Damaged in storms of Wednesday night.

Sneaky Pete

Sneaky Pete

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My boat suffered extensive damage within Inverkip marina during the storms of Wednesday night. The finger on the pontoon broke taking my boat and the one on the other side of the pontoon on a trip around the marina. Lots of damage. What I would like to know is when I looked over the boat last night the back stays were very slack almost 80cm of movement on each one. There are no stantions or guardrail on one side, toe rail extensively damaged and lots of gouges on hull and deck. Fortunately it wasn’t holed and it is insured. Initial cost around £10000.

My question is this could the bow roller that the forestay is attached to have struck something and lifted upwards releasing the tension on the backstay.
 
Well mine was roped down to big concrete blocks up at Kishorn thank goodness.
We finally got our power back late this afternoon-we have a standby geni plus a big multi fuel stove unlike many residents of Glen moriston who have had to deal with the sub zero temps the storm left us with.
I was amazed at the skills shown by the heli which came up the glen below treetops running the power lines and looking for damage.
The worst continuous bit of wind gusting up to 120mph I have exeperienced since the Boxing Day storm that hit Rothesay in 1998.
The same frightening screaming roar of the wind on both occasions plus heavy thunder and torrential rain.
 
I heard boats were damaged on the Sales pontoon too.
The wind was westerly which isn't Kips best direction!

Donald
 
Sneaky Pete said:
My boat suffered extensive damage within Inverkip marina during the storms of Wednesday night. The finger on the pontoon broke taking my boat and the one on the other side of the pontoon on a trip around the marina. Lots of damage.
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Yeugh. Hard luck. Does the marina pay to sort this?
 
Sorry to hear about your damage, what pontoon were you on? I went into Kip this evening on my way back from Bute and noticed the marina windows are boarded up, were they damaged yesterday?
 
Sneaky Pete said:
My boat suffered extensive damage within Inverkip marina during the storms of Wednesday night. The finger on the pontoon broke taking my boat and the one on the other side of the pontoon on a trip around the marina. Lots of damage. What I would like to know is when I looked over the boat last night the back stays were very slack almost 80cm of movement on each one. There are no stantions or guardrail on one side, toe rail extensively damaged and lots of gouges on hull and deck. Fortunately it wasn’t holed and it is insured. Initial cost around £10000.

My question is this could the bow roller that the forestay is attached to have struck something and lifted upwards releasing the tension on the backstay.
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It must have ben difficult checking the damage in the dark. Slack backstays made me wonder if perhaps the forestay has been broken and the mast is being held up by furled jib halyard. (disregard if the jib is off) If forestay is intact then perhaps forestay has been stretched by overload. Or possibly the mast compression support has been damaged to allow mast to drop lower. I would want to find the cause quickly as the mast may drop and be lost if something else lets go. good luck olewill
 
William_H said:
It must have ben difficult checking the damage in the dark. Slack backstays made me wonder if perhaps the forestay has been broken and the mast is being held up by furled jib halyard. (disregard if the jib is off) If forestay is intact then perhaps forestay has been stretched by overload. Or possibly the mast compression support has been damaged to allow mast to drop lower. I would want to find the cause quickly as the mast may drop and be lost if something else lets go. good luck olewill
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I would insist on the Insurance surveyor doing an EXTENSIVE and critical examination of ALL rigging. It is surprising what nature can do in such severe storm conditions. We were hit by a hurricane some years ago. But the damage discovered was far more extensive than anyone could imagine. For instance the seals around the port lights were forced and would have let in water-good job that the survey found that out.

Good luck

Peter
 
Obviously suggests either rig damage – relatively 'easy' if not cheap to repair – or structural damage which could be anything from a simple problem to something very serious. The insurance company and a good surveyor should be first and second phone calls, once you've secured the boat.
 
What can I claim.

Thank to all who replied.
Apparently the wind was so strong it blew the windows in at the office. Don’t know who will foot the bill on this one a broken pontoon can happen but shouldn’t the marina may be in the end liable. That is a problem for the insurance. Insurance sent a surveyor down to inspect initially. The boat is coming out on Monday so they will be able to do (hopefully) a thorough inspection then. It seems the insurance company claims department appoints the surveyor rather than myself appointing one.

Does anyone have experience of such claims? What can I claim on, is it what the surveyor puts in their report or what has been damaged inside and out and what has been lost.
 
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Sneaky Pete said:
What can I claim on, is it what the surveyor puts in their report or what has been damaged inside and out and what has been lost.
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For our recent claim we were advised by the insurance company itself to make a list of everything we had spotted and raise it with the surveyor when he turned up to ensure that it gets in the report, you know your boat better than the surveyor. In our case he found other things and had a good explanation for one problem we had spotted but weren't certain whether it was related damage, it was. The insurance co told us that if further damage was discovered when repairs started they would take it into consideration eg our mainsail which was still on the boom when the surveyor was present and needed to be laid out on a sail loft floor for a complete inspection. Do take lots of photo's both in and out of the water of the damage.
 
If things go well with your insurance appointed surveyor then great. If you have an doubts about what he says then you should consider appointing your own surveyor. It sound like you are in for a large claim. The insurance company won't want to pay any more than they thing is necessary. Remember that the insurance appointed surveyor works for them. Your own surveyor will have your interests at heart as you are paying the bill. It may cost you a few hundred pounds but could save you thousands if you are arguing about the extent of damage
 
I am very sorry to hear about the damage to your boat. It must be very upsetting. I know that if it happened to me, I would be most upset. I like this quote, it sums up a lot that I find hard to put into writing:

A boat is something more than an ingenious arrangement of wood, copper and iron. It has a soul, a personality and eccentricities of behaviour that are enduring. It becomes part of a person, colouring his whole life with a romance that is unknown to those not connected with the way of boats. The older the boat becomes, the stronger the power.
Frank Mulville.
 
geem said:
If things go well with your insurance appointed surveyor then great. If you have an doubts about what he says then you should consider appointing your own surveyor. It sound like you are in for a large claim. The insurance company won't want to pay any more than they thing is necessary. Remember that the insurance appointed surveyor works for them. Your own surveyor will have your interests at heart as you are paying the bill. It may cost you a few hundred pounds but could save you thousands if you are arguing about the extent of damage
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When my insurance company appointed a surveyor to survey the damage to my boat, mast, rigging etc 2yrs ago, he wouldent let me have a copy of his survey as he said he was appointed by them, not me. havent asked my insurers for a copy, yet.
C_W
 
As already pointed out - the surveyor, appointed by the underwriters, will be looking after their best interests and how to mitigate their loss.

Having had experience of just that action I'd strongly recommend you have your own surveyor, preferably with greater weight of metal.
 
Searush said:
Just another thought, could the tang on the top of the stay have pulled down the slot in the mast? Could possibly be the aft stay too. Check them out just in case.
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It's one area for surveyor to investigate I'll see what their thoughts are on this.

Fortunately no one was on the boat when this happened. Boats can be repaired back to original condition, people sometimes cannot. I have spoken to the surveyor who surveyed the boat last year when purchased just to give him a heads up on the situation. I also mailed the insurance broker asking if they could appoint him to do the inspection. I’ll soon find out. I may just appoint him for peace of mind. I believe that the marina insurer and boat insurer will have a discussion on who pays the final bill. The argument is that because the pontoon broke the marina insurance should pay out. Anyway boat is out of the water in cradle at the repair yard in the marina. Hopefully I get a result of some kind this week.
 
My stanchion base managed to break 4 bolts clean off. I can only assume the boat heeled so much it hit the pontoon and snapped them. No damage to the hull, deck or stanchion.
 
Twister_Ken said:
Pete,

Any sign of what made the backstays go slack?

TK
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Surveyor believes from what has been inspected and what was seen during the storm that the backstay had attached itself to another boat for a period of time. Now attached to my boat is a Moody 346 and a section of pontoon. The wires are chaffed and stretched slightly rigging will need inspected when it is removed and replaced where necessary.
 
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