Accident

[ecgossett]

Last night after a wonderful afternoon of rowing/sailing I got sideswiped going around a corner by a lady who thought the road was straight. The side of the car is bashed in.

Here are the photos of the boat which broke the tie-down strap and pulled out the winch strap. Not sure if it is recoverable or not. Worried about deck damage or other damage I can't see, and I had a short piece of aluminum mast in the forward hole for tieing the masts to. The masts are also bent with one bent over the other. Not sure if the right answer is to ask insurance for replacement cost of boat or which way to go on this. Oh trailer wheel/axel broke off shocks what not on one side.

Also engine fuel leaked all over boat because outboard was but in boat after it got picked up, not sure what damage ethanol did to stuff.

Are the masts repairable?

Should I even try to make the race this weekend?

Where do I go/tell insurance etc, any tips for dealing with Progressive?

[hokeyhydro]

First you may need to locate a person skilled in wood boat damage assessment since I doubt Progressive has any talent in that area. Once bent aluminum masts are probably toast. Inspect the boat in bright daylight for cracks and note them no matter how tiny. An RV place or body shop should be able to assess trailer damage.

RE boat itself - during my hydro racing days a couple of my friends on different occasions had their blow off their car roof (9 1/2' about 120 lb race hulls) at interstate highway warp speed and the hulls suffered minor scratches, no structural damage, and those boats were built light.

Gasoline might hurt the paint but should not bother the epoxy as there's not much ethanol in the fuel. Again in my race days we would build small (1/2 - 3/4 gal) fuel tanks out of leftover okoume plywood and WEST resin. Worked like a champ - epoxy never gave up.

Dealing with Progressive? The entire insurance industry operates on the "Delay, Deny, Defend" strategy. Go tough early and never let them sleep until they cough up the $$$.

And - glad there were no people injuries on either side. Boats can be fixed/replaced, damaged bodies hurt for along time. My body still reminds me of mishaps decades ago . . .

[Gordy Hill]

It actually hurts to look at those photos.

1. Is there a chance you can borrow masts for the race?

2. I live in Orlando, about 2 1/2 hours from Ft Desoto and live alone and have a bedroom you can use if you want to come down early and work on the boat.

my cell is 407-616-4371

Gordy

[ecgossett]

If you read http://watertribe.or...es=19#post-1754 I have some replacement aluminum for top of mast coming down from Atlanta Thursday.. Not sure if/how bad the rest is bent if it will still sail safely and or can be unbent. Trying to find replacement aluminum for new masts that I could put together fast (insurance from other driver will eventually cover costs hopefully).

My leave starts on Thursday, so not sure if coming down early would work, but thanks for the offer.

Since I had an email about it yes the rub-rails are treated pine from Lowes, which you can't beat $1.26 for 8' pieces.

[Jim Stumpf]

I would be hesitant to put the boat back in the water after such an accident, the insurance company may interpret that as your acceptance that there was no structural damage to the hull. These boats were not designed to be thrown on the pavement, are your sure that there are not structural issues in the stitch and glue joints. I for one would not just accept the fact that there is not more damage than meets the naked eye. This is my two cents based on being a professional carpenter and general contractor for better than 25 years...it is the stuff that you can not see that will bite you on the behind.

Best of luck to you and I agree that these pictures were hard to look at.

Jim

[ChrisObee]

I would be hesitant to put the boat back in the water after such an accident, the insurance company may interpret that as your acceptance that there was no structural damage to the hull.

I have to agree. Although you will probably get a good idea if something is wrong during the race. If you do race I would photo any leaks or discovered damage.

[Kudzu]

I will third that! I had some bad dealing with antique cars and I can tell you they are not looking out for your interests.

The best advice I can give you is a get a notebook, write down EVERYTHING that is said in any conversation you have. Hopefully you will not need it but if you do it will be invaluable! And if you keep it up it is admisable in court (per my lawyer and our state law). I hope you don't need it but you do have an odd claim there, a boat that does not have a book value. So your better off being cautious.

NEXT, be very careful what you say to them. It can get turned against you. Don't volunteer information. Just answer questions yes, no and don't offer something they did not ask!! If your asked value of the boat, expect at some point to have to prove that. Value of the boat is what it will sell for before the accident. Not what you spent on it.

They will probably want someone to give a quote on repair cost. As you know that is going to be hard to find someone that knows what they are doing and could actually repair it.

Yes this sounds harsh, but if you do have a problem it's better to be prepared. I learned this lesson the hard way.

[ecgossett]

We did find one additinional nasty crack two inches above water line in forward PORT seat tank (8 inches long). The wood is splintered inside but it looks like 10ounch cloth on outside saved it there. I think a temporary repair can be done. It's probaly going to be underwater for most of the morning going down the coast with current winds.

Underneith on bow we found a area rubbed raw by tow truck trailer and various damage on keel stringer board. I miight ignore and just goat with some epoxy on this as it is serperated from rest of boat by some serious epoxy filler.

I got the boat out of the tow lot and over to the St. Mary's Boaryard parked in front of the fiberglass shop. Mabel (best glass person withing 60 miles) is going to do a quote for insurance for paint and everything to be done in couple of weeks. She is hesitant to work with wood as usually it is fiberglass, so I will have to put new coaming in etc.

I did talk to Graham today and he told me about a spindrift blowing off a roof going down the highway and being ok besides beat up a little. Wooden boats take shocks that solid glass boats can't.

Maybe it's a good weekend for Jenn to take out more life insurance on me. I don't think the race will be to physical so with minor back and neck pains should be fine with a partner to do the heavy lifting.

[ecgossett]

Boat is in yard, appraiser looked at it, probably over $4000 of damage. Photos are at http://cumberlandsound.blogspot.com

Masts may not be to horrible.

[cprinos]

Glad no one was hurt--really sorry to hear (and see) about the boat, especially one that had been finished launched so recently!

[ecgossett]

Dropped out early on the Ultra Marathon today. The boat was taking on water in two tanks from additional accident cracks that opened up, and the port fwd tank completely filled when we where getting beat up during the morning of the first day. I used the equivalent of 3M 5200 from Wal-Mart to patch with ducktape over and it held pretty decently.

[ecgossett]

Upgrades since accident, and tow truck pulling boat onto trailer:

1) Two kevlar layers on keel, bow, and centerboard leading edge.

2) Added more tape for crack found on bottom under repair done for compressed side, and two more layers over the two layers of tape on compression crack that was repaired. (you can see where I've nicely sanded it in on bottom and painted black below side repair).

3) Used epoxy mixed with about 15% graphite on bottom, then wet sanded down in two layers.

4) The two stress crack on front deck from boat being flipped over where sanded down, then I used the dremmel multimax to make a narrow channel along crack about 1/16" deep and filled with epoxy. Tomorrow will add thickened epoxy to fair.

5) After a lot of work with dremmel, and wood chisels (they chip bad when hitting epoxy), I removed all damaged coaming sections all the way down, and have a new piece fit in, and drying in place for the curve right now. The other couple places I cut narrow pieces out and replaced with new wood (will post photos tomorrow).

6) Bedded inner support wood for motor mount in better epoxy and glass (original cracked) when boat flipped and split motor). Added a 3/8" piece of plywood off back on which I will mount motor mount. This is 1" wider then base plate and will spread load and stress and helped repair two cracks in hull from accident.

[wkisting]

Looks like you're making good progress on the repairs. Soon she'll be as good as new again.

[ecgossett]

I've finally gotten around to repairing rudder cheek blocks from  the accident.

 

1) Camleat was pulled apart, am considering epoxying back together.

2) One of my SS nuts corroded badly and required liquid wrench to get off to detach tiller.

3) Tiller either requires new handle made, I already have wood, or fixing up existing tiller cheek blocks and oak handle.

 

4) Am considering replacing main post inside cheek blocks due to the top cracking in accident. I did a temporary fix using a structural epoxy fill to replace cracked wood. The only problem was the top crack out and has made my tiller adjustable up and down. Is this a good thing that I should leave??? The forces side to side are the same, its just the lifting it up that only has the back bolt to pivot on now for tiller.

If I replace main block will have to pry blocks apart then sand and reattach with epoxy. This may not be clean or neat.

 

5) For the downhaul I have a little roller sheave to go inside, am considering drilling through middle of main post corner where downhaul comes through, then using a bolt to attach sheave. Right now the rope just runs on the wood, of course this does add a little friction to keep force off cleat.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[James Miller]

I hope I'm not too late but from my experience I want to say be careful about indorsing any checks with a bit of a paragraph on the back as that may conclude your opportunity for a fair settlement, they can be tricky.

[ecgossett]

They gave me $4500.00 to fix the boat.