Insurance. 17 knot machinery clause

[jmnapier]

Long story short.... boat was refuelled with petrol(all you need to know is that it wasn’t me!). Large damage to fuel pumps and injectors, expected bill about £10,000. The insurance claim has been rejected as we didn’t sign up to the ‘machinery clause’. With GJW this is endorsement 2 which effectively adds engine cover.
Unfortunately you would have to know about it to have signed up for it...
Everyone, go check your policies! We feel a little cheated but at least you can all avoid it...
all the best
Jonathan

 

[Eyore]

Nasty shock,thanks for the warning.

 

[BruceK]

I'd be absolutely devastated. My sympathies go out to you.

 

[jrudge]

My own view is that I would never have considered this an insurable event. Hitting an under water object etc yes, but fuelling errors I would have imagined would always have been down to the owner.

 

[Portofino]

My own view is that I would never have considered this an insurable event. Hitting an under water object etc yes, but fuelling errors I would have imagined would always have been down to the owner.

Agree with this .
Without delving deeper I always thought engine stuff like this was outside insurance bit like motor cars .

So if you allow it run without oil or coolant , crappy fuel etc which inc I guess is a miss fuel which results in a semi or full catastrophic failure folks think there general fire , theft , accident , 3 P ins policy covers them ?

New to me but as always every day is a school day on here

 

[BruceK]

My insurance covered me when in a fit of stupidy I filled my Land Rover with petrol. I dont see this as being remarkable. Most accidents are caused by one's own inattention including holing your boat on some rocks because you were focused on pouring the margarita. Wear and tear being not included is acceptable

 

[Seastoke]

Is there any recourse with the person who did wrong fuel.

 

[jmnapier]

Is there any recourse with the person who did wrong fuel.

Sadly not as he is the co-owner!

Up to everyone to check their own policies but I believe it would have been covered with ‘endorsement 2‘ active.
Incompetence is rife in the boating world and to exclude it all would be a revolutionary idea!

 

[[2068]]

That's highly unfortunate.

To be fair to GJW, this is pretty clear in the policy documentation, and most standard insurance policies won't fork out for engine damage unless caused by water intrusion / sinking.

Maybe put a large "Diesel Only" sticker near the fuel filler for the future?

 

[BruceK]

Just read my policy documentation and nope. It turns out I'm not covered either. Shocker!

 

[petem]

Commiserations to the OP, that's very unfortunate.

I co-own my boat with others and believe you want the best and most comprehensive policy, not the cheapest to prevent this scenario from occurring.

For the record, 'Y' would cover this scenario as it's an "All Risks" policy. So providing the refueling error was accidental, you could make a claim.

 

[sailorman]

Commiserations to the OP, that's a tough lesson to learn.

For the record, 'Y' would cover this scenario as it's an "All Risks" policy. So providing the refueling error was accidental, you could make a claim.

I also know of a forumite who`s yacht ( insured with Y ) was "dinged" by another local yacht that is insured with JGW, JGW are giving the runaround to the injured party. Y would sort it but why should they

 

[starfire]

I also know of a forumite who`s yacht ( insured with Y ) was "dinged" by another local yacht that is insured with JGW, JGW are giving the runaround to the injured party. Y would sort it but why should they

They insured the boat, its up to them to chase GJW

 

[sailorman]

They insured the boat, its up to them to chase GJW

They are willing to do just that, even pay for the repair, but they shouldnt have to

 

[jmnapier]

Final note to this story. I have a second boat insured with GJW. It is onshore in a large refit but hopefully launching this side of Christmas. Renewal was last weekend so I asked to add endorsement 2(machinery clause). It was as if someone had pressed the panic button. The chap said he’d have to contact the underwriters. The next person asked if I understood that ‘breakdown cover’ wasn’t included then asked if I was ‘certain’ I wanted to add it and what had prompted my request. When I explained my story it all went quiet and the cover was added at a cost of £30. I found it rather a strange reaction.
Beware everyone, ensure you have the ‘machinery clause’ (or equivalent for your insurer)activated.
ps the final bill was £18000. £12k for pump repair(£7k parts). £6k for removal and replacement(quite complicated on a 6ly).

 

[mil1194]

I’ll be checking my GJW policy tonight and the quote I had a few weeks ago for the ‘upgrade’.

 

[mil1194]

I’ve spoken to two people at GJW regarding some issues and mentioned this ‘endorsement 2’ and they have both denied any knowledge of it. I didn’t press it any further at the time but does anyone have any details of someone at GJW who will acknowledge this? TIA

 

[Scubadoo]

I’ve spoken to two people at GJW regarding some issues and mentioned this ‘endorsement 2’ and they have both denied any knowledge of it. I didn’t press it any further at the time but does anyone have any details of someone at GJW who will acknowledge this? TIA

Just looked at the policy online and all the endorsements including 2 are clearly defined on page 25 (section 10), but it may depend on the policy as there are a few according to their website: Policy Documents (I looked at the Motor Cruiser Policy).

Endorsement 2:
MACHINERY DAMAGE INSURANCE Subject to the Conditions Precedent, Limitations and other terms of the Policy we shall cover the Vessel’s machinery from the causes specified in Section 2A and Section 2B4 is deleted. We only cover machinery damage caused by freezing if the machinery has been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation by a competent mechanic and the machinery has been protected by appropriate anti-freeze mixed and inserted in accordance with the manufacturer’s specification.

 

[mil1194]

Just looked at the policy online and all the endorsements including 2 are clearly defined on page 25 (section 10), but it may depend on the policy as there are a few according to their website: Policy Documents (I looked at the Motor Cruiser Policy).

Endorsement 2:
MACHINERY DAMAGE INSURANCE Subject to the Conditions Precedent, Limitations and other terms of the Policy we shall cover the Vessel’s machinery from the causes specified in Section 2A and Section 2B4 is deleted. We only cover machinery damage caused by freezing if the machinery has been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation by a competent mechanic and the machinery has been protected by appropriate anti-freeze mixed and inserted in accordance with the manufacturer’s specification.

Thanks for that - they're meant to be ringing me back to confirm that 'unattended use of a dehumidifer' is OK so I'll tackle them with this as well.

 

[superheat6k]

Sorry to learn of your predicament. When I recently had my stbd engine overheat and seize two pistons due to a weed blocked cooling water inlet I did not even consider a claim until a chance conversation with another Corvette buyer revealed a similar failure and successful claim. Since then CraftInsure have been excellent, allowing me to complete my own repairs, which in balance has saved them at least half the value the payout could have been.

I did not want a massive hole cutting in my flybridge and have the teak deck wrecked as a part of this. Plus a practising professional marine engineering firm would require the boat ashore. I have actually enjoyed the experience of a 50% engine rebuild inside my main cabin. Had the bottom end been damaged then removal would have been necessary, but the crankline was entirely unaffected. This was no midget engine being a 5.9 litre straight 6 turbo engine.

The Assessor employed by the Insurer were also very fair and I have also been completely open with both the Insurers and the Assessor. I was even thanked for this by the claim handlers.

I did have to agree to hold my own warranty - in other words if I cock it up then that's squarely my problem. I have no issue with that at all.

The qualifying ground for my claim was "contact with an external substance". They have stated they will not support a further claim for a repeat, which is also fair. However, this failure has highlighted the pathetic inadequacy of standard fresh water system over temperature alarms. The time they go off the engine is already past 3/4 cooked, whereas measuring sea water flow and exhaust injection bend temperatures will both provide immediate warnings should a seawater failure occur, and with plenty of reserve time to become alerted to the issue at least possibly several minutes before an overheat becomes a critical problem for an engine.

I am writing a separate thread on my monitoring system currently under construction, which will have some 32 active inputs, some of which will provide remote alarms via Mifi - bilge pump extended operation, low battery voltage, mains voltage failure. I am also going to install at least one pannable camera.

I would certainly urge all of you to investigate at least either a seawater flow switch or exhaust temperature warning. I accept some may regard my 32 input system as OTT. I can tell you a lot simpler and a lot cheaper by a country mile than this engine failure has been to resolve.

I am still working out the helm station displays, but these are nearly resolved.

Hoping for the first restart before the month is out, but this is not a process I either wish nor need to rush.