Spring Launch Disaster

jsea558

jsea558

Member
Nov 12, 2006
52
S.E Connecticut
Boat Info
1998 270 Sundancer
Engines
Mercruiser '06 496 Mag. Bravo III
Hi Everyone, Happy Spring. I've got a good one for you. Just spent countless hours prepping ,cleaning, fixing, ect.,( 1998 270 Sundancer, 7.4L Bravo III), then launch day comes. We're all excited as the boat is finally hoisted from its winter storage area. Then as she is being raised up off of the blocks and gets to a height of about 4 feet in the air, we hear a sound no one should hear; what is that sound you ask?, that is the sound of the stern lifting strap, rapidly sliding forward a total 10-12 feet. In disbelief, we see the stern of the boat plunge to the ground, 1st hitting the stern blocks, then having the nose cone of the drive slam into the pavement. OMG! How did this happen? Well the first mistake was that the people launching the boat neglected to tie off the straps to the cleats as they normally would do, and the fact that they had just launched another boat and the straps were very wet. They launch many more sailbotes where slipping is not a problem because there is that big keel and the hull is wider in the middle than on either end. Powerboats are a totally different animal. Their set-up is a crane rather than a travel lift, and they only have beam width spreaders, but they really need spreaders that face fore and aft also, so that the straps are vertical instead of on a sharp angle. Anyway the damage to my boat is a 10-12 inch crack in the keel, the nose cone of the drive is damaged, i ran the engine and the force of the impact caused the starboard manifold to clog up with scale/rust and overheated that side to the point where the rubber boots, and flappers melted. The owner of the Marina is taking care of all damage, but this is not a great start to the season. I hope you all have better luck. Jsea.
 
I'd get a surveyour to look at your boat, there may be more damage than is readily visable. How far did it fall? The boat may be too badly damaged to be repaired cost effectively. If it hit hard enough to damage the OD, did it do any damage to the transom? What about the motor mounts and stringers? At least have the alignment checked. I wish you the best of luck, reading that made me feel ill.
 
SCORPIO said:
I'd get a surveyour to look at your boat, there may be more damage than is readily visable. How far did it fall? The boat may be too badly damaged to be repaired cost effectively. If it hit hard enough to damage the OD, did it do any damage to the transom? What about the motor mounts and stringers? At least have the alignment checked. I wish you the best of luck, reading that made me feel ill.
Click to expand...

Hi Scorpio, thanks. It fell a good 4 feet or so. It hit the blocks at an angle, not straight down, and the 2 straps were still holding the bow. It didn't puncture the nose cone of the drive, just scraped pretty good, and we checked out the whole gimball assembly. The drive goes up and down fine. Luckily i had the drive trimmed all the way up. The surveyer is meeting me there today, and my marine mechanic friend met me there Saturday, and we went through everything. We also have a really good fibreglass guy. The problem is where the crack is located, just above it is where the fuel tank is located, so i don't know what the surveyer can see in there. I'm not happy, but at least the marina owner will take care of everything. Every time he sees me he comes over to tell me how bad he feels about it. Thanks again Jsea
 
Wow...sorry to hear that. As stated I would be very pessimistic in my approach to finding any and all damage. I would think that put extreme force onto the gimbal ring, swivel shaft, etc. Check the bilge with a flashlight for any leaks from the gimbal housing.
 
Major bum deal.

And to think I was pissed, Was going to launch today.
Trls master cylinder empty due to blown wheel cylinders again.
 
The boat yard where I winter store, had a strap fail on a travel lift a few years ago while they were moving a 65' wooden headboat. It hit the ground so hard people could feel it from a good distance. Broke the keel. Commercial boats cannot be used for hire to haul passengers with repaired keels so the boat was totalled and sold. A friend of mine and some of his buddies bought it cheap and converted it into an ICW floating condo.
Hope you have better luck with your repair. Just pay close attention to transom, stingers, bulkheads and frames and engine mounts. Glad the yard is taking responsibility. Let us know how it turns out.
 
I think you have the patience of Job. I would have my Hebrew Rabbinical lawyer all over them like a cheap suit. Check your insurance policy and take it to the max. I don't know where you boat but I would not take a boat off shore that had been drooped like that.:smt013:smt024

I'm not kidding...that is textbook dumb ass gross negligence.
 
I would be worried about the things you CAN'T see that won't show up for a while. Get something in writing that gives you some kind of warranty down the road so that the lift operators insurance will cover lingering issues. The transom may develop a leak where the seals that hole the gimbal and drive go through the transom. Your refrigerator or microwave may give up the ghost and who knows what else could be damaged. I would be real concerned about stringers and transom along with long term effects on the lower unit. Even though it was just scratched, doesn't mean it wasn't bent! I hope it all works out!

Some friends of ours were headed to the San Juans and the same thing happened from a lot higher up on the first day of their two week vacation. The owner wrote them a check and allowed them to move all of their belongings to any boat he had available for charter or for sale for free for the two week period! They "upgraded" to a much larger boat for the two week trip which eased the pain a little bit. He also convinced the guy that he had to take the trailer too since he had no use for it now!
 
If some lift dropped my boat, they would own it....

wonder what that does to resale value?
 
Four Suns said:
If some lift dropped my boat, they would own it....

wonder what that does to resale value?
Click to expand...
I think I'd be thinking along those lines too... They dropped it, they own it. Buy me a replacement. I bet there are many things that didn't take the fall well, that you can't see. (joints, anything that is bolted on, etc.)

-VtSeaRay
 
I would contact my insurance carrier and find out what they have to say. This may be an issue where your carrier may "drop" coverage on a boat due to the possibility of a "hidden" defect that may not rear it's ugly head until you and your loved ones need the boat to perform up to it's design spec's and it FAILS! I would tread lightly on his offer to repair - REPLACE may be a better word! Good Luck!
 
Once it's patched up. . .I bet it is up to the next surveyor to find out that the keel had been cracked open. This is the ONE (and only) reason you don't want to buy used. . .certainly if the repair was disclosed, one would NEVER, EVER buy such a boat.

This is definately worse than getting a car with a bent frame. Those can be fixed. . . .and bad fixes can be easily found.

I would look for immediate replacement. Life is too short to deal with this. Besides. . .this doesn't sound like a "quick" repair job. I bet this boat will take halfway into next season to fix. "We'll get to it right after the Spring Rush".
 
Id be asking them how much they were going to be buying my boat for now, because there is NO way I would accept a repaired boat that had fallen. Who knows what hidden damage occured. Not to mention, if you are at all honest, you can expect to never sell that boat for anywhere near half its value.
 
Thanks everyone for your repsonses, and your sympathy, you've given me some very good tips on how i should proceed. I will let you know how this all plays out. Have a great boating season! Thanks again , Jsea.
 
Dad Buys a new boat. On the way to put it in the water, 1st time some dumb ass hits it and damages the engine mount on his outboatd engine. Takes months to repair. Now two years later he thinks he has a bent prop shaft. Bad vibration. Anything seems to go back to the accident. I told him to make them buy hin a new engine.
Moral of the story...get another boat. You will always wonder "if it is because it was dropped?
 
So what did the surveyor have to say today?

Please tell us he wasn't "recommended" by the boatyard. Did the marina owner report this to his insurance carrier? Even IF it can be properly repaired, pulling the deck and removing the fuel tank just to get at the keel damage ain't gonna be cheap. Apparently he couldn't afford the spreader bars he needed...
 
Last edited:
Many years ago my friend bought a 23 foot Alman that fell off a trailer and split it's hull. He knew about it and bought it cheap. ( a few hundred dollars) He repaired the fiberglass himself and used the boat for a few seasons. One night in NY Harbor, he was returning from a concert on the water (I'll let you can guess his state of mind) he went over (I think jumped) a tug boat wake. Can you guess what happened next?

The hull cracked and he started taking on water. He made it back to marina and beached it at the ramp. The marina pulled the boat out the next day and they scapped it.

Bottom line, I would push for the insurance company and the marina to buy you out of the boat. That boat will have nothing but problems down the road.

Run Forest Run!
 
tobnpr said:
So what did the surveyor have to say today?

Please tell us he wasn't "recommended" by the boatyard. Did the marina owner report this to his insurance carrier? Even IF it can be properly repaired, pulling the deck and removing the fuel tank just to get at the keel damage ain't gonna be cheap. Apparently he couldn't afford the spreader bars he needed...
Click to expand...

I went down to the marina today. when i got there the fibreglass guy was there, he already had an oval hole, cut in the keel, about foot and a half long. He was recommended by my mechanic, as was the surveyer. He said he was going to put new woven roving, along with the other materials, needed to make the repair. this guy has been doing this kind of work for over 20 years, and everyone knows him. The surveyer was down earlier today, so i missed him, but my mechanic spoke to him. He said there is a 50/50 chance that the fuel tank will have to be removed to inspect for additional damage. He poked around the boat and didn't see any other damage besides the nose cone of the drive. I want to talk to him myself, though. Boatyard owner is paying the bill out of his own pocket.
 
In my opinion, the damage goes way beyond the fiberglass. What about the hidden damage? Engine alignment, gel coat cracks that won’t show up until after you sign off on the repairs, screws that will work their way out as you use the boat, cracks in the motherboards of the electronics etc etc. I would take a hard line approach and tell the marina “you can fix whatever you want, but buy me out of the boat. There are too many good used boats out there to deal with this.
 
Not cool to drop your boat. If you need a new set of manifolds . I have stainless steel one piece manifold sets for your 7.4 . That should be a 4" center riser set up? You can gain up to 10 to 12 hp while saving fuel. You can drop 100lbs from your boat with stainless manifolds. The manifolds come with a polishished finish. The cost is $2550.00 Give me a call back for more info and pics.This manifold has the best warranty on the market 5 year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,304
Messages
1,430,337
Members
61,166
Latest member
Cathy Hood
Back
Top