2013PrincessV39
Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to let the forum know about the incident that occurred to me and family in August 2018, as we are still not back in the water 14 months later, and dealing with this insurance claim has become my second job in terms of the absurd amount of time it is taking on a weekly basis.
If anyone on here has any legal or insurance related experience, could they DM or reply so I can catch them up on where we are at at the moment? We really need some advice/help.
AFTER READING THE BELOW REPORT, PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
- our marina term at port solent ended shortly after the incident, and so we did not renew. Instead we opted to move to Berthon (odd way to meet our new marina as you will read!) however as we were initially told the repair would take weeks around March, we took out our marina berth at Lymington Berthon, which we are still paying for but remains vacant since Aprils start date.
- Our insurers, Legal follow up and Princess have passed the full brunt of the work around this case onto us (me) as owners, and the only language they are using concerns who is going to pay; a sticky point that is responsible for this long and drawn out process.
- we are the only owners of the vessel from new, and the fault has been identified as a manufacturing fault (bellows installed at an 11 degree off angle).
- All on board were very much at danger of death, due to the Raw Exhaust fumes that could have knocked us out, perhaps at speed. Only the coincidence of being within touching distance of Yarmouth assisted with the safe salvage of the vessel but more importantly MY FAMILY.
- as a result of the incident, I cannot speak highly enough of Sea Start, Yarmouth Harbour, Lymington Berthon and the Lifeboat team at Yarmouth. Berhton continue to be our only advisor, supporter and general well wisher when it comes to this whole debacle.
UPDATE: Depsite the incident occurring in August, the insurer has stated that certain items that have been replaced are considered yearly serviceable items and not something they will cover. If i had 4 tyres slashed, I cannot imagine my car insurer saying "well you were going to replace those in 9 months anyway so you're not covered"
Below is the incident report I filed minus names
PRE – INCIDENT PASSAGE INFO – 02/08/18
• Viola iii left here home berth at Port Solent at 1215 (DST) 2nd August 2018 after our standard preparations and engine checks; No faults encountered
• ON BOARD: Owner (Owner/Skipper/Crew) –myself (Son/Skipper/Crew) – Lexi (Dog)
• At 1315 we arrived at the entrance of Portsmouth ready to make our passage to Priory Bay for a day at anchor. No Issues we encountered with all systems performing as per usual.
• At 1332 we arrived and anchored successfully at Priory Bay, Isle of Wight, where we lay at anchor until 1637. The boat had performed as per usual en-route, although rather slow due to the increased build-up of fouling underneath and on the props due to the hot weather. (Photos Included)
• At 1637, we left Priory Bay to head West to our marina of choice for the evening, Yarmouth Harbour.
INCIDENT
• We arrived at the entrance to Yarmouth Harbour at 1800 (DST) and at this point, Owner notified her son who was arranging fenders that at exhaust type of smoke/gas was exiting through the Mid-Cabin Doorway into the Cockpit.
• A Harbour Guide Boat arrived to guide us to our berth (Berth 14) where we would tie off to investigate.
• The smoke worsened at this point and got thicker with soot appearing, and so we notified the Harbour Guide who decided to continue to the berth which was only roughly 10 metres away.
• As we manoeuvred the installed Carbon Monoxide Alarms sounded in the forward VIP cabin.
• We tied off on berth approximately 1805
• Once tied off, the engines were stopped, and Janet got Lexi (Dog) to safety.
• and the harbour guide and (myself) cautiously investigated the forward cabin, which was smoky and sooty. However, no cause was found. Knowing that the VIP cabin bilge linked to the engine room, we checked to see if the sealed rear cabin was clear, which it was although smoky from the travelling cloud of Exhaust fumes.
• As the cabins were clear of any visible cause and the Carbon Monoxide/exhaust fumes had calmed with the engines off, we headed back up to the cockpit to investigate the Engine room.
• At 1806, Sea Start, an emergency engineer callout service with whom we have a membership, were called as an emergency call out and an engineer team was dispatched ETA 1900.
• Jamiel and the Harbour Guide opened the Engine Bay Door and a cloud of soot and smoke exited quickly from the opening, covering the surrounding teak floor/grp in a layer of black soot.
• At this point we discovered we were taking on seawater aft, and at a high rate, with the 3 rear bilges running continuously to get the seawater out.
•
• Due to the soot, the lighting was bad and so a torch was used to identify the source of the water – The Starboard Exhaust Bellow, below water height.
• A Fist sized hole was identified; however, it was very dark and so no clear assessment was made at this time for any causes.
• At 1810, Princess 24/7 were called, who provide 24hour assistance to Princess Owners with engineers who know the boats layout to assist.
• Princess recommended running our Generator and switching to generator power, so that the batteries did not drain, and therefore bilges fail, as with the amount of water coning onboard we would lose the vessel.
• This was done on Princess’ instructions shortly after.
• Sea Start arrived around 1900 and work began to try and identify the problem and find a solution.
• Shortly after the Yarmouth Lifeboat crew also attended Viola III to try and assist with the problem.
• A short-term solution was found by the Lifeboat Engineer, by using a rolled-up towel and placing it down the Bellow shaft where the leak was, somewhat temporarily stemming the flow.
• On Board there was also Soot/Exhaust damage and staining to the Teak, GRP, and all items in the engine room, including our ToolKit. (Berthon Images will follow upon inspection)
• Around 2000, Seastart + Yarmouth Lifeboat Coxswain + Princess 24/7 agreed that the vessel needed lifting out the water, as overnight the now overworked bilge pumps would fail, and if they did, the vessel would sink. (Various Photos Attached of All Involved + Some Engine Room)
• After many calls being made by Sea Start and Yarmouth Harbour (who did not have a lift big enough for Viola III) the nearest emergency lift service available was at Lymington’s Berthon Marina.
• It was agreed that a Port Engine only crossing to Bethon Marina Lymington for a lift was our only option, and the Lifeboat Coxswain felt confident we would make it as the flow of seawater had been stemmed and the bilges would hold and further oncoming water.
• We crossed from Yarmouth on the port engine only at 2034, and the Lifeboat contacted the coastguard who would monitor the trip, with the Sea Start engineer team leaving a man on board with out and escorting us via their callout Rib Boat.
• We Arrived at Berthon at 2050, tied off to the lifts waiting pontoon and removed our personal items from the boat.
• The boat was walked into the lift and lifted at 2126
• Berthon Marina Agreed to Emergency Lift, Block off, Jets wash off the Fouling and Provide a report for our insurance the following morning (Email Attachment Included/Forwarded)
• Berthon Marina Arranged a taxi agreeing to transport (ALL) and our vast number of personal items removed from the vessel back to Port Solent for £70 which was paid in cash with receipt
I wanted to let the forum know about the incident that occurred to me and family in August 2018, as we are still not back in the water 14 months later, and dealing with this insurance claim has become my second job in terms of the absurd amount of time it is taking on a weekly basis.
If anyone on here has any legal or insurance related experience, could they DM or reply so I can catch them up on where we are at at the moment? We really need some advice/help.
AFTER READING THE BELOW REPORT, PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
- our marina term at port solent ended shortly after the incident, and so we did not renew. Instead we opted to move to Berthon (odd way to meet our new marina as you will read!) however as we were initially told the repair would take weeks around March, we took out our marina berth at Lymington Berthon, which we are still paying for but remains vacant since Aprils start date.
- Our insurers, Legal follow up and Princess have passed the full brunt of the work around this case onto us (me) as owners, and the only language they are using concerns who is going to pay; a sticky point that is responsible for this long and drawn out process.
- we are the only owners of the vessel from new, and the fault has been identified as a manufacturing fault (bellows installed at an 11 degree off angle).
- All on board were very much at danger of death, due to the Raw Exhaust fumes that could have knocked us out, perhaps at speed. Only the coincidence of being within touching distance of Yarmouth assisted with the safe salvage of the vessel but more importantly MY FAMILY.
- as a result of the incident, I cannot speak highly enough of Sea Start, Yarmouth Harbour, Lymington Berthon and the Lifeboat team at Yarmouth. Berhton continue to be our only advisor, supporter and general well wisher when it comes to this whole debacle.
UPDATE: Depsite the incident occurring in August, the insurer has stated that certain items that have been replaced are considered yearly serviceable items and not something they will cover. If i had 4 tyres slashed, I cannot imagine my car insurer saying "well you were going to replace those in 9 months anyway so you're not covered"
Below is the incident report I filed minus names
PRE – INCIDENT PASSAGE INFO – 02/08/18
• Viola iii left here home berth at Port Solent at 1215 (DST) 2nd August 2018 after our standard preparations and engine checks; No faults encountered
• ON BOARD: Owner (Owner/Skipper/Crew) –myself (Son/Skipper/Crew) – Lexi (Dog)
• At 1315 we arrived at the entrance of Portsmouth ready to make our passage to Priory Bay for a day at anchor. No Issues we encountered with all systems performing as per usual.
• At 1332 we arrived and anchored successfully at Priory Bay, Isle of Wight, where we lay at anchor until 1637. The boat had performed as per usual en-route, although rather slow due to the increased build-up of fouling underneath and on the props due to the hot weather. (Photos Included)
• At 1637, we left Priory Bay to head West to our marina of choice for the evening, Yarmouth Harbour.
INCIDENT
• We arrived at the entrance to Yarmouth Harbour at 1800 (DST) and at this point, Owner notified her son who was arranging fenders that at exhaust type of smoke/gas was exiting through the Mid-Cabin Doorway into the Cockpit.
• A Harbour Guide Boat arrived to guide us to our berth (Berth 14) where we would tie off to investigate.
• The smoke worsened at this point and got thicker with soot appearing, and so we notified the Harbour Guide who decided to continue to the berth which was only roughly 10 metres away.
• As we manoeuvred the installed Carbon Monoxide Alarms sounded in the forward VIP cabin.
• We tied off on berth approximately 1805
• Once tied off, the engines were stopped, and Janet got Lexi (Dog) to safety.
• and the harbour guide and (myself) cautiously investigated the forward cabin, which was smoky and sooty. However, no cause was found. Knowing that the VIP cabin bilge linked to the engine room, we checked to see if the sealed rear cabin was clear, which it was although smoky from the travelling cloud of Exhaust fumes.
• As the cabins were clear of any visible cause and the Carbon Monoxide/exhaust fumes had calmed with the engines off, we headed back up to the cockpit to investigate the Engine room.
• At 1806, Sea Start, an emergency engineer callout service with whom we have a membership, were called as an emergency call out and an engineer team was dispatched ETA 1900.
• Jamiel and the Harbour Guide opened the Engine Bay Door and a cloud of soot and smoke exited quickly from the opening, covering the surrounding teak floor/grp in a layer of black soot.
• At this point we discovered we were taking on seawater aft, and at a high rate, with the 3 rear bilges running continuously to get the seawater out.
•
• Due to the soot, the lighting was bad and so a torch was used to identify the source of the water – The Starboard Exhaust Bellow, below water height.
• A Fist sized hole was identified; however, it was very dark and so no clear assessment was made at this time for any causes.
• At 1810, Princess 24/7 were called, who provide 24hour assistance to Princess Owners with engineers who know the boats layout to assist.
• Princess recommended running our Generator and switching to generator power, so that the batteries did not drain, and therefore bilges fail, as with the amount of water coning onboard we would lose the vessel.
• This was done on Princess’ instructions shortly after.
• Sea Start arrived around 1900 and work began to try and identify the problem and find a solution.
• Shortly after the Yarmouth Lifeboat crew also attended Viola III to try and assist with the problem.
• A short-term solution was found by the Lifeboat Engineer, by using a rolled-up towel and placing it down the Bellow shaft where the leak was, somewhat temporarily stemming the flow.
• On Board there was also Soot/Exhaust damage and staining to the Teak, GRP, and all items in the engine room, including our ToolKit. (Berthon Images will follow upon inspection)
• Around 2000, Seastart + Yarmouth Lifeboat Coxswain + Princess 24/7 agreed that the vessel needed lifting out the water, as overnight the now overworked bilge pumps would fail, and if they did, the vessel would sink. (Various Photos Attached of All Involved + Some Engine Room)
• After many calls being made by Sea Start and Yarmouth Harbour (who did not have a lift big enough for Viola III) the nearest emergency lift service available was at Lymington’s Berthon Marina.
• It was agreed that a Port Engine only crossing to Bethon Marina Lymington for a lift was our only option, and the Lifeboat Coxswain felt confident we would make it as the flow of seawater had been stemmed and the bilges would hold and further oncoming water.
• We crossed from Yarmouth on the port engine only at 2034, and the Lifeboat contacted the coastguard who would monitor the trip, with the Sea Start engineer team leaving a man on board with out and escorting us via their callout Rib Boat.
• We Arrived at Berthon at 2050, tied off to the lifts waiting pontoon and removed our personal items from the boat.
• The boat was walked into the lift and lifted at 2126
• Berthon Marina Agreed to Emergency Lift, Block off, Jets wash off the Fouling and Provide a report for our insurance the following morning (Email Attachment Included/Forwarded)
• Berthon Marina Arranged a taxi agreeing to transport (ALL) and our vast number of personal items removed from the vessel back to Port Solent for £70 which was paid in cash with receipt
