Hit and run, hard impact

[mr-canada]

My boat was moored on a ball, suffered a hard impact. It was so hard that it flew the drawers all over the place and penetrated both inner and outer hulls. The hole was about 9" round diameter.

Theres a wacky guy living at the dock I'm at whom I don't think was responsible, but he wouldn't tell me what the hell happened. I need to know if there is any bottom damage.

I've called the police as it's near shore and the Coast Guard in Canada doesn't do anything unless it's about saving lives, which is understandable. The police dont seem very useful; they have a RIB but I doubt they have attended or even asked any questions.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Luckily the hole was well above the waterline and I have patched it up with fibreglass to watertight, but it looks like hell as there's no way on Earth I could match a 1972 white to the rest of the boat. I still have fibreglass and resin on board as well as an angle grinder with a sanding disc to finish the job.

Shes still floating luckily, but the impact was brutal. Broke the chain right off the mooring ball. Thankfully, they dragged the boat back to a nearby dock and tied it up. Did a crappy job it when I got there it was secure at least.

Lot of wacky crap going on in Howe Sound these days. When I grew up near there nothing like this ever happened. There are even Chinese taking undersize and female crabs, haven't caught a crab in over a year due to overfishing. Some jackwagon cut all my lines and even tried to pry open a lock that I used to lock the boat to the dock, my boat has been attempted to be stolen 4 times.

[Jammer]

What did your insurance agent say?

[mr-canada]

Boats still floating, I only have $2MM third party liability. No replacement or repair coverage.

[Mirage35]

Mr. C - I was looking through your previous posts about people messing with your anchor, and the ideas around a DIY mooring. There’s a theme here.

For whatever reason it sure looks like you’re pissing off your neighbours. Might be their problem, might be yours, I’m too far away to tell. But if you want a long term fix it seems to me that you either need to change something you’re doing or change neighbours.

[danielamartindm]

I'm not familiar with Howe Sound. Have you had words with anyone there? If so, you might have a suspect; if not, I would lick my wounds and find another home port. You'll likely have better esthetic results matching the color of your weathered gelcoat if you allow a pro to do that final step.

BTW, I've known three different people who actually sold their homes and moved because of hostile neighbors and escalating vendetta-type actions.There are a lot of angry people out there. Road rage and aggressive driving are commonplace. Is there any reason to think that it never happens on the water?

[DeepFrz]

Go to the nearest police dept. and fill out a "hit and run" report with damage exceeding $5,000. That might get some action as police will not be motivated to act on anything less than that amount.

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Go to the nearest police dept. and fill out a "hit and run" report with damage exceeding $5,000. That might get some action as police will not be motivated to act on anything less than that amount.

I managed to fix the hole for about $50. Still more work to do, money to spend to repair the inner hull, plus paint and color matching. If I paid someone to fix it it probably wouldn't clock in above 5 grand, but it might be close.

Mostly wondering if anyone knows maritime laws regarding hit and runs. Normally with a car you take a picture and call the police right away; which I did. But boating laws are different, and there are no license plates, especially since I wasn't there and the boat was on a mooring ball at the time.

[roverhi]

Not much you can do except report it to the local police. In the US it's not a CG concern unless in open ocean, restricting commercial water ways and/or commercial boat. If there is a cost limit for upgrade to felony might have better luck with an estimate of damages that exceed that amount to get the police's attention. Without an eye witness, description of what happened, or part of the boat that rammed you, there isn't much police can do. Know for car theft around here, definitely a felony, it's hard to get the police to even fill out a report without some idea who did the deed.

As far as Gel Coat matching, an experienced glass guy could probably do it. The problem is finding the guy, girl with the acquired skill to do the matching. You could repair and prep the hole and have them do the gel coat to save some money. There may be an issue with gel coat sticking to epoxy so might want to verify that before you decide what type of resin to do the repair with.

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Not much you can do except report it to the local police. In the US it's not a CG concern unless in open ocean, restricting commercial water ways and/or commercial boat. If there is a cost limit for upgrade to felony might have better luck with an estimate of damages that exceed that amount to get the police's attention. Without an eye witness, description of what happened, or part of the boat that rammed you, there isn't much police can do. Know for car theft around here, definitely a felony, it's hard to get the police to even fill out a report without some idea who did the deed.

As far as Gel Coat matching, an experienced glass guy could probably do it. The problem is finding the guy, girl with the acquired skill to do the matching. You could repair and prep the hole and have them do the gel coat to save some money. There may be an issue with gel coat sticking to epoxy so might want to verify that before you decide what type of resin to do the repair with.

It was a 9" hole through two hulls. I made it watertight so in a chop it wont take on water or moisture, using bondo. I do know a glass guy who is very experienced from my old yacht club, but havent had much luck getting ahold of him.

While I have a suspicion I know who did it (probably a drunk guy with a steel hull driving at night) I have like zero evidence other than this old dude who wont tell me anything. He's a liveaboard moored about 30 ft away so it's doubtful he didn't hear an impact like that, but without his cooperation I've got nothing.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by mr-canada

Boats still floating, I only have $2MM third party liability. No replacement or repair coverage.

plonk

[markpierce]

Consider a steel-hulled boat.


... Meanwhile, the Vallejo, California city marina has many, many vacant berths. Unfortunately, its marina office, guest and fuel docks, are closed on weekends as well as two-half-days during the week. Management isn't business oriented.

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Consider a steel-hulled boat.

Most sailboats aren't steel hulled; however I beleive whoever made the hard impact was in a steel hulled powerboat on a full plane.

[markpierce]

My boat doesn't plane, but it has a quarter-inch-thick steel shield on its steel hull.

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by markpierce

My boat doesn't plane, but it has a quarter-inch-thick steel shield on its steel hull.

Nice boat

[weavis]

Gentle people.

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