1st Insurance Claim - UGH...

[anmut]

Spent these last four days at a rental house on Fence Lake, WI. We had our boats tied to the docks at the house - first night we were there a storm came through late and caused so much wind and waves that the boats tore the dock out and set themselves loose. We actually found our lines still attached to the cleats and boards of the dock. The good is that they ended up in a cove about 100 yards away - the bad is that they then spent the entire night getting smashed into the rocky shore. I still used the boat the rest of the weekend as there wasn't any holes in the hull. Damage pics below.

Right now my plan is to keep using the boat as is - there's no holes and the boat is kept on a trailer, so a day or so of keeping it in the water and letting it dry out during the week should be OK. I filed a claim and found a place within 100 miles that will do fiberglass repair. I'm thinking this will be a 2-4k repair bill. I'm going to try to keep the impact to boating season at a minimal for the repair. It could've been a lot worse, considering. Still makes me sick though.

 

[Ronnie]

I put a nickel sized hole in the bow and a pen sized gouge in the stern of my boat a few years ago’ which was a lot less damage than seen in your pics. The cost to repair them was $3,550 but that was at CA SF Bay Area rates. I was told what took so long and cost so much was all the sanding and blending of the repair so it matched the rest of the boat. Boat u.s. handled the claim smoothly as usual. The fiberglass guy and insurance rep. Met with me on the same day. My claim was approved the following day and I had a check in hand within a week. If you owe money on the boat the check is made out to the fiberglass repair shop, otherwise it’s sent to you directly. Mine was made out to my wife and I (I paid for the boat but put her on title), this kind of sucked because my bank wouldn’t let me deposit it into my account alone).

good luck with the repairs. Seems like a good but seldom occurring reason to install a keel guard They are 5” wide so it would not have prevented all the damage but it would have done some good on the spots that rubbed through the gel coat.

 

[rkluck]

Just curious since this destroyed the dock does the home insurance cover the boat as well as the dock?

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Spent these last four days at a rental house on Fence Lake, WI. We had our boats tied to the docks at the house - first night we were there a storm came through late and caused so much wind and waves that the boats tore the dock out and set themselves loose. We actually found our lines still attached to the cleats and boards of the dock. The good is that they ended up in a cove about 100 yards away - the bad is that they then spent the entire night getting smashed into the rocky shore. I still used the boat the rest of the weekend as there wasn't any holes in the hull. Damage pics below.

Right now my plan is to keep using the boat as is - there's no holes and the boat is kept on a trailer, so a day or so of keeping it in the water and letting it dry out during the week should be OK. I filed a claim and found a place within 100 miles that will do fiberglass repair. I'm thinking this will be a 2-4k repair bill. I'm going to try to keep the impact to boating season at a minimal for the repair. It could've been a lot worse, considering. Still makes me sick though.

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@anmut .....I have had a LOT of experience with gel coat and barrier coats. My first question - are you planning on keeping this boat and if so, for how long? Second question: Do you hope to get top dollar for it in a trade-in or re-sale situation? Because..... it is my considered opinion and experience that if you run this boat in the water repeatedly with the hull in this condition it will not dry-out between uses and you will get water intrusion and possible hull de-lamination that IMO your insurance (if they have a marine adjuster with any knowledge) will not cover. Now that I have indicated a problem may I offer a cheap (relatively) solution? Get a quart or two of black barrier paint and a fine roller. Cover any areas of exposed fiberglass and take before and after pictures and keep the bills. It may take a couple of coats in some areas. This will have no effect whatsoever on your repair later as this damage will have to be sanded and afired and possible also repaired before final surfacing. IF it were me I'd also contact the insurance company first, by e.mail (so I received a written reply) and propose my plan. I would think they would agree and you'd have it in writing. You may get lucky using it as you say but I doubt it and if it goes bad your hull could be a write-off not covered by insurance.

 

[anmut]

@anmut .....I have had a LOT of experience with gel coat and barrier coats. My first question - are you planning on keeping this boat and if so, for how long? Second question: Do you hope to get top dollar for it in a trade-in or re-sale situation? Because..... it is my considered opinion and experience that if you run this boat in the water repeatedly with the hull in this condition it will not dry-out between uses and you will get water intrusion and possible hull de-lamination that IMO your insurance (if they have a marine adjuster with any knowledge) will not cover. Now that I have indicated a problem may I offer a cheap (relatively) solution? Get a quart or two of black barrier paint and a fine roller. Cover any areas of exposed fiberglass and take before and after pictures and keep the bills. It may take a couple of coats in some areas. This will have no effect whatsoever on your repair later as this damage will have to be sanded and afired and possible also repaired before final surfacing. IF it were me I'd also contact the insurance company first, by e.mail (so I received a written reply) and propose my plan. I would think they would agree and you'd have it in writing. You may get lucky using it as you say but I doubt it and if it goes bad your hull could be a write-off not covered by insurance.

That's a good idea, thank you. I'm still waiting back for the estimate and ETA on when it could be fixed, but will check with the insurance company regarding sealing it back up. I had thought about the water "intrusion" on the fiberglass, but then I also thought "the inside of the hull is fiberglass without gelcoat, and it's wet constantly, so what's the difference?"

 

[Brad460]

Sorry to see this! The good news is this can be easily fixed like it never happened. My dad ran our Moomba into the front of a barge several years ago- bad enough there was a gapping hole on the side of the boat from front to back. Repair was $4000..

Anyways, not sure who is doing the repair but the best guy in WI is in Oconomowoc..Blue Ribbon Fiberglass repair..

 

[Scottintexas]

sorry to hear about this, if you want to continue to use it I would at least slap a coat of marine tex over the bare spots, when it's time to fix it right they can sand it off,

 

[anmut]

Sorry to see this! The good news is this can be easily fixed like it never happened. My dad ran our Moomba into the front of a barge several years ago- bad enough there was a gapping hole on the side of the boat from front to back. Repair was $4000..

Anyways, not sure who is doing the repair but the best guy in WI is in Oconomowoc..Blue Ribbon Fiberglass repair..

Thank you - I'll look him up. The first shop I found was Fiberglass Boat Repair - Wisconsin - Sierra Marine & R.V. Repair in Ogdensburg, WI.

 

[anmut]

sorry to hear about this, if you want to continue to use it I would at least slap a coat of marine tex over the bare spots, when it's time to fix it right they can sand it off,

Thanks for the tip - bought some on Amazon so I can get it on before the weekend!

 

[minn19]

Sorry to see/here this. Was this last Saturday night? I wonder if it was the same storm that dropped two inch hail and a long Tornado Warning (radar indicated) right by our place. Our boat was on the trailer in the driveway, but I still couldn't believe it didn't sustain any hail/debris damage. That was a pretty crazy storm, obviously hope it gets repaired fast with the least amount of headaches.

 

[anmut]

Sorry to see/here this. Was this last Saturday night? I wonder if it was the same storm that dropped two inch hail and a long Tornado Warning (radar indicated) right by our place. Our boat was on the trailer in the driveway, but I still couldn't believe it didn't sustain any hail/debris damage. That was a pretty crazy storm, obviously hope it gets repaired fast with the least amount of headaches.

Yes, Saturday night!

 

[minn19]

Yes, Saturday night!

I know the area you were in and figured it tracked by us over to there. Off topic, but I learned how to fish with my Grandpa up on Lake Namakagon (and other areas in MN with my other Grandpa) when I was a kid in the 80s. Love the whole Northern WI area etc. Sorry your trip was interrupted etc by this one, that sucks. Glad everyone was ok though.

 

[anmut]

I know the area you were in and figured it tracked by us over to there. Off topic, but I learned how to fish with my Grandpa up on Lake Namakagon (and other areas in MN with my other Grandpa) when I was a kid in the 80s. Love the whole Northern WI area etc. Sorry your trip was interrupted etc by this one, that sucks. Glad everyone was ok though.

Minor setback - I was just happy the boat didn't float somewhere else on the lake and/or sink. We still used it the entire weekend!

 

[anmut]

I put a nickel sized hole in the bow and a pen sized gouge in the stern of my boat a few years ago’ which was a lot less damage than seen in your pics. The cost to repair them was $3,550 but that was at CA SF Bay Area rates. I was told what took so long and cost so much was all the sanding and blending of the repair so it matched the rest of the boat. Boat u.s. handled the claim smoothly as usual. The fiberglass guy and insurance rep. Met with me on the same day. My claim was approved the following day and I had a check in hand within a week. If you owe money on the boat the check is made out to the fiberglass repair shop, otherwise it’s sent to you directly. Mine was made out to my wife and I (I paid for the boat but put her on title), this kind of sucked because my bank wouldn’t let me deposit it into my account alone).

good luck with the repairs. Seems like a good but seldom occurring reason to install a keel guard They are 5” wide so it would not have prevented all the damage but it would have done some good on the spots that rubbed through the gel coat.

I was thinking about the keel guard - in a situation like this it would have protected the hull but I probably would've had to scrape off and put on a new keel guard. Either way it's not a good situation.

 

[anmut]

Just curious since this destroyed the dock does the home insurance cover the boat as well as the dock?

I wasn't thinking about that - not sure if my insurance will want to go after the homeowner's insurance or not. It will probably depend on the amount for the repair.

 

[Ronnie]

There was at least one member here or the other site that had similar damage to his keel. His covered around 13’ of the keel but wasn’t as deep as your damage. As I recall he didn’t bother to have it repaired. Instead he just cleaned / prepped the area and slapped a 15’ keel guard over it.

The nice thing about keel guards is that if they get ripped or torn keel guard replaces them under their lifetime warranty.

I’ve replaced the one on my boat recently, it was very time consuming to get the old one off completely in prep for a new one.

 

[Enduro900]

FLEX SEAL.......yes that stuff really works and comes in spray or roll-on.......

 

[anmut]

FLEX SEAL.......yes that stuff really works and comes in spray or roll-on.......

I thought about it - not sure if the repair shop would approve though. I'd hate to create more of a problem down the road with a temporary fix.

 

[jamesk]

Hopefully you don't have Encompass or Allstate.....They would try to tell you that was a factory defect.
Sorry, I had a really bad 2 year claim with them.
You will probably get a range of estimates from different repair places or your insurance company.
Whatever your insurance company does I would make sure a decent repair shop would be willing to do the repair work for what they come up with.
Many insurance companies will send a "marine survey" company to look at your damage.
Hope it goes well for you but I would just be careful with how your insurance co handles it.

 

[anmut]

Hopefully you don't have Encompass or Allstate.....They would try to tell you that was a factory defect.
Sorry, I had a really bad 2 year claim with them.
You will probably get a range of estimates from different repair places or your insurance company.
Whatever your insurance company does I would make sure a decent repair shop would be willing to do the repair work for what they come up with.
Many insurance companies will send a "marine survey" company to look at your damage.
Hope it goes well for you but I would just be careful with how your insurance co handles it.

I have State Farm. My initial contact with the rep was basically "email us pictures and a quote and we'll send the check when the repair is done."