Hulls split down the middle

[TabbyCat]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

I don’t get the “no sign of impact so it’s not covered”. What type of policy is that?

For any marine insurance policy to pay out, there has to be an "occurrence" - something that is sudden and accidental, and unforseen, such as hitting a submerged object.

• Marine insurance does not cover gradual wear and tear (A Marine Ins policy is not a maintenance plan).
• Nor does a marine insurance policy cover manufacturer's defects, which sounds like what this is shaping up to be. The manufacturer is responsible for repairing defects in workmanship. If the manufacturer is out of business, or if the boat is beyond its warranty period, that would be unfortunate, since it would then fall to the boat owner to pay for the repairs.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Recognize that in most tort claims, the only way to motivate parties to talk is force them to… underwriters and manufacturers have little reason to reach any accommodation and lots of reasons not to.

Don’t shot the messenger

Once you have a tort claim...it's already gone bad and the lawyers are involved...as I said, they will only respond in so far as they are forced and they will provide the least helpful information they can get away with.

Given that it's a 12yr old boat and apparently the owner wasn't present to witness faulty lifting, you can bet everyone's lawyers will come up with a response that suggests they owe nothing and it will be near impossible to refute those claims.

The hope would be to sort it before the lawyers get involved but you have to give them a way out where they can help you but save face (no bad PR and they aren't on the hook for substantial amounts to the point lawyers look cheaper).

[col50]

Originally Posted by lhuff35204

The yard called after haul out this year and reported major hull damage to our 2013 Aquila cat. The insurance adjuster says the hulls are split down the middle but no signs of impact so it is not covered. Has anyone had their hulls split like this?

I don't see how a hull can split without the bulkheads tearing loose.
Has the boat been inspected for that?

[Sun and Moon]

The boat wasn't leaking when you brought it in. After they tried lifting it, it leaks. Seems reasonable to conclude they broke it while lifting, especially since at least one person here reported seeing another boat broken by improper lift.

And if it broke while lifting, it's up to the insurance company to fight it out with the yard for who's responsible. This is clearly accidental damage. It should be covered.

[Gerrit Coetzee]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

We were present in the yard when poor placement (not aligned with bulkheads) of the Travelift straps split a cat hull right down the centerline of both hulls. The operator heard the injury occur and dropped the boat back in the water. Engine room flooded but bulkheads kept the boat from sinking. Boat was towed to a yard with a trailer where it was hauled on the underwings. Quite an impressive split down the center of the boat, where the two halves of the hull had been glued together. The boat didn't actually leak too much once fully floating as the gaps mostly closed back on themselves. Most of the flooding occurred when the straps were still holding weight and distorted the hull shape.

So, it does/can happen with hulls built in halves and taped down the centerline.

I see your take, as most likely cause of the damage.

The OP should not be scared to sue, but sue the insurer and the boatyard (and the manufacturer if need be - but it will be more ardour to prove).

When there is evidence that lifting can cause this type of damage, which a plaintiff only have to prove by reasonable doubt, the OP has a reasonable chance on success.

If there were no leeks before the haul out, the haul out in all probability caused the damage.

And the absence of impact visible damage, only covers impact type damage. This is not impact related

[Capex]

Originally Posted by tiopirata

I have twice surveyed catamarans where this has happened, both Leopard cats. Repair was substantial but easily performed. Both were longitudinal splits along the lower hull, neither showed any sign of impact or collision damage.

I have surveyed several Leopard cats and a Lagoon 500 which had all had hulls cracking along the centre line. The repairs were successfully made to the outside of the hulls as the interiors were not able to be accessed. In all cases the hulls were more than 5 years old. For those of you from North America who favour sueing "somebody", I wouldn't bother. The repairs aren't that expensive if your contractor is a competent fibreglasser. The boats had all been lifted using an under wing lifter with added beams under the hulls and not a travel lift.

[SaltyMetals]

Slightly off-topic but i was in a Halberg Rassey rally a few years ago with a friend who had a HR 48. The rally was from Italy, around the small island on N coast of Corsica (Giraglia) and then back to Italy. Going around La Giraglia he took the inner route which is a bit narrow but possible. Anyway we hit the rock. This split the hull at the aft end of the keel stub since the HR hull of the HR48 is made in two halves. We were pumping for almost 10 hours to save the boat before we got back to mainland Italy and could haulout. So the Acquila is not the only boat made in two halves.
Andrew

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Sun and Moon

... This is clearly accidental damage. It should be covered.

No, I don't think it is "clearly accidental." You would have to show that the lifting practices were substandard or that they did not follow customary industry practices. If the boat was lifted in the normal way, the boat's defect cause the failure. In fact, this is probably in the fine print of the lifting contract.

[catsketcher]

I wonder how this is going.

My thoughts as someone who has built a few cats is, it may be easier and cheaper just to fix it. My advice is predicated on their being no internal damage.

(I am flummoxed that any cat could split due to lifting. That said an old friend had a production cat that couldn't sit on its own keels without cracking. Strange.)

I would run down the outside of the seam with a grinder (it would be an awful job but very doable.) Grind out about 100mm each side of the centreline. Remove all antifoul and gelcoat and get down to the glass.

Then insert epoxy glue into any cracks (experiment with boat jacking to see if cracks expand and contract. Open them, insert glue and then close again - probably not possible). Grind epoxy flush and then apply a few (four) layers of 450 gm double bias fabric wet out with epoxy onto the outside of the hull centreline. Stagger the edges so the last one is only 100 mm wide.

Grind edges to feather them. Then coat with epoxy filler and fair up. Don't worry about getting it too fair because it is covered by antifoul.

The boat will be stronger than before, the glass will take the tension loads across the seam. The compression loads will be taken by the current laminate. I would think I would take two weeks to do this on a 38 footer. The cost of the materials would be about $1000 all up. If you have to do the job yourself it is not rocket science but grinding upside down is not really fun.
Presaturate the fabric before installing, don't try to wet out upside down.

Good luck on the project - don't give up on the boat. She can be made better than before.

Phil

[sailingabe41ds]

I guess what I get from this is that if you would have said you ran aground or hit a big wave that lifted your boat 10 feet into the air.....insurance would have covered it.

I remember during one of the earthquakes in California my insurance broker told me that if your home is damaged from water during the earthquake...not covered. But if it catches on fire....it is. I do not understand the reasoning behind that but I am sure he was telling me if you have no earthquake insurance and your house is a loss turn off the water, leave the gas on, and go out for a smoke.

Abe

[lhuff35204]

Thank you everyone:
We purchased the boat from Marine Max in 2017 and have hauled 5 times using Travel Lifts. Marine Max said they have never seen anything like this. Like most of you I suspected the yard, but we also short hauled a month before so there are two yards. We were not present for the last haul and the yard said nothing was wrong. Two surveyors said the hulls were weak and needed to be reinforced. An attorney said the same thing as the posts here. Not much hope of a settlement. We couldn't sell the boat as is and we couldn't use the boat. So we had the repairs made and paid out-of-pocket. NOTE: Marine Max gave us a $12,000 charter as a consolation. What a stressful experience.