Who does, and if they do, little point giving it away. I walked in to a office with a chq for £10,000 for money upfront. we sat waiting to hand it over and they kept us waiting for far too long. Big mistake. We both glanced at each other and ran for the door. That money would have achieved absolutely nothing.
As soon as the other party gets wind of that, they might start the letter game-- back & forth, thus costing the Op a fortune & putting him in to a deliberate cost issue. Continue, or give up due to lack of funds.
I fear you are right. One of the drawɓacks of sailing on the cheap, with basic insurance, is that if things go wrong it usually needs money to get out of the hole and if you haven't any money then it is difficult to keep going at all.
When it comes to working out what is reasonable a good way to look at it is if the shoe was on the other foot - you had leant your boat to a third party, it had not been secured properly and have subsequently caused damage to another what you you have done?
A surveyor is probably cheaper than a solicitor. I’m surprised they think they have a conflict of interest - all you want is an independent figure for the value - if it’s fair and reasonable no harbour authority is going to hold that against them. Were you trying to get something unrealistic or have them ascribe blame?
You don’t need to appologise as such. Simply a letter being more reasonable, acknowledging the time of year, and providing a further opportunity for resolution without recourse to the courts. I suggest you hold off sending anything until the new year - nobody is going to be reading it today!
I would suggest that showing this is a job for a solicitor with experience in the area. You will only be required to prove this if it goes to court or the other side disputes there was a duty. Sometimes it’s better not to highlight that there is any doubt about that.
That may work when the dispute is under contract law as in your example, but this third party claim is likely to be far more complicated. There really is little one can suggest other than submitting a claim based on the facts as the OP sees them and await a response.
So are you saying, that to kick things off, the differing advice of mostly unqualified forumites, is better than the initial free advice of a solicitor, when/if available ?
No, I am not saying that, just observing that simple contract disputes are very different from the OP's scenario. Initial advice from a solicitor based on the information provided so far would be little different from what has been suggested here by more than one poster. Actually providing professional services to prepare the claim is unlikely to be cheap.
It would not if one were able to use the RYA free legal advice service- see my earlier post #46
There are many unanswered questions There seems to have been 2 events. First the pontoon breaking loose and damaging the boat. Then the boat was moved to a different berth (by whom?) and in a later storm, it sank. No indication as to what the damage was first time, what caused the sinking and whether the two were linked.
"Act of god" ?
This is a good example of how difficult negligence can be.
Indeed. Based on what the OP says there seems to have been at least 2 events. The first the pontoon breaking free and hitting his boat. Then the boat was moved (by whom?) to a different berth (on whose advice?) an later during another period of bad weather it sank.
