Storm Damaged Boats

[Ron M.]

I've been wondering what becomes of all those unfortunate vessels(and their parts) damaged beyound repair in a catestropic event like the current one on the gulf coast ? Do the insurance co.'s just grind them up or what.?RM
________
Cannabis Collective

[Oswego John]

Ron,

Nothing is as sad as gazing at a boat that has had an encounter with a breakwater or a rocky lee shore. It is even worse for the owner. The boats invariably break loose in a storm accompanied by high winds.

When a hole is punched in the hull of a keel boat, it is like a blow of mercy, the boat usually sinks without much additional damage done to it. A boat with a centerboard usually floats and it keeps getting hammered again and again by the same object. I have heard of boats being intentionally scuttled before a serious storm or hurricane

Ballast keel, or not, when the boat is washed up on the lee shore, it eventually hits bottom and keeps taking a beating by the crashing surf . Quite often it may become partly buried in sand or whatever type bottom it is in. In any case, sand is in the entire boat, in everything.

From my past experiences, if the boat is well covered by a reputable insurance company, the company will declare that the boat is totalled and will make an offer to pay it off, never what the owner thinks the boat is worth. But it's better than nothing.

The insurance company isn't in the boat salvage business and doesn't want anything to deal with the sunken or damaged boat. Quite often the ex owner can buy his boat back for a song.

When a boat is raised , it is surprising what value remains (SOMETIMES) to someone who is enterprising and able to salvage the boat. Many times the engine and tranny, being pretty much sealed, take on very little water. Often stanchions, tanks and spars, as well ar block and tackle are unharmed. Electronics are usually shot. I have seen people buy the lead from the keel to remelt to make downrigger cannonballs. As the butcher says "We use everything in the hog except the oink."

If the hull can be feasibly repaired, often the boat can be resold. However, it will always carry the stigma of having been previously sunk. When it doesn't pay to repair the boat, most often it is stripped and what's left is destroyed. I always used to put a chainsaw to it and legally put it in the landfill. I have seen some people set the hull on fire. It makes an awesome fire but I think it is illegal and have never tried it.

As to the hundreds of boats left high and dry as a result of Katrina, I haven't a clue as to their disposition. In some of the pictures that I have seen, some of them looked to be in pretty good shape. If they are refloated, I don't know where the owners will keep them. I have heard that the marinas took a beating also.

O J

[Tom in Cambria]

I can tell you from personal experience when my old wooden boat went on the beach at Cabo San Luis in 1973 years before the inner harbor existedwhat happened was that she floated along the beach until she got caught in the surf. She got piacked up by a wave and dropped on some lava type rocks. These punched a hold in her side the size of you kitchen table. She filled with water and rested on her keel on the bottom in the surf. As each wave came in it rolled her with her keel as a pivot point. Finally she rolled enough to loosen the chainplates, then the mast came down. Once the mast was down the waves were strong enough to roll her completely over and the mast stub stuck in the beach sand. Succeeding waves rolled the keel over on top of her like a rolling pin flattening dough. Her ribs broke up and back and forth in the waves until there wasn't anything as big as your kitchen table left. A wad of crushed wood with the shrouds and stays wrapped around her. That night I said goodbye to her and poured gasoline and kerosene on her and set her afire. The blaze and smoke was so huge that Mexicans came down out of the hills on their donkeys to see what the fire was all about. They thought maybe the whole town of Cabo San Lucas was burning down.

After Hurricane Bob I believe it was, one of our local guys out here in Calif bought a whole fleet of damaged boats from the insurance companies and hauled them out here and rebuilt them and sold them. He was grinding fiberglass in his protective suit with the breathing apparatus for so long that people started calling him "Moonman Dan" because he looked like the astronauts who flew to the moon. The name stuck and he's still known to us locals a "Moonman" to distinguish him from another local known as "Dangerous Dan". When you refer to Dan here you have to declare whether you're meaning the Moonman or the Dangerous one. There's money to be made, restoring hurricane damaged boats, but you earn it re-wiring and patching all those boats. Insurance companies are happy to sell them to you on the cheap, but you have to haul them somewhere and a yard is usually too expensive for you to come out financially. Dan rented a vacant lot and set up a generator and compressor to do his work, and he had the know how and equipment to handle big boats off of trucks. FWIW

[Brett I. Miller]

See http://usauctions.com/. I suspect these folks will be busy for weeks to come.

[winthrop fisher]

I've been wondering what becomes of all those unfortunate vessels(and their parts) damaged beyound repair in a catestropic event like the current one on the gulf coast ? Do the insurance co.'s just grind them up or what.?RM

hey... after hurricanes the salvage is up for any one for the taking or pennies on the dollar. ..winthrop

[neil]

In Key West a guy called Cowboy George thinks that they are his personal rummag party...
He has been placed in jail for his own protection, there are a few hundred people who will shoot stab and hang that scumbag for looting their boats.
There is another form of vulture but with credentials called Tow Boat US, they need to watch their backs as well.
A lot of the boats are trashed and salvors will strip them and trash the hulls, the ones that are not too bad might be taken and put up for sale.

Its very depressing.


Cheers.