Damage Waiver Was Paid!

[Vaughan]

As this is a time for sharing some stories, I thought you might like to see what your damage waiver gets spent on!

This was one of the more awkward salvage jobs I have been involved in, and there have been a few!

 

This was on the river Charente, near Cognac, towards the end of the season and the river was swollen owing to heavy rain up in the Dordogne.  The high water had covered an island in the middle of the stream, which used to have small trees on it but these had recently been cut down.  Despite the danger warning buoys, one of which you can see right beside the boat in the photo, they carried on across the island and two of the tree stumps went straight through the bottom of the boat.

We went down there with two other hire boats, a lot of gear and three motor pumps, hired from a local plant hire firm.

Olivier, seen here, was the base manager at Jarnac, so the boat was his baby!

Luckily Jaques, the manager at Douelle, on the river Lot, had been a diver in the French Navy :

 

But he only had one set of bottles, so he and I were down there buddy breathing off the same regulator, while we sawed the stumps off from under the hull.  We then bolted and screwed a couple of plywood patches over the holes, using my old hand drill and my Yankee pump screwdriver, both of which work perfectly underwater!  Then we started to pump, which was not easy as all the side windows and the aft well were under water.  I had already been down that side holding my breath and plugging all the vent and drain holes I could find in the hull, as even the galley sink was under water by then.

I was in the aft well, up to my chest and sitting on a pillow, so as to push it up against a big vent grill in the side moulding.  After a lot of pumping, nothing was happening, until I noticed that the water in the boat seemed to be moving about.  There seemed to be a flow, coming out of the door to one of the cabins.  So under we went again and sure enough, there was a third tree stump through the bottom on the other side of the boat!  This wasn't easy, as the boat was leaning over on it and we couldn't get access from the inside in the cabin.  So we just had to dig around the stump, saw it off and leave it in the boat.  We pushed a lot of pillows around it and as she began to come up level we shoved them gradually further into the hole.  Pumping out had to be done very carefully, as with all that water inside she could very easily capsize over the other way, and we would have to start all over again!  One person standing on the deck in the wrong place, is all it takes.  By the time we had got her level and stable, the river had started to go down, so we had to pull her off the island with Tirfor jacks, from the bank.

Getting her home to Jarnac meant I had to push her from behind with another boat, as the lock gates were too narrow to enter alongside.  The pushing boat was a bathtub type so I could see out of the side windows but nothing at all in front.  Luckily Jaques and I had started on some wine by then and we were able to have a shower on the boat when we were in the lock, so that cheered us up no end!  We had the pumps running flat out all the way home and hauled her out straight away on the gantry.

 

This is one of the patches that we put on underwater.

 

And this is the hole on the other side, that we couldn't reach to patch!

The boat was written off by the insurance but the wreck was bought by the local policeman, who fitted her out again inside, for his own use.  I am not sure I would have taken on a project like that as there was not a lot left worth having, in there!  At least it happened in fresh water, I suppose.  If it had been brackish water, like on Breydon, that would have really done for it!

[BroadAmbition]

Wow, proper interesting and thanks for sharing

Griff

[WherryNice]

Thanks for sharing that Vaughan, very interesting to see what happens in these type of situations.

[jimbob88]

Not that I know much about sunken boats but how was this declared a right off a d the silverline boat that sank at chedgrave and looked just as submerged wasn't.

Brilliant story though I've often fancied a trip on the river Lot.

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Vaughan]

4 minutes ago, jimbob88 said:

Not that I know much about sunken boats but how was this declared a right off a d the silverline boat that sank at chedgrave and looked just as submerged wasn't.

I suppose that depends on your insurance policy. There are several versions available for hire boats. It depends how much risk you are prepared to take and/or how much premium you are prepared to pay.

Insurance is a "risk" business.

[oldgregg]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

If ever anyone thinks hiring is expensive, this is why... Boats do get wrecked!

[Vaughan]

The boat that got sunk was rather a one-off design that you may not have seen before and certainly not on the Broads.

We had some old centre cockpit Alpha 44s (or is it 42?) that were not letting all that well and needed refreshing.  So a whole new cabin top mould was laid on top of the original boat.  This did away with the sliding canopy and folding windscreen but gave it a long, spacious, high sundeck with dual steering. It made a very good boat for the French rivers, where we are not too worried about height.

It also dropped the waterline aft by nearly two inches, which actually made them easier to steer!

The mould was made by Langford Jillings at Alphacraft and designed by John Moxham, who I believe designed the original boat.  The moulds were then sent by truck to France where the fitting out was done by Arthur Garret and myself, at St Gilles.

We had to do a bit of interior work in the old wheelhouse and around the window surrounds inside but otherwise, we hardly needed to touch the original interior, other than a lot of new varnish and new curtains and Lino.

Luckily I did my usual gas test on the boat before she first went out on hire, as I couldn't get any pressure on the gauge.  I soon discovered that I had walked about 45 screws into the gas pipe, all along the corner of the aft cabin top!  In my defence, it had been hidden up behind the head-lining, so I didn't know it was there.  Another good reason why gas pipes in a boat should ideally be visible.

We ended up fitting out 5 of them and they have been very popular.  The moulds arrived either with the blue sides in the gel-coat, or in plain white.  Opinion was always divided as to which looked better.

I am not at all sure that all the expense and time, on an old boat, made them commercially viable in hiring terms but that was not my problem.  They asked me to do it, so I did it!

[MotorBoater]

Nice looking craft, I suppose if they've been popular it must count as a success !

[JanetAnne]

It's amazing just how much the shape of a boat is changed to the eye by the different colour schemes.

The boat to right is clearly three foot longer!

[Paul]

2 hours ago, jimbob88 said:

Not that I know much about sunken boats but how was this declared a right off a d the silverline boat that sank at chedgrave and looked just as submerged wasn't.

There are a number of factors involved when an insurance company writes off an asset, the obvious one being repair cost versus perceived current value. Different insurance companies will have different thresholds and most will be influenced by the wishes of the policy holder. Not being fully conversant with the details of the Silverline incident it may be the yard didn't want it written off and accepted a settlement that was in the insurance companies favour but which allowed them to repair the boat and return it to hire, or simply that the insurance company assessed that the cost of repair was too far short of the boats perceived value to write it off.

I had a car written off once, hit head on by a vehicle on the wrong side of the road. After the immediate issues of recovering the car and clearing the road the very first question the insurer asked me was "do you want it repaired or written off". Based on my verbal assessment of the damage by the end of the day of the accident the insurer and I had agreed a settlement amount, I just had to wait a couple of days for them to get the photos from the repair center bearing out what I had described. When they called me to confirm the write off they did offer me the chance to buy the car back which I declined. 

[webntweb]

I remember seeing these in the brochure when we were looking to holiday in France.

I always though it was a one-off, nice to read about their history

[oldgregg]

Something similar was done with some old Aquafibre centre cockpits I think and some Connoisseurs over on the other side of what became LeBoat. Some are still in hire.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Paul said:

Not being fully conversant with the details of the Silverline incident it may be the yard didn't want it written off

I was also referring to the insurance of hire boats, in other words a business insurance.

For instance Bobby Richardson, before he sold the yard to Rank, only ever insured his boats third party.  With that many boats, he reckoned he could happily lose one, or even two, every year and it would still cost less than the insurance premium if he insured them all risks.  What they do now of course, I don't know!  In my case I only had a few boats, so my business needed better cover.  I was even insured for loss of hire by mechanical failure.  You can do this, but you have to pay for it. 

It came in very handy for me on a couple of occasions, when hirers overheated engines and blew them up!

[webntweb]

1 hour ago, oldgregg said:

Something similar was done with some old Aquafibre centre cockpits I think and some Connoisseurs over on the other side of what became LeBoat. Some are still in hire.

They did the 37 ft centres and called them Corvette and the 42 they named Continental.

I remember the early AF42. It looked like they'd fixed the canopy and just put a platform over the rear roof with rails round it and a helm at front centre.

Scanned pics are copyright of LeBoat.

[webntweb]

I think the boat nearest the camera on the left is a Continentale. In front of that another Connoisseur, a Caprice?

On the right is our Connoisseur Magnifique. In front of that could be a Corvette.

Taken at Capestang, Canal du Mid, August 04.

[oldgregg]

Yes I think that's a Caprice. The longer version (Elegance) has different windows at the front end.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, webntweb said:

They spent an awful lot of money rebuilding those boats and it was a rebuild. They were stripped right out to the bare hull inside. One of them was even exhibited at the Paris Boat Show!

I am afraid I couldn't see the economics of it.

[Paul]

5 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Bobby Richardson, before he sold the yard to Rank, only ever insured his boats third party.  With that many boats, he reckoned he could happily lose one, or even two, every year and it would still cost less than the insurance premium if he insured them all risks

and he was probably right, not to mention that it would take something dramatic to constitute a total loss. there is not much a yard that size cannot recover and with the staff already employed then the real term cost is relatively small. 

[Vaughan]

2 minutes ago, Paul said:

and he was probably right, not to mention that it would take something dramatic to constitute a total loss. there is not much a yard that size cannot recover and with the staff already employed then the real term cost is relatively small. 

I think you have made one of the most important points about it. The yard is already employing its own staff, so damage repairs only cost the materials, in real terms. And boat repairs in GRP are almost all labour hours with few materials. Notice that Richardsons are always glad to offer to do repairs to a private boat which has been involved in a bump with one of theirs.

In addition, there is not much loss of hire as, except perhaps in August, they can always place the next customers on another of their boats. In my case, if I lost hire on a boat, the customers would be put on another boat in another yard, by Blakes, and the hire money would transfer with them. So I had to be well insured.

As I said, a business decision.

[webntweb]

My son had booked a Woods boat about 2003. On the Monday before his holiday was due to start on the Saturday he received a phone call to say his boat had been holed and sunk. It turned out to be at Brundall and Woods didn't think they could recover it and sort it for the Saturday.

They didn't have many boats not booked out and he didn't want any or the replacements they offered. They agreed to his money back and he told them that if they did manage to repair it he would be happy to accept it as late as Friday lunchtime.

They did manage to repatriate it, strip it more or less completely, clean it all out and refit with all new furnishings, beds and a complete new galley. He can't remember which boat it was, but it was one of the large ones.

[Broads01]

Fascinating stuff on this thread, thanks all. Vaughan, I never knew diving was on your very long list of skills.

[Vaughan]

Free diving, actually. I have often used bottles but I am not SCUBA qualified. You are only going down deep enough to bang your head on the prop, anyway!

[jimbob88]

The boat that got sunk was rather a one-off design that you may not have seen before and certainly not on the Broads.
We had some old centre cockpit Alpha 44s (or is it 42?) that were not letting all that well and needed refreshing.  So a whole new cabin top mould was laid on top of the original boat.  This did away with the sliding canopy and folding windscreen but gave it a long, spacious, high sundeck with dual steering. It made a very good boat for the French rivers, where we are not too worried about height.

It also dropped the waterline aft by nearly two inches, which actually made them easier to steer!
The mould was made by Langford Jillings at Alphacraft and designed by John Moxham, who I believe designed the original boat.  The moulds were then sent by truck to France where the fitting out was done by Arthur Garret and myself, at St Gilles.
We had to do a bit of interior work in the old wheelhouse and around the window surrounds inside but otherwise, we hardly needed to touch the original interior, other than a lot of new varnish and new curtains and Lino.
Luckily I did my usual gas test on the boat before she first went out on hire, as I couldn't get any pressure on the gauge.  I soon discovered that I had walked about 45 screws into the gas pipe, all along the corner of the aft cabin top!  In my defence, it had been hidden up behind the head-lining, so I didn't know it was there.  Another good reason why gas pipes in a boat should ideally be visible.

We ended up fitting out 5 of them and they have been very popular.  The moulds arrived either with the blue sides in the gel-coat, or in plain white.  Opinion was always divided as to which looked better.
I am not at all sure that all the expense and time, on an old boat, made them commercially viable in hiring terms but that was not my problem.  They asked me to do it, so I did it!

These look so much sleeker than the ones alpha craft ran on the broads.

When you say very little had to be changed inside was the original layout the saloon in the centre as opposed to more popular layout of saloon in rear.

I did see one of these for sale a while back in Ireland that had a home bar added seem to be popular live aboard a.

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Vaughan]

7 hours ago, jimbob88 said:

When you say very little had to be changed inside was the original layout the saloon in the centre as opposed to more popular layout of saloon in rear.

These were saloon in rear. We left the centre cockpit exactly the same but we had to furnish the inside of the new mould in that area, with fabric headlining and teak wood surrounds at the windscreen and sides.  The new mould covered the centre cabin windows amidships with a gap of about 5 ins, which had to be faired in to match and covered with suitable trim. Headlining in the wing cabin and Formica in the galley.  We also had to think about the hatch in the cabin top for lifting the engine out. In the end we left the hatch in place and drilled a hole through with a metal cap, so that we could always drop a hook through and lift the engine that way.  Once lifted, we could then slide it out of the back doors on a plank, as it sticks out under the seats in the saloon, anyway.  You may also notice that the front cabin side windows are a different shape, in order to follow the new profile.

We actually sent one boat back to Norfolk on a truck, so that Langford could make the "plug" around it.  I have seen a lot of rather awful mistakes made in Fibreglass boatbuilding, in the early days, so I did the actual mould fitting with the boat floating on the water and then hauled it out into the sheds for the rest of the fitting out.  I knew that if we had fitted it with the boat on land and then launched it later, the whole thing might well spring off again!

In fact, I was personally rather satisfied to see that, after all the stresses that sunken boat had been put through, the mould had not shifted at all. Job well done!

[Vaughan]

By the way, if you ever find yourself in a sinking situation, ISOPON P38 will go off underwater, especially if you use a "hot" mix. You can also spread it on a towel before you push it in a hole.

Might be worth remembering, one day!