Crunched while on berth, Fibreglass repairs

ShaunG

ShaunG

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Whilst moored up on pontoon this weekend another yacht got is very wrong and cruched in to my transom, Old IOR style and hit right on the point. Long story short, the Other party has not yet passed on insurance details but i am sure he will as i was working on my boat when he hit me!! Anyway, the damage appears to be only cosmetic with a deep chunk of gelcoat about the size of your thumb missing. I am sure i could easily repair the damage with epoxy, but i am going to struggle to repair the paint, the transom is sprayed blue and the hull yellow. What are your opinions on the probability of unseen damage being done?, should i go for an insurance claim against the other party as although the repair is easy on the face of it the paint job is not?

thanks in advance
 
Insurance claim. You might think that it is a trivial job but givne that you are already concerned about the paint job, get a yard to do it at the other boat's expense.

PS. I write as one with an IOR boat who has just been hit, albeit at the front. On the face of it it looked as though it was just the pulpit that had been whacked but once the surveyor had a better look he reckoned that the anchor, bow roller and guard wires needed replacing as well as some repairs to the roller furling.
 
Let the insurance/s handle it.

I sincerely hope that the forumites who were questioning the desirability of insurance on the other thread have read your posting.

Good luck and I do hope you don't lose too much sailing.
 
I recently scratched my neighbours boat when berthing stern to single handed.....

Stupidly, I had left the stern gates open and the wires and catches dangled just over the side, thus causing the scratch.

I immediately emailed him to tell him what had happened, and made it clear that I would pay for the repair. It's been done now and i'm in for about €600, (not worth an insurance claim as my excess is £600.

Needless to say, I wont be leaving the gates open again!!

If I had merely scuffed his boat, I would consider that to be one of the vicissitudes, (sp?), of boating... I'm sure we both have scuffs from each others boat and neither of us has worried.
 
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I sincerely hope that the forumites who were questioning the desirability of insurance on the other thread have read your posting.

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Nobody's questioning the desirability of insurance. Some of us question the necessity. In this case it sounds as if it would be sensible for the guy who hit to be insured because (a) he can't sail very well and (b) the bloke he hit is being encouraged to ramp up a small cosmetic repair into a major yard job. How long till someone suggests a whiplash claim?
 
I'd say necessity, the guy whole hit us lost his prop as he came into berth. I'd call that just bad luck and without his insurance the whacker would have had to stump up an estimated £3-4k.

I might argue about the need for insurance for long distance cruising where the chances of coming across other craft are less but in home waters a necessity.
 
You still don't get it, do you? Even the best of sailors can get a bad moment or be hit by a sudden gust or the wash of another boat, or trip in the cockpit, accidentally hit the control lever, or have his motor controls jam, or ... any number of other things that can - and sometimes DO - go wrong.

What you choose to shrug off as a minor cosmetic repair, neither you nor I have seen. Can you spray-paint a transom? If someone puts a deep scratch and a dent on your car, would you shrug it off as easily? Why should anyone be hassled with the private recovery of expenses just because another sailor is inconsiderate enough to not bother to cover his ass with an adequate insurance policy?
 
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You still don't get it, do you?


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Could we leave out the personal insults and stick to the issues, please? Thanks.
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Even the best of sailors can get a bad moment or be hit by a sudden gust or the wash of another boat, or trip in the cockpit, accidentally hit the control lever, or have his motor controls jam, or ... any number of other things that can - and sometimes DO - go wrong.


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Indeed they can. But in some boats it Really Doesn't Matter. On my driveway is an old Avon inflatable which we occasionally use for jaunts to the quiet beach nearby. With oars. How much third party damage could I do with it?
My position on insurance is simple: if the combination of boat, area and skill makes a significant amount of damage plausible, then of course have it. That's why my Jouster is insured third party. But sense needs to be applied: not every boat in every situation needs insurance.
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What you choose to shrug off as a minor cosmetic repair, neither you nor I have seen.


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Sure. And of course I would expect it to be properly inspected. From the description, though, it does not sound obvious that a full haul-out repair is warranted, even if some other schmuck is paying.
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Can you spray-paint a transom? If someone puts a deep scratch and a dent on your car, would you shrug it off as easily?


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If one of the many scratch and dent repair companies could do the job - they visit you at home or work and it's done in an hour or two - then I certainly wouldn't send the car off to the agents for a full respray.
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Why should anyone be hassled with the private recovery of expenses just because another sailor is inconsiderate enough to not bother to cover his ass with an adequate insurance policy?

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Unless you have comprehensive insurance, private recovery is still needed ... it's just recovery from a different person.
 
Orbister, i can understand your point of view to a degree. In my case, yes, the damage is cosmetic, the boat is not new. However, prior to the other boat hitting me the transom was is good condition, not a scratch in the paint or a a big chunk missing. Whilst i can quite happily undertake the repair using epoxy and achieve a reasonable standard i cannot match the paint, it was painted prior to my ownership in a custom colour. Therefore, whilst i agree that maybe we should let scrapes etc go that we could all do when berthing, in this case i fell it may be slightly different as the damage will affect future value and i could not repair it to the same standard as a professional.

I have been hit a few times and as the boat is a very pinched shape we have had a few scrapes from rafting of other boats, i have as you have pointed out ignored these and treated them as the usual war wounds and they will be fixed when i eventually have a full respray. In this case the damage is as above with a thumb size chunk of gelcoat missing, however total paint loss is probably about 6" sq and very noticable, i know that if this was my car i would be straight onto the insurance company, however as the boat is older ( however still worth twice as much as my 3 year old car) i do find it hard to claim against someones mistake
 
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Orbister, i can understand your point of view to a degree. In my case, yes, the damage is cosmetic, the boat is not new. However, prior to the other boat hitting me the transom was is good condition, not a scratch in the paint or a a big chunk missing. Whilst i can quite happily undertake the repair using epoxy and achieve a reasonable standard i cannot match the paint, it was painted prior to my ownership in a custom colour. Therefore, whilst i agree that maybe we should let scrapes etc go that we could all do when berthing, in this case i fell it may be slightly different as the damage will affect future value and i could not repair it to the same standard as a professional.

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I see your point about the paint particularly. However, it doesn't sound is if it should necessarily be too expensive or too complicated. How about fixing the damage yourself and having the paintwork redone in the winter, assuming she comes out the water? I suspect that the other party will be better just to pay, anyway, by the time excesses are considered.
 
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It's been done now and i'm in for about €600, (not worth an insurance claim as my excess is £600.


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Usually with insurance the excess applies to any payment to you, not to a third party. The third party aspect of your insurance I would expect not to have an excess.

I'm not disagreeing with the choice to pay yourself, just pointing out how insurance usually works.
 
My insurance policy clearly states that the excess applies to "each and every claim other than total loss". I read this to include third party claims where I might not be receiving any payment.
 
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