Vaughan

I notice the two ammeters on the dashboard. Don't see many of them nowadays!

Well done! Sounds as though it is "hunting" a bit but that will probably settle down once you go out and put a load on it. If it is making white smoke from the exhaust, that should disappear as well.

He will soon grow into what my father used to call a dog-and-a-half long and half-a-dog high. By the way, they swim like otters!

It is reported on the EDP website this morning.

That is your choice, to use it as your "house flag". If you flew it from the jack, it can strictly only be worn when under way.

Or per bend sable ermine. To be heraldically correct.

Oh, I'm feeling my age again. I remember when the whole river bank north of Acle Bridge was just a grass covered rhond bank, like so many others on the Broads, before the term "wild mooring" had ever been invented. It was a normal mooring. It was what your rhond hooks are for! Do people really expect to stand on a riverbank in the middle of the Acle marshes and pay a few Quid by credit card? Surely on a boating holiday, you carry enough cash with you for everyday eventualities. Never mind, as my daughter would say - "Shut up Dad!"

Ideally, do not use red oil, as this may eat away at the rubber seals in the piston. The best is white oil as used in hydraulic drives, such as Total Equivis. The same as used in farm machinery. I have been told that the two do not mix, so if you already have red oil, then continue with it. It is ATF or TQF. Can't remember which.

They often are, actually. Act of God is a recognised term in the insurance world. The French call it "Catastrophe naturelle". And indeed it is.

I would refer us to Richardsons' conditions of hire, available on their website today, as I have always found them well representative of the industry as a whole. I have taken the trouble to copy two conditions here : 25. Liability. We cannot accept liability for any damage, expense, injury, death or loss of any nature whatsoever suffered by any persons from any cause whatsoever other than in the case of the proven negligence of ourselves, or employees or agents. Your boating holiday should be a fun and relaxing break. Whilst every effort is made by us to ensure your safety, participants should be aware that boating and associated activities involving the water involve a certain amount of assumed risk. You and your party should accept the inherent risks and ensure that your party has sufficient knowledge, skill and fitness for such activities. 26. Personal insurance. You are strongly recommended to take out personal insurance for your holiday. Details of personal insurance are available on request. This looks exactly like Blakes conditions of hire when I was a director, back in the 70s and is no different from the 60s, when my father was the chairman of Blakes. So nothing at all has changed, as far as I can see! Yards and agencies have always pushed the need to take out personal insurance for injury and personal effects and the agencies have always offered this insurance, by the offices of their own insurers. There is nothing new in this. I believe it is possible that your own house insurance will cover you for injury or loss while on holiday, but this depends on the individual policy. I also believe that certain credit cards will cover you for travel insurance, depending on the type of holiday booked.

Yes, that's why I edited - I forgot that you were a hirer!

I was too late to edit the above by adding : If you are a hirer who is hit by a private boat, just tell the boatyard, and let them chase 'em up! They are well used to it.

I apologise Jean, your earlier - most valid - question seems to have been glossed over among the clinical dissection of my asterisks! What to do if hit by a private boat? Point 2 in my first post was contact your own insurers. I should have explained that there is a "chain of command" here. Your boat is insured by your insurer and it is to them that you make a claim if it is damaged. If they decide that a 3rd party is to blame, they will then counter-claim against the insurers of the other boat. That is what I meant by "they will then handle the claim for you". The problem with a hire boat is that the skipper is never the owner, which is why you have to contact the yard quickly, to get an accident report statement from them. And I mean quickly! Don't forget that the day when they hand the boat back, might be the very same morning when the accident happened. Without an accident report statement from the skipper, insurers will (naturally) not pay out on a claim. Unless they can be convinced by witnesses. If you can amicably exchange details with the other boat at the time that is very helpful but if not, the boat and its owner are registered (even on a short visit toll) so let your insurers chase 'em up!

"All right guv, I hold my hand up. It's a fair cop!" I created a new thread as there had been a most unfortunate incident with a private boat, which had left the owner so traumatised as to consider selling his boat. I felt that there was a misunderstanding of what to do in such cases and wanted to draw the attention of members who might also be worried. I wanted their attention - I wanted them to sit up and listen. Would they have done that if I had called it "Insurance Claims and how to deal with them."? As it is, this thread has already had 1300 views in a day and a half and run to two pages. So you may not like my cheeky use of an asterisk but at least I have got my message across and I very much hope that those who appreciate it, will find it useful some time.

I have just looked it up. I think I get the point!

If I had realised how some appear to feel, I would never have started this thread, in the genuine wish to assist members who may find themselves in the traumatic situation of having their boat damaged. The word I used is no longer considered a swearword and indeed if you spell it out here, the software filter will not delete it. The title was perhaps a bit "phonetic", to identify how people feel when accidents such as these happen. I totally agree that many of the "old school" of the forum have stepped back and they are very sadly missed. Perhaps I could suggest that at least I have decided to stick it out, during those bad times? I am most certainly not one of the untouchables (if there are any) and will very soon get "modded" if I step out of line. Usually with good reason! I am sorry to have offended you but I had genuinely hoped that the sharing of my experience would be of use to members.

And I have worked in the handling of insurance claims from the boatyard end, in large companies. Would you agree with me, in your experience, that unless there are very specific circumstances, a claim will not be refused by insurers, if there are convincing, independent, witnesses?

Yes, this is a difficult area! In my post above I deliberately did not refer to any contact at the scene, between the two parties, since this so often descends into a stressful and pointless confrontation. It is also quite possible that the hirer of one of these so called "behemoths" didn't even know they had hit something when they went down through Reedham with the tide. I have always found that it is better, in the long run, to let the boatyard and the insurers sort it out. If in any doubt, get witnesses!

That is a most sad story indeed, for which I have great sympathy. All I can honestly say is that in my experience in the business (which is a lifetime) it is the only one I have heard of. I hope there aren't any more out there?

How often do we hear this woeful lament, almost like a pibroch on the bagpipes? In view of some other threads here so far this season, I felt it might help to make clear that all boatyards are very heavily insured against 3rd party damage done by their boats. As in all things, however, there is a system and if you don't follow it, you might miss out. There are three things you must do at once: 1/. Get names of any independent witnesses, just in case of a disputed claim (which is rare). Your wife is not an independent witness. 2/. Inform your own insurers, who will then handle the claim for you. 3/. PHONE THE BOATYARD at once, to report the accident. This will light up a red light in their reception office to warn them that the hirer of Sea Smuggler 3 (a boat Wussername will remember!) will have to fill in a statement form when they get back in, as there has been an accident reported. It will be explained to them that they will not have to pay for anything, as they are insured. If they have paid a security deposit, they will not lose it for damage to another boat : only for the one they have hired. If you can get that form filled in and signed before the hirers get in their car to go home, then the battle is won. All the rest is just paperwork. If not, the hirer will have to be contacted by post and by then, the answer might be that they know nothing about this and refuse to accept it. This is where the witnesses come in. I promise you that boatyards will not resist third party claims. It is not in their interests to make their reputation any worse than it already seems to be! On the other hand, do not effect any repairs without the authority of the boatyard as their insurers may want an assessor to inspect the damage. The assessor will then agree the cost of the repairs. You would be surprised how many private owners and live-aboards all over Europe, get their winter maintenance paid for every year by claiming to have been hit by a hire boat! My old friend Rip Martins, very well known on the Broads, was the insurance assessor for the Navigators and General. He knew exactly what to look for!

I most certainly support you in this but I am 1000 miles away. I did mention insurance for a temporary repair and this of course, will be the hire boat's insurance, not yours. Get your own insurance to enter a claim from you to the boatyard and all it will need will be a signed statement of the accident, from the hirer, to say that they were to blame. As you were moored at the time there can't be much doubt of that! If not, let us know here and I am sure all those members who saw it will gladly come forward with a witness statement. The most important thing is to get a claim in at once. I am very sorry you feel as you do, but I might suggest that owing to the forum's policy of never naming boats involved in accidents, to protect their own privacy, this probably made people appear reticent about supporting you.

If you are still berthed next to Pete this morning, please give him my kindest regards. We are very old friends. He did indeed race and sell speedboats with an E-Type engine but his later racing boat had a Holman Moody Galaxy V8, with exhausts that stuck out about 3 ft over the stern. It wasn't so much the speed he achieved - one of the fastest mono-hulls - as the fabulous noise of the engine.

Cor, look yew hair, Wussernairme, thass one one o' them Star Wonderful things. They used ter goo throo Wroxham loik the clappers! Int a lot on 'em about, these days. Still, this wun look alright, doont it? Thass bin dun up loik a dawg's dinner!

I think our two posts were a "photo finish"!

This is the result of the wooden strengthening "sandwich" under the deck absorbing water and rotting, usually through the screw holes of deck fittings, such as cleats and fender eyes. Nowadays the sandwich is normally made of a honeycomb plastic sheet that does not rot. As it is moulded into the deck it can only be fixed if you can get access under the deck and cut away the lower mould. If not you have to cut into the deck. Is it repairable? Only with great difficulty and never perfectly.