A bad day!!

wattsn

wattsn

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Stunning weather when we got up this morning in West Wales with little wind and water like the proverbial sheet of glass. Got the boat out early and mid morning decided to go up estuary for some lunch. 5 minutes in to the journey, 23 knots, 13m of water, then bang.

Hit something submerged. Legs kicked up into survival mode. Immediately shut down engines and began to pray. Checked everything inc all bilge areas for any hull fractures and all ok. Checked in the egine room next and green coolant everywhere. For some strange reason the survival kick or sudden prop stop had caused the coolant to leak from the coolant caps, obviously due to extreme pressure. Cleaned it all up and then gingerly lowered the legs a small way and started the engines. Started ok and ticked over, all gauges looked fine inc oil pressure and engine temps.

Issues could be quite extensive though as lots of vibration above about 6 knots, helm indicator does not show straight ahead when going straight ahead and steering wheel is also off centre when boat underway straight ahead. I am guessing damaged prop/s, damaged prop shaft/s or maybe more serious dmagae to leg/s.

Anyway, boat is now on a holding berth and will hopefully be lifted first thing Monday for inspection and repair. Following a call to my insurers of course.

Damn, blast bu99er and all that :mad:
 
Hmmm sounds like damaged props? but your remarks re: damage to legs or shafts is interesting! either you have outdrives or shaft and rudders? I suspect you have outdrives? which probably means outdrives have been somehow moved off centre which accounts for incorrect readings on your guages. Sounds expensive but hope for your sake it is not!

Good luck

Barry
 
Nightmare!

The main thing is that you all got back safely and that the boat is still floating.

Best not to think of the costs involved, as it's a problem for the insurance company. Typically, because sterndrive legs "kick up" and take the brunt of the impact by slowing the boat down, the hull escapes the kind of damage that can happen on shaftdrive boats.

Best to get it lifted out asap. I'd be asking the marina to fire up the crane tomorrow, just in case.

dv.
 
Sorry to hear of the problem. Happened to me many years ago at 50kts in a Cougar Predator 35. What a noise! It was a shop's hauser floating in Soton Water.

However, I suspect "the green coolant everywhere" was caused by shutting the engines down without a cool down period. The heat soak can be excessive and more than the coolant can take - ie, no raw water cooling to help.

Hope it all gets sorted soon. Horrid experience.
 
Checked my policy and should be covered, so will sleep a bit better tonight.

If my stern drive is damaged hitting a submerged object, am I covered, and is the excess doubled?
You would be covered as our policy covers damage to underwater gear. Your normal policy excess will apply.
 
You have my deepest sympathy - exactly the same thing happened to me earlier this year. My damage was extensive - the starboard engine had to come out so that the gearbox could be repaired. Both legs had to effectively be rebuilt and all the props replaced. The total bill was upwards of 5 figures.

I'm with Towergate Mardon and they were superb - all went through smoothly despite the engineers finding more things wrong every time they lifted something out to get at something else. You don't need to worry - all you will lose is your excess.

Hope you get back in the water soon.
 
Boat has been lifted and damage not as bad as expected. Yard have said on initial inspection looks like just the props that are damaged. So an engine room clean up (due to coolant leak), hydraulic steering readjustment and a new set of props may be all that is required.
 
FlowerPower said:
That's good to hear. At this rate, you could be back in the water in a matter of days :)
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I certainly hope so and hoping when they put her back in they will not find any other problems on sea trial. However, I have asked them to do antifoul and anodes while she is out (expecting her to have been out for weeks awaiting full repair).
 
strakeryrius said:
On the sea trial make sure that the steering hasn't been affected. You mentioned that she didn't steer straight after the incident. I had the same experience and the steering yoke had become misaligned, so that the boat "pulled" to port all the time.
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Thanks for the concern. However, she steered straight after the incident just fine. It's just when she was straight ahead the helm indicator and wheel were not centered.
 
Well, the boat is now back in the water after a (so far) £4600 bill yet to be settled by the insurers. Not at all happy due to being told she needed new props, paying up front to get the work commenced and then subsequently the assessor stating the old ones could have been repaired. Lots of other unsatisfactory work carried out by the repairers as detailed in an email just sent to them, text below.

Hi XXXXX

Further to our meeting today and previous meetings regarding the repairs to boat,I felt it prudent to confirm the current position.

Following an assessment by Mr XXXX XXXXXXX appointed by the insurers, Towergate Mardon, they (Towergate Mardon) have refused to settle the full claim for the new propellers as, in the opinion or Mr XXXXXXX, new propellers were not required and the original ones could have been repaired. My decision to make a 50% payment so the parts could be ordered and works commenced was based upon your professional experience and detailed estimate which clearly stated “The propellers are damaged and need replacing”. As discussed, I wish you to hold the old propellers such that they can be further assessed by the insurers if required and ultimately sent for repair to offset some of the additional cost which they have so far refused to settle.

The steering and helm indicator which was totally accurate before the accident and advised as being “no longer straight ahead when the boat was.” in my email of 21st September (attached), was supposedly fixed by yourselves during the reparation work and post sea trial. This is not the case and is still out of alignment to the exact same amount as it was directly following the accident.

Despite your checking the engine bay for suspected leaks I have today noticed a leak from the joint of the port engine bell housing. This needs further investigation and rectification.

Despite my paying 50% of the bill to get the works commenced and subsequently settling the total amount to get the boat back in the water, I am somewhat disappointed at charges for the

1. Engine bay check. How can it take 3 hours to simply carry out a visual inspection of the engine bay and then also miss the leak as detailed above.
2. Engine bay clean and application of corrosion guard. I had cleaned 90% of the engine bay leaving just the sump areas which contained oil spill pads. Once these were removed it should have taken no more than 30 minutes to an hour to clean the remaining areas and apply corrosion guard, presumable from a spray can. You have however charged for 4 hours labour. In addition to 1. Above this amounts to one full man days work for tasks which surely would take no more than 2 hours.

As discussed and agreed today I will ensure the boat is delivered back to yourselves, by water, during the weekend of 24th/25th October to enable you to fix the helm indicator and steering and also the oil leak on the port engine.

I would also be grateful if you could please look at the port side flashing fault indicator, as previously requested, which gives a code of 1.6.4 indicating a starter motor fault. The engine starts just fine though so I suspect maybe a sensor fault. This fault was present prior to the accident and does not form part of the accident reparation works.

Finally, I would like you to give consideration to the fact that I am now £2616 plus vat (less whatever figure the insurers may pay) out of pocket for the new propellers which were provided, although according to the assessor, not required.

Regards
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