Having A Bad Day? (boats swept away on the Lot in France)

Cal · February 17, 2021

21 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

I’ve had several Nissans since the late eighties, a Silvia Turbo, two Bluebirds and three Primeras plus the other half had a Sunny and an Almera Tino. They were all good cars, well finished and reliable, but I have to agree that of late and since becoming allied to Renault, their reliability has suffered. I currently have a Skoda, something that I swore that I would never own back in 1979, when a garage gave me one to use as a ‘courtesy car.’ It’s a good motor, well finished and equipped - what a friend of mine who is a big fan of German vehicles describes as ‘a thinking man’s Volkswagen’, but I think our next car may be a Kia. The wife has had one for 6 years and it’s been reliable and servicing has been quite reasonable. The only issue we’ve had was with the front led daylight running lights, which went dim, but they were replaced under warranty when the car was five years old without a quibble. That seven year warranty is well worth having.

I had a 1990 Nissan Sunny before I bought the Almera. That was a brilliant car. We bought it for £50 from the car sales pitch next door that had taken it as part exchange. It had 12 months tax and a full tank of fuel. We ran it for 7 years between us and it was never any bother. Eventually sold it for £500 when we bought the Almera.

We currently have a Hyundai I30 as well as the Almera (and the Sierra in the garage). Have had it for a little over two years now and it is a fab car. It isn't an exciting car by any means but we bought it to do a job knowing that it would rack up a lot of miles in doing so. It has been super reliable so far.

addicted · February 17, 2021

Bought a Kia Sportage in 2013. It was the 7 year guarantee that appealed to us. We figured tha if they had the confidence in the car to guarantee it for such a long time then there must be a good deal of quality in the build. The only major problem we had was needing the rear suspension replacing just before the expiry of the guarantee. The problem came to light during the M.O.T. The work was done with no hesitation. We also had all the hub caps replaced when their appearance deteriorated after about 4 years with no argument. Apart from the troublefree motoring another reason we wouldn't hesitate to get another is the excellent quality of the after sales service provided.

Crole

February 17, 2021

6 minutes ago, addicted said:

Bought a Kia Sportage in 2013.

Crole

Hi Crole :default_icon_wave:

:default_smile:

Woodie · February 17, 2021

9 hours ago, chameleon said:

navara's from 2005-- 2012 had this chassis problem, one of my customers(copart vehicle salvage york) had approx 2000 which nissan had bought back, was a sea of navara on their 50 acre site, alll depots now run navaras as yard cars

It unfortunately could affect any D40 model Navara from 05 to 15. Shame as otherwise a good all round vehicle. Bought mine new in 2013. Noticed rust on chassis welds after about 18 months. Treated inside and out. Since been inspected by Nissan and had their treatment.

Have welded something strengthening plates to the weak area, so hopefully bought some time!

Thought I had given up welding motors (especially new ones) when I sold the Land Rover...,

Broads01 · February 17, 2021

Hmm, a thread about boats damaged in France becomes a full on car discussion. Just a slight thread drift then. I do hi as be to remind in myself I'm on a Broads forum sometimes :default_icon_cry:

BroadAmbition · February 17, 2021

Hmm, a thread about boats damaged in France becomes a full on car discussion. Just a slight thread drift then.

Agreed

We do this time for a change and this drift have a dedicated 'Car Talk' thread available

Griff

BroadAmbition · February 17, 2021

It would be interesting to know just how many boats survived and of those, how many are repairable

Griff

Wonderwall · February 17, 2021

9 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

It would be interesting to know just how many boats survived and of those, how many are repairable

Griff

Do you fancy another " project" 🙈🙊🙉

BroadAmbition · February 18, 2021

Not this week :default_laugh:

Griff

RS2021 · February 18, 2021

7 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

It would be interesting to know just how many boats survived and of those, how many are repairable

Griff

and before thread drift...

On 11/02/2021 at 09:43, Griff500 said:

Latest news from the Lot is that only 4 are repairable and that the other 17 have been destroyed

BroadAmbition · February 18, 2021

Just Four? Only four? - That's terrible. Watching some of those film clips of them being wrecked was heart breaking

Griff

Cal · February 18, 2021

2 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Just Four? Only four? - That's terrible. Watching some of those film clips of them being wrecked was heart breaking

Griff

I'm amazed that four survived that trip!!

Vaughan · February 18, 2021

Something else to consider is the inside of the boat and all the woodwork. I have seen several boats which have taken a side impact from commercial barges, and everything gets compressed inside. longitudinal partitions are shifted across, drawers won't open, doors won't close and the floor often ends up as a corrugated mess of splintered plywood. I have sometimes had to go into a boat with chocks of wood and a 3 ton bottlejack, to force bunks, or the galley, back under the deck.

And then to cap it all, you get it repaired and next time it rains, the water pours in all of the windows!

Hylander · February 18, 2021

22 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Just Four? Only four? - That's terrible. Watching some of those film clips of them being wrecked was heart breaking

Griff

I think when you have owned or do own your own boat you feel the pain even more. It was horrible to watch. How does a hire firm recover from a disaster like that insurance wise, would it be conveniently put down as an 'Act of God'. Usually a familiar 'get out' clause.

Vaughan · February 18, 2021

This is the sort of damage ( and much more) that they are going to have to deal with, after these boats have hit stone bridges.

This boat was off hire for the rest of the season but was repaired by a specialist firm during the winter. Even then, the gel coat could not be repaired smoothly and the sides and deck had to be painted. I daren't tell you what one of those windows cost complete, shipped out from Norfolk. Luckily, Trend had not lost the patterns!

The hirer thought he could get through a narrow bridge on the canal, before a 38 metre hotel barge coming the other way. Turns out he couldn't! The damage was done by the anchor on the bows of the barge and there was a lot of impact damage on the starboard side where the boat was forced into the side of the bridge.

Vaughan · February 18, 2021

9 minutes ago, Hylander said:

would it be conveniently put down as an 'Act of God'. Usually a familiar 'get out' clause.

There is no doubt that the French government will declare the floods as a "catastrophe naturelle" so that those with flooded houses and farms can get fully paid by insurance.

I think the problem in this case might be, that the boats were damaged owing to a pontoon mooring which gave way. I happen to know that the main pontoon, which did not give way, was installed by the town hall (Mairie) who own the base and lease it to Le Boat. I am pretty sure the new section, which came adrift, was moored there by Le Boat and was not owned by the Mairie. In which case, I can envisage a claim being made by the boats' insurers, against the insurers of the base and its pontoon.

What you might call a "lose lose" situation!

There is also the question : was it safe to moor a fleet of boats, 3 abreast, on a floating pontoon on the river Lot in winter?

Quite clearly, it wasn't.

MauriceMynah · February 18, 2021

17 minutes ago, Hylander said:

I think when you have owned or do own your own boat you feel the pain even more. It was horrible to watch. How does a hire firm recover from a disaster like that insurance wise, would it be conveniently put down as an 'Act of God'. Usually a familiar 'get out' clause.

M, May I recommend a film called "The man who sued God". It covers the whole issue regarding insurance companies and the "act of god" clause. It stars Billy Connelly but the language is really not too bad (very mild by his standards) and is always in context. To anybody who watches it for the first time, I recommend keeping an ear open to the radio commentary going on in the background.

RS2021 · February 18, 2021

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

M, May I recommend a film called "The man who sued God". It covers the whole issue regarding insurance companies and the "act of god" clause. It stars Billy Connelly but the language is really not too bad (very mild by his standards) and is always in context. To anybody who watches it for the first time, I recommend keeping an ear open to the radio commentary going on in the background.

I used to be a church treasurer responsible, amongst other things, for insurance. Yes the policy did cover the church against Acts of God...

Vaughan · February 18, 2021

I have just turned up these photos and thought you might be interested.

This was when the Rhone burst its banks during a storm and flooded the whole of the delta basin known as the Petit Camargue, including our base at St Gilles. As the coastline of the area is all high sand dunes, the only way out to sea for the floodwater was down the canal via Aigues Mortes and the Grau du Roi. This meant that for 10 days, the moored boats were in a current of at least 7MPH coming down the canal.

The first photo was taken from a Gendarmerie helicopter when the floods were just starting. At the peak, it got another 6ft higher than seen in the photo. The boat sheds and offices of our base are at far right.

STGflood.jpg.c997d43b5493e8c261d16e69322187a1.jpg

The problem was not so much the current, as to stop the boats from going over the top of the quay and ending up on the road when the water went down again! In the photo you can see that there are two Bounty 44 bathtubs moored on the bows of the other cruisers :

344827205_atlanticrudders.jpg.883c193aef6fc657544f40e1bb1f9212.jpg

I moored these two to the other boats with a rope to each of the 4 bow cleats and then let them out at an angle to the current coming down the canal. The effect of the water going past the long, deep keels had the effect of a big rudder, and pulled all the other 32 boats away from the quay, against their stern lines.

They stayed like this for 10 days and 9 nights until the water went back below the quay, while we came down in a dinghy every 3 hours, day and night, to check on the moorings and let out the stern lines as the water rose. The photo was taken when the level was normal again but to give an idea of how high it got, in the distance you can see two boats out on the hardstanding in front of the base buildings. At one time we were afraid they were going to float off their chocks, as well as he 5 boats in the sheds!

The base itself was devastated and for the next 4 months we ran the office and reception from my house, a bit higher up in the town. The insurance claim on the base was a big one but for the boats, we never even called the insurance company. We didn't even pull a cleat out of the deck or break a single mooring line.

The only one of the management to thank me for this was Mick Masson, from Connoisseur. He was the only one who recognised a bit of seamanship when he saw it!

For comparison, this is what the private moorings looked like, just on the other side of the town bridge!

webntweb · February 18, 2021

That must have been horrendous Vaughan.

Can you remember if the Connoisseur base at Beaucaire was affected, with it being one lock higher (Ecluse de Nourriguier).

Isn't the Canal du Rhône à Sète at sea level all the way from the Nourriguier lock to the other side of the Etang du Thau, at the first lock on the Canal du Midi (Ecluse 65 du Bagnas) which is about 100 kilometres?

That would have been some area to be flooded.

Vaughan · February 18, 2021

7 minutes ago, webntweb said:

Can you remember if the Connoisseur base at Beaucaire was affected, with it being one lock higher (Ecluse de Nourriguier).

Luckily for them, the Rhone burst its banks just below there, between Nouriguier and the ecluse de St Gilles.

You are quite right about sea level and the lock at St Gilles, which joins the canal and the Rhone, works both ways, according to the levels in the river and the canal.

The Petit Camargue, if you are looking at a map, is the bottom left hand part of the Rhone delta, where the Camargue national park is the right hand side. It is a very large area, very much like parts of the Broads, with water meadows full of bulls and horses and miles of managed reed beds, which are considered second only for thatching, to the Norfolk reed. There are also large expanses of rice paddy and big salt fields at Aigues Mortes.

It is indeed a very large area and it took 10 days for it all to drain out via the canal at the Grau du Roi, which is the only way out to sea. They first had to mend the breach in the bank of the Rhone, with Chinook helicopters dropping rocks.