My boat sunk :(

Channel Ribs

Channel Ribs

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The island of Alderney
www.alderneymarine.com
The plan for taking Cottontail (Galion 22) round to Brighton from Chichester has fallen foul of a missing propshaft!

I called in to Sparkes yesterday afternoon to pick up my mate, put on some reverse power to bring her to a halt on approach to the pontoon and clunk, out popped the prop and shaft.

Luckily Frank of Hayling Rescue was just a minute away and he brought his salvage pumps to help with the bailing and wailing, we finally got a bung to fit and she is now drying out while I feel sorry for myself.

Now the problem is how to get the darn shaft back!

The engineer that just re-fitted the engine (and therefore the shaft /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif) is denying all liablity, of course. So now we are waiting for the insurance company to say something helpful...
 
Amazingly fast and good reactions from you all. The insurance company should be delighted! Just makes you think how important a large selection of bungs is. Also thank goodness it did not happen at sea. Quite a frightening thought really.
 
That's bad luck, although I guess it was possibly better to discover the fault in the marina rather than out at sea... still, probably not much consolation. Good luck with the insurance claim.

Cheers
Jimmy
 
[ QUOTE ]
The engineer that just re-fitted the engine (and therefore the shaft ) is denying all liablity, of course

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously another case of "Unrealistic Customer Expectations".
 
Sue the engineer - it's a hundred pounds in the small claims - well worth giving him some flack. Have you got legal claims insurance on top of boat insurance? Let them do it. They will enjoy an open and shut case. The engineer gets to pay their costs, his costs and your costs plus distress and inconvenience (nominal sum).
 
I would have thought that the engineer should shoulder some responsibility. Will the insurance company lean on him?

I know from experience that some customers can be unreasonable. I once had a Transit owner who asked for a new battery to be fitted complain that what we'd done had wrecked his contact breakers (erm, in the distributor on the other side of the engine bay).

But in your case I would think that your fitter is directly involved in your disaster.

Hope it cleans up and fixes without too much hassle.
 
Sorry to hear of your problems with that nice little boat. Glad that you saved the situation. If that was the first time you really gave it some welly in reverse then it is obvious that the shaft was not correctly installed. It sounds like the coupling was not tight enough, and that there was no safety collar fitted to the shaft inboard of the stern tube. (my boat has an anode fitted on the inside, others use a jubilee clip just to prevent shaft withdrawal if the coupling fails). I suggest you offer to name and shame the installer if he does not accept that he fouled up.
 
I'm new in this forum and i'm glad that everybody helps a little, sorry for what happened. Good luck with the insurance claim.
I need help, do you know a good supplier or manufacturer of water or fuel tanks and accessories for boats, such as winch handle pockets, cleat covers or rigging screw covers?
Thnx in advance
 
Hi, Cristian and welcome to the forum.

Best to start a new thread for your enquiry on PBO Reader To Reader. You will get more response and it avoids confusing existing threads that are on a totally different topic.
 
Martin!

So sorry to hear this. Console yourself with the fact that it happened close to Sparks and not off Littlehampton or Worthing.
 
Bummer; but at least you're afloat.

The engineer probably has a standing instruction from his insurers to deny liability in all situations. That needn't prevent your insurers talking to his insurers and I expect they will - but it might be wise to, ahem, remind them of this.....
 
Everyone says that marine insurance is completely different from car insurance - in the case of car insurance presumably it would be up to them to sue the engineer's insurers.

Is this still the case with marine insurance?
 
Just got to be the "Engineers" fault surely?
Classic, in reverse scenario.
What's the condition of the coupling and associated area.
Or haven't You got that far yet? What with all the drying out etc to do.
What a dissapointement.
However as others have said good job it happened when it did.
Small consolation I know, nobody got hurt etc and The Boat is fixable.
Think the "Engineer" needs Shafting!
Unless He was not contracted to do the Job totally.
IE. Was He instructed to remove and refit. Or just stick it in and run it up?
If You get My drift.
Bit of a Refit ahead then?
Oh well She'l look even better when She's finished! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Everyone says that marine insurance is completely different from car insurance - in the case of car insurance presumably it would be up to them to sue the engineer's insurers.

Is this still the case with marine insurance?

[/ QUOTE ] To be honest, I don't know.

However, as it stands they have a liability to pay out on your claim (I don't see how they could possibly wriggle out of it on grounds that you didn't maintain your boat) but it seems likely that the accident was caused by someone's negligence - i.e. the engineer. I dare say that the policy excludes accidents caused by your negligence but otherwise it's down to the insurers to sort it out, surely? They'll want to see if they can get some or all of their money back and the best way to do that is presumably to pursue a claim against the engineer. He/she will pass it to his/her insurers and - hopefully - Robert's yer Father's Brother.

In your situation, I don't think I'd ever trust the engineer to touch my boat again, but that's a separate matter.

(Edit: got confused about who I was talking to. It's Malthouse's boat, not Pye End's. Sorry for the confusion /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif)
 
[ QUOTE ]
He/she will pass it to his/her insurers

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't realise a business could insure itself against bungling incompetence - no wonder premiums are so high!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I didn't realise a business could insure itself against bungling incompetence - no wonder premiums are so high!

[/ QUOTE ] They won't cover deliberate negligence, I guess, but try proving it....

An employee of ours was responsible, inter alia, for management of the maintenance of a car park next to one of our offices, and one day he tripped in a pot hole in the said car park, and injured his knee quite badly. He sued us and - much against my instincts - our insurers settled with him, notwithstanding that the accident had been caused by his failure to perform his job properly. Whether this was incompetence or negligence, I could never quite decide.

Bungling incompetence is an occupational hazard for any modern employer and I reckon it's built into all insurance premia. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Insurance is there to cover mistakes.

One man's 'bungling incompetence' is another man's 'learning curve'. How do you differentiate between the two?
 
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