Boat painting / Insurance nightmare

[BenJordan]

Hello YWBists!

Some of you may remember me from a few years back as BrokerBen, times have changed and I have significantly changed my career and ways. Needless to say I am very cured of nasty little french motorboats of dubious quality...

Moving on, I own a Rebel 41, this Rebel 41 in fact:

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=100102

I have sold her, subject to completing a few little bits of work which are basically no bother at all.

There is 1 thing I do need to get done that is however causing significant bother:

Topsides Paint.

I had a small incident involving a Nicholson 46 and her anchor, which I managed to unship last season and drag down my topsides. This tangle also resulted in scratches on the bow and stern, damaged one of my new bits of standing rigging and snapped a stanchion.

I have everything else in hand, except the paint.

I have obtained quotes from 3 different, independant and respected places to make the paintwork good. It comes to about £3k.

The loss adjuster for my insurance company, which shall remain nameless, has come up with the figure of £200 for the repair.

The paint as you can see is a pale blue, sprayed awlgrip. To my mind, to make a proper repair, and put the boat back to the condition she was in before the damage, thus indemnifying me against loss, she needs tenting, prepping, filling, painting, then going through the compounds etc and painting a significant area to blend the repair in. This opinion I have formed by talking to the people who have quoted, each has suggested the same course of action.

The insurers seem unwilling to budge. I have owned my own boats for over 10 years, and never claimed, always just coughed up to meet marina laws, and for that bit of piece of mind. If this were a car, I'd drop it in to an approved bodyshop and hear no more of it.

Why is it so hard with a boat?

Sorry for the rant... if anybody can point me in the direction of somebody who can repair my paint in the Hamble area, if would be hugely appreciated. I have a deposit on the boat, and do not want this to drag on, for both my and the buyers sake! It's just cosmetic, but something that needs to be sorted so the sale can complete, and also so the new owner can get her launched and enjoy the season on what is a really very nice boat to sail!

Thank you for any advice and kind words

Ben

 

[DJE]

Can't help with the paint Ben but here's Mutineer in happier times:

Why would you want to sell a boat like that?

Edit:- Have you tried Tony Preston?

 

[xtiffer]

Your ınsurer is quoting for a patch repair which sounds reasonable to me. Your paint quotes are for a much larger area methinks.
Simply mask off with 3M Fine Line tape, sand with P220, fill any dinks with epoxy filler if required, sand filler, prime, sand again then top coat.
After removing masking tape you can polish out the lines with Finesse It.
You might see a slight colour difference if the original paint has been on there for many years but with Awlgrip I doubt it.
Cheers,
Chris

 

[BenJordan]

Your process is sound.

There are several areas that need doing along the topsides, bow and stern, and making them all good without it looking patchy I guess would be a challenge...

However, if somebody will do that, great!

Thanks for the recommendation Dave, I will get on it now

I have to sell as I have moved to Devon, and into a house!

 

[BenJordan]

I have called and left a message, hopefully make some progress

 

[sailorman]

Your ınsurer is quoting for a patch repair which sounds reasonable to me. Your paint quotes are for a much larger area methinks.
Simply mask off with 3M Fine Line tape, sand with P220, fill any dinks with epoxy filler if required, sand filler, prime, sand again then top coat.
After removing masking tape you can polish out the lines with Finesse It.
You might see a slight colour difference if the original paint has been on there for many years but with Awlgrip I doubt it.
Cheers,
Chris

£200 is no money at all these days & wont cover a boatyard to do more than 3 hrs work inc materials.
what do you pay ins for. for times like this that what for

 

[doug748]

I had a small damage problem with an Awlgrip finish, it was patch resprayed (as per Xtiffer) by the original finishers. The result was superb, as new.
The cost was in the region of £200/300, there was other expense but this was concerned with slipping and putting the boat ashore. I could imagine that a number of bits of damage to the same hull might be possible for well under £500 - there is lot of paint wasted on a single small job.
Not what you wanted to hear perhaps but you may have to grin and bear it and, of course, hold the painters to their promise of a good job.

 

[Davidrss38]

Hello Ben,
To put your mind at rest I saw a Dark Blue 72ft Oyster Yacht being repaired and repainted after coming into contact with a bowsprit resulting in a deep 3ft scratch down the port side. I was suprised when talking to the chap doing the job from his dinghy to find the Oyster's come out of the mould white and are painted to customer requirements.
Over several days I saw the filling, rubing down, hand painting with brush and final polishing. After the chap finished I could not see any indication of repair, 100% colour match and finish.

 

[Blueboatman]

Your insurer is concerned about ' betterment', you want it all put right to exactly how she was before the close encounter.

Just a thought.

What about getting the insurer to accept that if their ( cheap) plan does not pass inspection by an independent ( INDEPENDENT) surveyor afterwards, they cough up for a second more comprehensive treartment?

Is there a prospective buyer involved who needs to be kept in the loop as well? Not sure whether that might be influencing the insurers attitude?

 

[sailorman]

Hello Ben,
To put your mind at rest I saw a Dark Blue 72ft Oyster Yacht being repaired and repainted after coming into contact with a bowsprit resulting in a deep 3ft scratch down the port side. I was suprised when talking to the chap doing the job from his dinghy to find the Oyster's come out of the mould white and are painted to customer requirements.
Over several days I saw the filling, rubing down, hand painting with brush and final polishing. After the chap finished I could not see any indication of repair, 100% colour match and finish.

All Oysters are moulded in white.
the last one,80 something had Dark Blue Fablon stuck on & will be painted @ a later date

 

[Richard10002]

The loss adjuster for my insurance company, which shall remain nameless, has come up with the figure of £200 for the repair.

Talk to a marine loss assessor, (assessors work for you, adjusters work for the insurance company), and see whether they think they can help.

I employed one when we had a problem with a bakery oven in 1999. When I told the insurance company that they would have to talk to me via my assessor, they got very grumpy and upset - because they knew they had lost the chance to get one over on me!!

The assessor got me much more than his fee, over and above what I would happily have accepted on day 1, and probably much more than the insurance company would have offered.

 

[BenJordan]

Your insurer is concerned about ' betterment', you want it all put right to exactly how she was before the close encounter.

Just a thought.

What about getting the insurer to accept that if their ( cheap) plan does not pass inspection by an independent ( INDEPENDENT) surveyor afterwards, they cough up for a second more comprehensive treartment?

Is there a prospective buyer involved who needs to be kept in the loop as well? Not sure whether that might be influencing the insurers attitude?

All good points. I accept a degree of betterment may be involved, and I am not above putting my hand in my pocket should I have to.

My problem is that while the rest of the paint on the boat is not new, it is a very good and even finish. I would not want to end up with a patchy boat, or a load of grief trying to get patchy paintwork sorted, I just want to hand the keys over really as soon as is practical, in line with my buyer obviously wanting to get out boating on a cracking boat before the season escapes.

Hello Ben,
To put your mind at rest I saw a Dark Blue 72ft Oyster Yacht being repaired and repainted after coming into contact with a bowsprit resulting in a deep 3ft scratch down the port side. I was suprised when talking to the chap doing the job from his dinghy to find the Oyster's come out of the mould white and are painted to customer requirements.
Over several days I saw the filling, rubing down, hand painting with brush and final polishing. After the chap finished I could not see any indication of repair, 100% colour match and finish.

This is all well and good on a new boat... my paint has been in place for a good while, so a perfect match is something that at the very least will take a lot of time to get right, as worst just is not going to happen I have got hold of an AWLGrip colour chart with the little holes in, and none of the colours looked like a perfect match.

I had a small damage problem with an Awlgrip finish, it was patch resprayed (as per Xtiffer) by the original finishers. The result was superb, as new.
The cost was in the region of £200/300, there was other expense but this was concerned with slipping and putting the boat ashore. I could imagine that a number of bits of damage to the same hull might be possible for well under £500 - there is lot of paint wasted on a single small job.
Not what you wanted to hear perhaps but you may have to grin and bear it and, of course, hold the painters to their promise of a good job.

I am not bothered how I arrive at a repaired boat If a painter can do it for £5, then great, as long as the work is up to scratch. My concern is that I have asked 4 or 5 painters to the boat now, and all have reported back the same, due to there being a number of scratches, and the keep the finish, a large area will need to be sprayed.

I am obviously no expert on painting, and so am happy to bow to the professionals. I have painted bits of car and boat in the past, as know it's never as straight forward as one would like. I do not want to end up with more grief trying to do it on the cheap is my main concern about doing it on the cheap.

£200 is no money at all these days & wont cover a boatyard to do more than 3 hrs work inc materials.
what do you pay ins for. for times like this that what for

This is sort of my point. If it were a car, I'd just drop it at the bodyshop and they'd mend it.

Talk to a marine loss assessor, (assessors work for you, adjusters work for the insurance company), and see whether they think they can help.

I employed one when we had a problem with a bakery oven in 1999. When I told the insurance company that they would have to talk to me via my assessor, they got very grumpy and upset - because they knew they had lost the chance to get one over on me!!

The assessor got me much more than his fee, over and above what I would happily have accepted on day 1, and probably much more than the insurance company would have offered.

This could be a good call, I will investigate one today