Boat Destroyed Now What?

[Delancey]

Unfortunately I'm probably not the only one wondering about this right about now. So your boat broke free and ended up on the rocks or smashed itself to death in a marina, now what?

Call your insurance company seems like a place to start if you have one. What else?

I have seen a few abandoned boats left over from Mathew littering the ICW as well as a few washed up on shore in the Bahamas. Seems like an environmental hazard people should be taking responsibility for but they don't.

So what do you do?

[a64pilot]

I think you covered it, the Insurence company is liable I believe for the clean up. Those wrecks you saw I assume were uninsured.
Most marinas require something like a million in Insurence that also covers fuel spills, sinking etc. So most boats in marinas should be insured.

[Navicula]

its a good question.....but after you lose your boat......do you look for a new one or just take the money and swallow the anchor....

[zeehag]

after the cane you do what you do. how do you now what you have left. some boats are repairable despite write off some are to be placed in a box and sold as toothpicks. ye donot know how bad something is until you view it with your own eyes. .

[Don C L]

I've wondered about that too. I'd certainly be inclined to clean up my own mess, but if she is half sunk in a mangrove with the keel in the mud, I'd have to go looking for someone with a barge with a crane and a pump.... if she'll still float a bit... are there a lot of folks around there with such a barge?

[UNCIVILIZED]

1) Speak with an attorney to discuss the below steps, & any other actions which you may consider taking. As almost without question there will be a good bit of tap dancing on the part of the insurance company, & not in any way which favors you.

2) Start assembling; ship's logs, recipts, user manuals, & maintenance logs for every upgrade, modification, & bit of TLC which you gave the boat, to show the insurance company why she was worth more than the lowball sum they're offering you. And document everything, right down to the gucci winch handles, & high $ winch grease that you routinely used.

Along with this, make a detailed listing of everything onboard, it's age, history, purchase cost, replacement cost, condition, etc. All the way down to the 7 cotter pins in a drawer in the nav desk. This includes personal gear too, not just boat stuff.

3) Find the boat & start taking pics for your own records. And document her location, azimuth she's facing, heel angle, rigging condition, water levels, bottom conditions...

4) If possible, figure out how to refloat her. And when doing so, be sure to record water levels at the time. As if they're still higher than normal, refloating her will be super time sensitive.
Also, be sure to document everything. Via pics, contracts with towing vessels, & cranes, recipts for equip. purchased to refloat or tow her off, etc.

5) Needs be, & or with insurance approval, start stripping off as much usable hardware & equipment that you can off of her. And document the time involved, tools used, etc. Including wetsuits purchased, ditto on tools & such.

Along with that, erecting oil booms if needed. And taking steps to stabilize the hull to prevent further damage.

6) Get several private 3rd party quotes on all of the above, sans insurance company recommendations on who to use. Particularly as these guys will be in demand at the time, & thus their rates will be higher than normal. Along with the fact that they won't necessarily working in normal waterways, given that storm surge & wind can place boats in "unique" places, or well above tide lines. Thus forcing salvors to operate using more extreme measures than normal in order to refloat or salvage boats. That & to remove them if unsalvagable.

7) Document all of your pre-storm prep, including extra gear purchased to help with same. And measures taken to well secure boat.

8) Get contact info of other boaters who had boats in the same area as yours. And perhaps start some info sharing of the above ideas, if/when advisable or advised to.

[atoll]

drink some rum and move on to your next adventure.......

man plans.....God Chuckles.....

[daletournier]

I was recently in the Chagos archipelago. To go there you need salvage insurance which I have. What surprised me was the wording was something like "with in reason". My point is the insurance company dosent guaranteed 100% they will remove the wreck in all circumstances.
There was two wrecked yachts at Chagos, one huge , I believe 80ft cat on the beach and another yacht underwater, the cat had obviously been there for a number of years.
In this case I assume the insurance company decided it was unreasonable to expect them to finance a salvage in such a remote location? BIOT specifically make you have salvage and medivac insurance. So I'm not sure how it works.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by atoll

drink some rum and move on to your next adventure.......

man plans.....God Chuckles.....

Good advice, drinking that rum as I type...

[jhulmer]

This happened to us after Katrina "Delta Girl" sank up river in our well proven hurricane hole. We can't go any farther north because of I10.

She sank because of the 30+ft surge but settled into the mud and was undamaged. We found her on the aerial photos posted on line by NOAA.

we contacted the insurance company and begin planning to raiser her. I owned a SCUBA shop in my younger days and was often hired to recover objects for people and a Mechanical Engineer in my older years so I put the two skills together and raised her.

The insurance company was overwhelmed, so they adjust over the phone and gave us the option to take the salvage money and manage it ourselves so that is what we did.

We kept the boat and rebuilt her. As soon as we raised her we pickled the engine and cleaned the inside as best we could. the engine required a rebuild but it was not a total loss. We made a motor mount for a 4hp out board and motored her back to her slip after the marina reopened. later the yard opened and we moved her there to finish.

Sold her a few years back in better shape then we bought her.

[jhulmer]

forgot to add that the water was so nasty around us when we found a bottle of Knob Creek Whiskey in the mayhem we used it to wash our mouth out. Medicinal purposes of course but we all admit to swallowing now

And as a tradition we take a shot of Knob Creek before we start a voyage'

[Tetepare]

The problem is more complex than some think.

Until the ownership of the boat is taken by the insurance company, the owner is responsible for the boat, including fuel spills, etc. Of course, the owner's insurance covers some of that, minus deductible.

Once the insurance company owns it, it's all their responsibility.

So should owners fly down and do the right thing for the environment and try to stop fluids and such? No, they can't handle you right now.

That said, here comes the crux. Once the insurance company owns it undoubtedly they'll have quite a bit of work to do, and will try to do the best they can. But then corruption and bureaucracy step in and the insurance company is handed some astronomical bill, and outrageous hourly crane and labor rates, at which point it may be easier to say screw it, and leave it. Far be it from some government officials to fail to profit from even such a disaster.

[RickG]

We're working this now for a boat put in hurricane storage in a boat yard in the USVI. Our insurance claim went in fast, we have an adjuster assigned and a surveyor will inspect her today. If she is deemed repairable it will be a long story. We are about 30 boats in from the boat yard entry and a crane will need to come in to put the boats back up on stands.

The insurance company is very clear that the owner is responsible for obtaining all quotes for repairs. There is a laundry list of required information we need to provide. Luckily, my co-owner is on island and can work many of the requests. I'm off island, so I can manage the flow of information and organize the documentation.

What will we ultimately do? If she is repairable, likely put a patch on her and get her to PR for repair. If she is a total loss, we'll see.

Cheers, RickG

[sailorboy1]

I vote for the rum!!!!!!!!

[JPA Cate]

jhulmer:

Thank you for the story and pictures. It is really heartening to see not all the boats have to be crushed and put in landfill.

Ann