cracked swim platform

[RobF300]

fixing platforms is like fixing the bumpers on my wife's car, no matter what you do once hit they will break again :smt043

These new curvy style platforms add to the cost of repairs, the older flat style were much easier to fix because you could use all machines on them with very little hand sanding work.
They also create a natural weak area in that inside radius.

Keep in mind when dealing with your marina that they are taking 20-40% over the cost of the repairs when performed by an outside contractor, the repairs may not be that expensive, but then add a haul and that percentage and it can add up.

And as FWebster said- if you only covered it up, its not gone.
Use the boat and wait for more serious damage, get the thing fixed in the fall or the spring so you wont be paying for a haul and sidetrack.

 

[wastinaweigh]

Crock: "and i pull in close enough , shut off the engin and pull her into place.. and use our feet to stop it form banging"

I have never understood why people shut down their engine before their boat is securely tied up. I watch people every weekend approaching the dock - then killing the engine and coasting in, hoping that they aimed correctly.

If anything happens, they have no means of backing off and trying again.

I do not allow anybody to use their hands or feet to keep me off of a pier or piling. First, I never approach faster than I am willing to hit, so if I bump a piling it is no big deal. Second, boats are heavy. I would much rather have a scratch in the fiberglass than have someone lose a finger. I can repair the gel coat.

Crock, you have an inboard/outboard. Try easing up to the dock nice and slow and get a line tied off on your bow. Once you have done that, you have very precise control over your boat. By turning you outdrive toward the pier and idling in reverse, you will swing your boat around on that bow line and ease right up to the dock. It is similar to using a spring line on an inboard.

Once you learn to do that, you will find that you can dock your boat within its own length - which is good for crowded restaurants.

Oh, and never yell at anyone unless they are about to hurt themselves. You will find that people will listen to your instructions better when you are calm, and other boaters will admire your skills. I won't even lend a hand to the guys shouting at their wives/girlfriends - when the real problem is the "captain's" boat handling skills.

 

[Asureyez]

Battle Scars

Swim platforms seem to be able to snag a piling or get caught by a deck board so easily. I just save all those little dinks and dings until haul out and have them all repaired at one time, believe it or not five or six small repairs costs the same as one ... it's not the material it's the time and small repairs are quick and just a take an extra minute each after the make ready is allready accomplished, it's just time. I spend about $600 bucks to repair all the little nicks and bruises at every haul out ... it is just the cost of owning a boat. And I don't care how good a skipper is "Sh*t Happens" and you'll get wounds every now and again.

As for crew and guests duties while docking, I have the Admiral on the bow to set the lines forward and I bring the boat to lay up on the dock and I can kill the engines and scamper to the dock to grab a stern line. Wind and current have their own plan for my boat, but we face those as needed.

In preparing to perform any docking or departure I instruct all aboard to sit down and relax while we depart or dock and leave the driving to me. Specifically in my pre cast off safety instruction to guests I include they are to never ever put any part fo their body between the boat and a dock or piling. I like Frank do not want the help and just need for guest to stay out of my line of vision. If I dink the boat, so what, no one was hurt, and after all it is just fiberglass.

 

[cr0ck1]

Crock: "and i pull in close enough , shut off the engin and pull her into place.. and use our feet to stop it form banging"

I have never understood why people shut down their engine before their boat is securely tied up. I watch people every weekend approaching the dock - then killing the engine and coasting in, hoping that they aimed correctly.

If anything happens, they have no means of backing off and trying again.

I do not allow anybody to use their hands or feet to keep me off of a pier or piling. First, I never approach faster than I am willing to hit, so if I bump a piling it is no big deal. Second, boats are heavy. I would much rather have a scratch in the fiberglass than have someone lose a finger. I can repair the gel coat.

Crock, you have an inboard/outboard. Try easing up to the dock nice and slow and get a line tied off on your bow. Once you have done that, you have very precise control over your boat. By turning you outdrive toward the pier and idling in reverse, you will swing your boat around on that bow line and ease right up to the dock. It is similar to using a spring line on an inboard.

Once you learn to do that, you will find that you can dock your boat within its own length - which is good for crowded restaurants.

Oh, and never yell at anyone unless they are about to hurt themselves. You will find that people will listen to your instructions better when you are calm, and other boaters will admire your skills. I won't even lend a hand to the guys shouting at their wives/girlfriends - when the real problem is the "captain's" boat handling skills.

THis is all true.. thanks... today i was in the searay dealer looking at the sundeck... bigger... he almost had me trading my boat in.. but i held back.! gota learn in the smaller boat first!

 

[wastinaweigh]

Crock -

Boat handling usually gets easier as your boat gets bigger. Stuff tends to happen a lot slower since there is more weight to move.

Marine Max can have one of their Captain's spend an hour or two with you to give you pointers with boat handling. I believe that it is included when you buy a boat from them. I did that when I went from a jet boat to an inboard/outboard. While I had years of experience handling a jetboat and a twin inboard convertible, I actually had never operated an I/O. I found it to be well worth it.

 

[daddyox]

Hate to admit it- but I did the same thing. Third or Fourth docking ever with twin screws-- very slowly hit the corner of the dock which is sharp solid wood-- but the boat weighs alot -- and I heard crunch- and there is a 3 or so inch crack in the platform. My estimate is higher-my marina tends to be- but I intend to do it in the offseason I hope. I hate to be negative but yes "doing it again" crossed my mind. I did the same thing with my last boat- a 268 four winns- and then fixed it and went four years without a problem. I guess its my way of making the boat mine :huh:
I notice it- but I doubt anyone else does. Another live and learn experience I guess.