breaking mooring and insurance payout

[tyce]

this question has been on my mind for a while, has anyone had the unfortunate happen and lose a boat due to a broken mooring.
if so was the mooring not professionally checked and if not did the insurance pay out.
reason i ask is i have noticed a few insurance companys request they are professionaly checked where as mine does not and even if it did there is nobody to check it as we just lay our own up here.
i know the obvious answer is to make it so strong it will never happen, but you never do know

 

[Rob_Webb]

No matter how heavy you make the ground tackle it will eventually need checking and key parts replacing to avoid failure. Chains rubbing on the ground (especially if abrasive sand or shingle) in a salty environment is a ticking bomb. In paricular swivels can become jammed which create a new problem. And shackles can corrode - you need to appreciate the you don't have to wait for the whole shackle to rust throught before it fails - only a few mm needs to corrode for the thread to become ineffective which can cause the pin to drift out. And another phenomenon is that whilst most of a chain can corrode at a unifrom rate occassionally a rogue link will apparently corrode at an accelerated rate and fail in only a couple of years. Out here in NZ where there is a lot of DIY mooring peeps tend to get their tackle lifted at least once every 2-3 years no matter how over-sized.

 

[Birdseye]

We `also lay our own moorings so I will be interested in the replies you get.

My own feeling would be that the company would expect you to be able to convince them that the mooring had been regularly checked. But it doesnt require an engineering degree to look at a chain and see how worn it is. So I would have thought that the issue would be the regularity of inspections rather than who by. So the breakage of a bit of chain that has worn 80% through over 10 years isnt going to impress. But the breakage of a link which was new would be Ok provided the size was as recommended.

But thats my opinion and I dont know for sure. However, there is a simple answer to your question. Ask the insurance company. And if you are using one of those call center companies who ask "whats a mooring" start worrying!

 

[poter]

Yes our boat broke her mooring last September & she was a write off.
The mooring was laid professionally, and we were paid out by the insurance co.
I had a feeling that if we had laid the mooring it would have been a lot more difficult to get the insurance, as the assesor was very keen on getting all the background to the company that laid the mooring.

poter.

 

[jointventureII]

During summer last year, many boats broke moorings where ours is moored in a freak easterly gale which wasnt forecasted (by the time it had been recognised it was too rough to get out there), at St Catherines in Jersey. These included a princess 30DS, trader 42 and a 49ft old wooden yacht. All the moorings are professionally checked by one company and I heard the insurers did pay out. This years premiums will be significantly larger than last years, and within a week of the event all mooring owners received a letter saying the mooring was sound was no longer valid.

 

[TheBoatman]

Here are a few personal observations, our club has approx 260 moorings in 4 lines at 3000 ‘ per trot, we use ground chain and risers. Due to many owners there are many insurance companies used, in almost every case this year we have seen them asking for regular inspections. We use two professional companies plus we have our own mooring barge that is capable of lifting the risers and g/chain up to the barge. Over the last couple of years we have noticed that one company was welding the shackles on the risers to the g/chain the other was using Loctite thread lock on the shackle pins. This year when we recovered the moorings in every case the welded shackles were almost rusted away so much so that you could see daylight between the pin and shackle, where as the Loctited pins were absolutely perfect with little corrosion. The welded shackles have only been in 1 year and could be found next to perfect Locited ones.
We also have changed over to using BS standard (certified) shackles which has made a difference.
In answer to your question, I would expect to “inspect” the mooring yearly and if I use BS standard gear I don’t think I would expect to many problems from the insurance companies if I can prove that the best equipment was used.

 

[AndCur]

Hi

I would have to agree that using BS standard (certified) shackles is the way to go. In Groomsport were I keep my boat moorings breaking all the time and it
is purely down to people using cheap shackles and never checking there moorings.
My boat is only in the water for six months and I replace the shackles every season and the chain every other year plus I it inspect every couple of months. I have to admit that the BS standard (certified) shackles are always in very good condition when I take them of at the end of the season.

Andrew

 

[penultimate]

In researching alternative insurance last week I also came up against the "Professionally serviced moorings" stipulation. I reported that my club services its own moorings annually from a custom built mooring barge; and was immediately reassured that this was acceptable.
For the record our standard deep water swinging mooring is a block and ferry chain to which a 3/4" chain riser is attached by a turn and 2 half hitches. The bitter end is shackled to the riser with a B.S. standard certified shackle moused with plastic cable tie. After 2 years use a second certified shackle is added to the first. This part usually lies in the mud and is not subject to wear or corrosion. The mid part of the chain is normally the worst for corrosion and average chain life is 5 years. There are no moving parts underwater. At the surface there is a Hippo buoy with stainless steel swivel and stainless steel shackle to which the owners attach their own bridles. The owners are responsible for the bridles; and if they fail to remove them before annual inspection the mooring barge crew remove them.

 

[Lakesailor]

On our non-tidal, freshwater moorings there are different problems, but the end result seems the same. 74 boats went walk-about in the January storm.
As we don't have the opportunity to inspect moorings at low water they mainly get checked by professionals.
Whatever the insurance companies tell you I would expect problems if you make a claim without an invoice for an inspection by an outfit that were themselves insured.
Insurance companies are expected to wriggle out of paying-out. It's an EC regulation.
On the point of shackles. I've noticed nylon cable ties getting chewed up in only months. Stainless wire seems pretty durable, but most older lake users seem to peen over the threaded end of the shackle pin where it protrudes. Just make sure the shackles you buy do have a protruding pin!

 

[charles_reed]

My last insurers insisted on mooring root lift and examination every year and replacement every 3rd year.

They were, perhaps, open and up-front about their demands.

In practice, in the Dovey estuary you laid your mooring at the start of every season and lifted it at the end or lost the whole lot to the implacable shifting sands.

Unfortunately, my experience of insurers is that, especially in the present economic climate, they'll use most excuses to evade payment.

I did have the cleat on the foredeck fracture, the boat was restrained by the pickup buoy tied to the pulpit and I had a no-quibble settlement of the resultant damage (excluding the replacement cleat).

Personally I'm ironically amused by the insurers' assumption that marina operators are meticulous about their checks - remember the Port Chanteryne 4 pontoons onto the beach in front of Napoleon, or la Grande Tempete disaster at les Minimes.

I'd certainly be wary of most operators in the Med, especially in Spain and Italy and the weird met conditions we've been experiencing in the N Hemisphere.

One tale I heard tell was of the big marina on the Costa del Sol, faced with freak conditions, who phoned all the boat owners - in UK, Germany, Netherlands and the US, to tell them their boats were sinking at their moorings and lifted not a hand to prevent the damage.

Having said that I know of at least 3 marinas in S Italy who send a diver down annually to check and report on the condition of their roots.