leak or suffer structural damage. Including breaking the tabbing on bulkheads & other furniture, thus causing semi-hidden fractures in other regions of the boat's skin (hull, or deck), even on the other side of the boat. Or causing internal framing, bulkheads, or structural grids to crack, seperate from the hull, or both. There can even have been enough flexing induced by the poundings on the hull & this joint that other areas of the boat flexed enough so that hardware or ports are no longer properly bedded (watertight). And the list of possible problems just goes on...

Thus the more diligent in your investigation of the problem, possible fixes for same, & how much said fixes will cost, the better your positon when dealing with an insurer. Ergo the better the odds of you restoring the boat to her former quality, with little coin out of your pocket for repairs.
Keep in mind too that for quite a stretch of time from now (months at least, or more), materials & labor to repair boats will be in short supply, as will basic necessities for daily living. All of which will combine to boost the overall cost of repairs.

Or to use a different type of example. I've yet to be in an automobile accident where the inspector, & repairers found & fixed 100% of the damage. Sometimes I didn't discover some of it for weeks or months after the car was "fixed".