Security and safety of your boat during COVID

[Swenns Dad]

All,

I know the subject of travelling to your boat and access to marinas etc being limited Has been discussed, however.

I’m a member of a ‘self help’ sailing club and my boats are currently on their property ( one in the yard, one on a pontoon birth).

Like most of the boat owners, I do not live within walking distance... therefore during this Covid lockdown I can not visit the boats ( although the club are not actually preventing it). I cannot, therefore, check the safety and security of the vessels during this time.

I have raised this as a concern with the club commodore and suggested it would be sensible to organise something with volunteers to do daily ‘rounds’, just to perform a visual check on the boats security. He has effectively told me its every boat owners responsibility to look after their own boat... the ‘club’ can not get involved!

So.

We have boats on pontoon and chain moorings. The boats on the chain moorings are vulnerable to easterlies and, in accordance with the clubs own guidance should be monitored.

If a vessel comes off a chain, a birth or if people catch onto the fact these boats are not being supervised, I don’t need to explain the inevitable outcomes. one has a rogue boat bashing down the harbour, the other sees my kit on eBay without my permission!

So, wondered if anyone else is having these issues and if a sensible solution has been agreed.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

All,

I know the subject of travelling to your boat and access to marinas etc being limited Has been discussed, however.

I’m a member of a ‘self help’ sailing club and my boats are currently on their property ( one in the yard, one on a pontoon birth).

Like most of the boat owners, I do not live within walking distance... therefore during this Covid lockdown I can not visit the boats ( although the club are not actually preventing it). I cannot, therefore, check the safety and security of the vessels during this time.

I have raised this as a concern with the club commodore and suggested it would be sensible to organise something with volunteers to do daily ‘rounds’, just to perform a visual check on the boats security. He has effectively told me its every boat owners responsibility to look after their own boat... the ‘club’ can not get involved!

So.

We have boats on pontoon and chain moorings. The boats on the chain moorings are vulnerable to easterlies and, in accordance with the clubs own guidance should be monitored.

If a vessel comes off a chain, a birth or if people catch onto the fact these boats are not being supervised, I don’t need to explain the inevitable outcomes. one has a rogue boat bashing down the harbour, the other sees my kit on eBay without my permission!

So, wondered if anyone else is having these issues and if a sensible solution has been agreed.

Virtual EGM to thrash it out? Can be done on Zoom or Houseparty apps.
IMHO "the club" and "the members" are not two mutually exclusive entities.

 

[C08]

My club, a self help club has closed all club premises completely including the club moorings pontoons. My concern is that if/when local scrotes realise there is no one ever on the pontoons it will be mayhem with open day for thieves and vandals. I did assume the pontoon master will check boats on the pontoons from time to time but I have not had confirmation of that and of course this is outside gov. guidelines. I doubt the scrotes abide by those guidelines.
So a sad prediction is a rise in all crime including boat thefts.

 

[Poignard]

You could do with a new commodore.

 

[lw395]

I have a boat at a club beyond walking distance.
It's only a lump of plastic.
It's insured.

 

[Lightwave395]

I have a boat at a marina, well beyond walking distance.
It's only a lump of plastic and a bit of wood.
It's insured.

 

[Swenns Dad]

I have a boat at a club beyond walking distance.
It's only a lump of plastic.
It's insured.

You’ve never had to deal with an insurer, have you ??

 

[Lightwave395]

You’ve never had to deal with an insurer, have you ??

Yes I have, you've obviously never been insured with Pantaneius

 

[Swenns Dad]

Yes I have, you've obviously never been insured with Pantaneius

I suppose when the boat is worth more to you than it’s insured value in pounds and pence, people will have a different view.

 

[Lightwave395]

I suppose when the boat is worth more to you than it’s insured value in pounds and pence, people will have a different view.

You have a point, but in the scheme of things it's only a boat. For my part, I've had mine 15 years and love it, but it can be replaced if the worst happened.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The club's position is understandable and logical. If they start to do rounds to check boats, then they are taking responsibility for the boats to some extent. Unless they carry suitable insurance - which they probably don't, as it is clear that the boats are on club premises under the condition that they are the owner's responsibility - then any damage that could be said to have been preventable by the regular checks becomes the responsibility of the club.

 

[Swenns Dad]

The club's position is understandable and logical. If they start to do rounds to check boats, then they are taking responsibility for the boats to some extent. Unless they carry suitable insurance - which they probably don't, as it is clear that the boats are on club premises under the condition that they are the owner's responsibility - then any damage that could be said to have been preventable by the regular checks becomes the responsibility of the club.

Understood and in general agree with you and the clubs position historically, but these are not normal times... these club arrangements/rules if you like never considered people would not be able to keep an eye on their boats safety and security...

My view is that clubs like mine should step up and support their members.... in a time when things are very different to how anyone ever considered we would operate.

Even if it’s installing some CCTV .... or something....

Who is going to held liable if a boat slips it’s mooring and causes havoc in the harbour?? As they have done in the past, but caught early enough not to cause too much damage.

Previously, the general public, other club members and boats entering the harbour have generally raised the alarm if they see anything untoward.... , a snapped strop etc, but these people are no longer there!

Anyway, clearly mixed feelings on this.... and I suppose it’s a different set of variables for each and every location.

 

[Old Harry]

Is "Installing" CCTV really covered by the cv rules
Your ins covers, if the boat goes walkies

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Understood and in general agree with you and the clubs position historically, but these are not normal times... these club arrangements/rules if you like never considered people would not be able to keep an eye on their boats safety and security...

My view is that clubs like mine should step up and support their members.... in a time when things are very different to how anyone ever considered we would operate.

Even if it’s installing some CCTV .... or something....

Who is going to held liable if a boat slips it’s mooring and causes havoc in the harbour?? As they have done in the past, but caught early enough not to cause too much damage.

Previously, the general public, other club members and boats entering the harbour have generally raised the alarm if they see anything untoward.... , a snapped strop etc, but these people are no longer there!

Anyway, clearly mixed feelings on this.... and I suppose it’s a different set of variables for each and every location.

All very well, and I quite understand where you're coming from. But a single claim for damage that could be said to have been preventable by the regular check you espouse could easily wipe out the club. The vessel(s) lost may well be covered by their own insurance, but the insurers will be looking to limit their losses by looking for other parties, and by carrying out regular checks, the club would be seen as having accepted at least partial liability.

The difference in cost between my marina fees and your club fees is primarily down to the different bases on which they operate. A marina explicitly accepts responsibility for boats berthed there; a club (in general) does not. There was a case a couple of years ago at Titchmarsh (where I berth) where a boat being kept ashore caught fire and destroyed one or two adjacent boats. It was dealt with very quietly, and as far as I know, insurance claims were dealt with expeditiously.

Of course, if a group of owners informally decided to look around every few days - without involving the club in any way - then that's a different matter!

 

[V1701]

Is there any reason you shouldn't organise a rota of daily rounds/visual check amongst yourselves on the understanding that that's what it will be?

 

[Swenns Dad]

Is there any reason you shouldn't organise a rota of daily rounds/visual check amongst yourselves on the understanding that that's what it will be?

Well, this was exactly what I had proposed directly with the commodore. The problem, however, is that he was not willing to do this, Or get involved, on the basis the ‘club’ may end up ‘liable’ for anything... which I understand, but don’t really agree with in these circumstances.

Clearly the option of boats owners doing a daily set of rounds, without the clubs formal involvement is an option, but you’re then back to square 1, whereby only a couple of members genuinely live within walking distance of the club, and most of those are ‘shielding’ as they’re vulnerable on basis of age, family, health etc.

So unless people drive to the club, it’s not happening... and is driving to a harbour to check if yours (and maybe others) boats classed as essential travel in the current climate? Some, I’m sure, would call this very selfish behaviour... some would argue they’re preventing incidents.

So, people are anxious about their boats being left unsupervised, and scared/following advice not to travel...

Catch 22.

Not sure there is an answer to this, other than to suck it and see.

 

[LadyInBed]

My concern is that the boat is easily accessible to miscreants when there is no other passing traffic.

 

[Laysula]

Doesn't seem much of a self help club to me. Have you not got phone numbers for any of the other members? Even if you only have one or two, that's all it takes to get the ball rolling and sort it out yourselves. Not forgetting to vote out the Commodore at the next AGM.
In January a close friend of mine had a serious accident and as such is still in hospital with a brain injury. My self and all his other friends have been checking his boat regularly to make sure that it is safe. None of us has ever thought, am I insured, We just do it because it's the right thing to do.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Doesn't seem much of a self help club to me. Have you not got phone numbers for any of the other members? Even if you only have one or two, that's all it takes to get the ball rolling and sort it out yourselves. Not forgetting to vote out the Commodore at the next AGM.
In January a close friend of mine had a serious accident and as such is still in hospital with a brain injury. My self and all his other friends have been checking his boat regularly to make sure that it is safe. None of us has ever thought, am I insured, We just do it because it's the right thing to do.

As individuals, that's fine; you're just doing what friends do. The club isn't in that position, and could be held responsible if anything went wrong that they could have prevented. The club presumably owns the yard and moorings; of necessity it must limit its responsibility, and if it does so by stating that members keep their boats there at their own risk, then it can't take any action that appears to shift responsibility to the club.

If anything went wrong, the club could easily be bankrupted, and the premises sold to meet insurance claims.

The Commodore's position is the only one possible in the situation, however unfeeling it may seem.

 

[lw395]

Whenever I leave a boat, I know it's secure, in case we get a week of gales and I can't get to it, or I'm ill or have to go elsewhere.
Lots of people leave their boats for a month or more at a time with no problems,
Sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own preparations.
It's not as if this lockdown in the UK came out of the blue.

I'm sure people who live a short walk from a club will do their best to keep an eye on things.
But clubs' neighbours will reasonable not want lots of people turning up, and the club has to exist with those neighbours in the future.