Shady Update

[poter]

Phew what a day ....... Shady swung off the wall on the new anchor layout & settled in the mud, a little more damage last night, the wind was apparently gusting 70mph again with a recorded gust at Dawlish of 85. I am just suprised she is not matchwood!

She is now safe having been floated & towed down to Topsham but a lot of damage can now be seen on her starboard side, the patched hole was ok but there is some structural damage between the hull & the deck where the joint has been opened up due to the failure & damage of the toerail.
The engine is being stripped & flushed so that should be ok.
The inside is a mess lots of water damage but my scotch survived!!!!
The electrics, instruments, radio & radar etc. are all damaged & probably not worth the repair, and all my super sailing books, charts etc are gone.

Now what to do?
Obviously a lot of it comes down to the Insurer, but a thought!

The insurer declares it a write-off! If I take the money do I repair her, (would I be able to do that or do the insurers keep the wreck, how does it work?)
I would probably take a big hit financially, because the total loss bill is not going to cover all the repairs.

The engineer at Topsham is looking at 10k for the major repair to the glass fibre & structure.The inside would be gutted on the starboard side to get to the bulkheads etc. That means I will end up with around 10k insurance balance, to repair the inside, replace some basic instruments, rewire, etc etc & I have not looked at the repairs to the rigging, although the standing rig is new so not a problem there, the furler looks ok but maybe requires a lot of bits. The pullpit is ok but the guard rails & wire on the starboard side have all gone.

I would have to paint her as well, to bring her back to what she was like.

As we all know, as soon as you mention the M word, prices double.

So there is the dilemma go for the repair, & do as much as I can myself as a winter project or take the dosh and get something else?

A final thought: If I do go for the repair I could do all the changes that I would have done, like new tanks, complete new wiring, heating etc etc. But would you bother?

poter

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[Robin]

Peter

Will send you a pm

Robin

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[LadyInBed]

If written off then the insurers will own it but you can buy it from them.
If you then repair, you might have to declare the write off on resale, which would affect the price.
I think I would walk away and start thinking “Now, which other boats do I fancy”.


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[Guest]

TCL - Total Constructive Loss

If an Insurer declares Total Constructive Loss - which is the decision of Underwriter - not broker, then once pay-out is accepted and made to you - title transfers to Insurer. You no longer have any call or right to the boat. It will often include all items in normal use of the boat as YOU insured .....

If you wish to have the 'wreck' as it is now called - then you must agree an offset on payment to the value of the 'wreck'. It is normally better and easier to compromise on pay-out from Insurers to be able to keep the boat. Often the argument that they will have a 'wreck' on their hands and the hassle of trying to sell it on etc. can help - it did when they tried TCL on a boat of mine previously.

My claim was approx. £2000 on a boat of £2500 value ..... they declared TCL and I compromised at £1500 and kept the boat. They did issue a letter stating that further insurance of the boat was not available via their broker etc. - but this was due to my argument over a couple of other matters including the standards of the Broker they used.

So be careful with TCL - it can back-fire if not handled carefully. Be careful with compromise and make sure you have all info and real estimates of work to evaluate the whole affair. Make sure you take out all those items that you wish to keep ....

And DON'T forget that many items lost on boats are actually NOT covered by Marine insurance but ARE covered by Household contents Insurance. What ever you cannot get Marine to accept in terms of itesm inside boat .... claim on Household .... you will be surprised at the response - I certainly was .... I received a quick reply informing me of a shop and telephone number where I could go and pick up the gear etc. - signing the Shop's document stating that gear was collected etc. Marine Ins. took months after to even start the conclusion .....


<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[Talbot]

I know someone who went for the dosh, and then purchased the hull and re-fitted. If you are doing that then it makes sense to do all those tasks that you have been planning. They had enormous trouble getting the interior wood back to a decent colour, and in fact never really managed it. Plus the boat is then shown on the insurers books as having been a write off.
If you go with the insurance company doing the repairs, then there is little chance of doing improvements as they do the repairs, which is a bit of a shame (wasted opportunity) Unless you can persuade them otherwise of course.

decision really depends on whether this is the boat of your dreams, or a step towards it. If it is the boat of your dreams, can you get a replacement that will have all the wiring, instruments etc upgraded?

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[halcyon]

Think it is a case of sorting out what the insurance say first. Then shop around the yards, locally Mylor may well quote 10K, but Martin up the creek may be 5/6K for the same job. Say you spend 10K on refit, what could you get if you buy a new boat for the insurance money plus 10K ?. Would it have new wiring, new tanks, new electronics etc, a known hull, or a boat that may be newer, but all the equipment is a lot older ?.
Depends which way you view the situation.

All the best with Shady

Brian

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[poter]

<decision really depends on whether this is the boat of your dreams, or a step towards it.>

good point . It was a step towards a CC Moody

So take the dosh get a bigger mortgage & GFI?

poter

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[poter]

Re: TCL - Total Constructive Loss

Nigel,

Thank you for clarity.
Thought provoking.


thanks,

poter



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[jimi]

Think another consideration might be as to how soon you could be on the water again?

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[graham]

I think the resale value of a repaired write off will be badly affected.

Personally I would haggle for the best possible deal from the insurers and take the dosh. it will also probably get you afloat again quicker.Boatyards are notorious for keeping you waiting.

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[longjohnsilver]

If you're in Retreat then any repair will be expensive and you'll still end up with a boat which has been almost destroyed, will have a substantial affect on resale.

Take the dosh and run!

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[tome]

There's some good advice here, just one thing to add. Take a few days to think about it once you have the immediate situation under control. Step back and think about what you want.

I don't know your exact circumstances, but going for a bigger loan now might put enough pressure on you to spoil your enjoyment of the boat. I'm sure that your own good sense will guide you on this.

Best wishes
Tom



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[clyst]

Peter , For what its worth and I know its easy for me to say but my thoughts are if its not your dream "forever" boat then take the dosh cos it will be a difficult boat to sell when the time comes and i fear will have to be sold well below MV . Imagine the post on SB "I'm thinking of buying a yacht that was a total loss but repaired should I invest my hard earned cash in this boat or walk away?" bet most replies would advise to look elsewhere .
Crack open your scotch and look to the future .

Cheers

Terry
Terry

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[sailorman]

they may "Estimate" £10k but in reallity the final invoice could well be £20k+ on the "starter for ten" basis.
if u cant get a total fixed price walk away
boatyards have a habit of low estimate to get job then "reel-in" the insurers
any how glad to hear of your progress & the insurers should acknowlege your stout efforts in limiting their loss.
best of luck in your endevours
roger

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[LadyInBed]

Think of it another way

No winter lay up fees
No winter maintenance
All winter to look around

Buy in April
Sail away in May /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

. . . . and if you want a winter sail - give me a shout.


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[tcm]

be careful about the refit - a boat now in France has done this after a fire, albeit at much scarier financial elevations, cos it's over 20m long. The boat remains for sale after two years. I supose renaming it "Phoenix" didn't help....

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[ccscott49]

You have to ask yourself the questions, will she ever be as strong and "in line" as she was? Will she ever look right again? Is she of historical importance? No to any of these, then I would consider biting the bullet and letting her go to the graveyard and getting something else. IMHO

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[PaulR]

our hunter delta was declared a TCL following sinking in the october 87 storm.

insurers were superb and having raised her an estimate was provided by the closest yard (Fox's on the orwell) which was very close to the sum insured, my insurers gave us the option did we want:-

1 to settle claim based on sum insured being paid to us and they kept the salvage?
2. have repairs done?
3. agree cash figure with us keeping salvage?

we went through the same questions that you are probably asking yourself now and finally decided that we would take option 1 and go hunting for our next boat, one of my wifes key issues was whether she would ever feel comfortable in the boat that had sunk again- she decided not.

another member of my then yacht club offered to buy the salvage and his offer was accepted rapidly by the insurers and our hunter was then repaired on a diy basis and to best of my knowledge is still happily sailing.

Insurers are generally happy to discuss all the options - they want happy customers and to pay the minimum required under the terms of your policy and a flexible approach by both claimant and insurer can go along way towards achieving both objectives,

good luck

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[Otto]

Seriously, chuck it. It's only a boat. Get another.



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[bob_tyler]

Otto, that is not a very nice comment. Poter has put in a lot of blood, sweat and probably tears to get this boat up to scratch and has will have become very fond of her in the process.

As a new poster you will soon learn that many of us are more fond of our boats than of SWMBO or HWMBO.

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