The death of my 340DA - Roof collapse at SMYC

Hey Alex,

The pictures are sickening!! i feel for you and hope you are able to put her back together good as new .. keep your chin up!!
 
Alex,

I wouldn't rule out repairing that arch. It's going to be a challenge to replace it with anything other than SR and make it look stock. A good fibreglass shop can really work wonders and if done properly will even be stronger than before.
 
WOW !!. Alex those pics made me puke that sucks!!. Good luck with the repairs.:smt001
 
I'm not so sure about repairing that arch. It's a two-piece assembly.
Might be possible for crazy $$.
Either way, "someone's" insurance is going to have to pay to have it repaired, or a factory replacement found (either from SR old stock or a salvage yard).

Installing anything other than "factory" devalues the boat and would not be acceptable.
In the off-chance they can't repair it, or find the exact replacement, I'd push for them to total the boat.
 
What happens if the boat is totaled??? Do they destroy it or do they try to sell it anyway?
Stupid question probably, but Alex's sundancer could be transformed into an arch-less boat. Couldn't he accept it, or a non standard arch along some $$$ as a refund for not being original??? :smt017
 
Alex,

Very sorry to see this. I hope the best for your repair/replacement concerns. Stand tough on what you believe is right. Don't let them wear you down. Be prepared for insurance to try to cut costs at your disadvantage, and get legal assistance if you need to.

I wish you the best of luck through this. Please keep us advised through the process, so we can all learn should something like this happen to any of us.
 
Pietro said:
What happens if the boat is totaled??? Do they destroy it or do they try to sell it anyway?
Stupid question probably, but Alex's sundancer could be transformed into an arch-less boat. Couldn't he accept it, or a non standard arch along some $$$ as a refund for not being original??? :smt017
Click to expand...

Right now the difficulty is that Sea Ray does not stock parts for boats older that five years back. So the first call of my shop to Sea Ray was sobering. We'll see.

I have seen archless Sundancers on the web ... salvage sales ... that is one of the ugliest sights I can tell you and totally unacceptable.

I am not asking for much. I want no favors and certainly deal open, fair and square with all parties. I just to have her put back in the condition she was before and I won't accept less. Period.
 
Last April when our cruiser sank in what was called a "gravity wave" our insurance (State Farm) paid us for the boat. The salvage company took the boat as payment and refurbished her. It took a week to get her off the bottom and we have just now found a replacement cruiser. We were very pleased with the way our situation was handled, but the first week was very scary wondering who would pay for what and how much. I think a lot of it was not being able to do anything---having to wait on everyone else---and looking at our boat on the bottom for a week.
View attachment 8346

Our boat was kept at our dock, but one of the big marinas in Guntersville lost a lot of boats after the roof collapsed during the high winds. It took a very long time to get them out and taken to other marinas. I believe some were towed as far as Mississippi to be repaired and/or stored. A fellow member on this forum "mwph" keeps his boat in Guntersville and probably has very current knowledge on how they handled a roof collapse of this magnitude.

Maybe by boating season, this will just be a bad memory.
 
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Ohh my swimparent!!! What a dreadful sight ... At least it was clear she was a goner at that point ... sometimes having that clarity is better as long as the compensation question is clear ... I just hate to see wreckage ... when I think of the hundreds and hundreds of hours I spent cleaning and waxing and preserving and maintaining our beloved 340DA. No matter if we used her, she was washed and cleaned once a month at least or after every weekend. I waxed her twice or three times a year and we were very proactive with maintenance .. she was just perfect ..
 
In 1975, my Dad sold this boat, a 1967 28' Owens Flagship. The following summer the owner did an insurance job and let it sink on the mooring. We rode up to it on the dink and it was very spooky.

romadii2.jpg


They re-floated her and left her at the mooring for a while, covered in slime and growth. Then she was gone. The following summer we found her wrecked under the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.


We salvaged the door to the head, which my Dad used as a platform for the newly installed (and mandated) holding tank on the new boat.

To me, there is nothing more eerie and scarey than a sunken boat. This was a boat that I spent a couple of summers on when I was very little and it still gives me chills thinking about what happened to her.
 
Alex D said:
I just to have her put back in the condition she was before and I won't accept less. Period.
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Exactly. And that is the precise purpose of insurance- it is to "make you whole"- as you were before the accident. Stand firm, and best wishes. You might want to be a bit proactive, and start searching some salvage yards to see if you can locate an arch. Was it unique to your model year, or was it present on others as well?
 
Alex,

You never know but this might work in your favor. Once you see her up close you might be surprised how well she fared in the collapse. The arch can be restored by a good fiberglass shop.In fact a new one could be built using the old one as a template. Heather of Spookeay in Alabama might have some good thoughts on this.From what I can see in the pics I think it's do-able. These old boats are pretty damn stout and you have one of the good ones. You very well may come out way ahead in this deal if you carefully calculate your "chess" moves. Besides...you have all of us here to help you.:grin: Hold your head up...this will work out.

John
 
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Alex,

I'm with Sprink on this one - good positive thinking. Bimini canvas and the windshield should be easy replacements (I hope). The arch - If one can't be located, hopefully a repair can be made or even a mold can be made from someone else's by a good FG man. Look at the older FG Corvettes - body shops worked wonders with those after wrecks.

Have you got her out from under the mess yet?
 
Pietro said:
What happens if the boat is totaled??? Do they destroy it or do they try to sell it anyway?
Stupid question probably, but Alex's sundancer could be transformed into an arch-less boat. Couldn't he accept it, or a non standard arch along some $$$ as a refund for not being original??? :smt017
Click to expand...

Here in Florida...once a vessel is totaled it's registration is removed from the records. If it is restored the owner applies for a "home built" title. It's possible for an insurance company to total a boat and then sell it back to the owner for a negotiated sum. In that sum you would calculate the cost to replace or repair the boat...taking in to account factors such as diminished value.

During Hurricane Frances in '04, a client of mine had a mid '80s model 45' Hatteras Fly Bridge Sport Fisherman sunk in it's slip to the rub rail. He settled for the full stated value amount(very important)in his insurance policy which at that time I believe was about $250K. He bought back the vessel for $10K and spent $125K doing a re-fit...power and all mechanical s, new interior and cockpit re-work, electronics, etc. He now has a near new 45' Hatteras that he can run for many years. He had it surveyed and insured for $150K replacement. He came out ahead on this deal.

Depending on the quality of the "bones" of the boat and the circumstances involved, this can be accomplished.
 
tobnpr said:
Exactly. And that is the precise purpose of insurance- it is to "make you whole"- as you were before the accident. Stand firm, and best wishes. You might want to be a bit proactive, and start searching some salvage yards to see if you can locate an arch. Was it unique to your model year, or was it present on others as well?
Click to expand...

My SR shop is already looking ... this arch is probably the most common arch of all SR models since the 340DA was SR's best selling cruiser of all ... there are thousands around. It is seemingly still near to impossible to find one ... we'll see ... It is rare though to find anyone parting out a boat ... unless you had a hurricane somewhere recently ...
 
Alex, I read the entire post (and I can't imagine what you are dealing with - I'm sorry), but I can't help in asking if you have loss of use insurance on your boat? It seems that in your location you are boating nearly year-round, and with that sizeable investment (the IRS considers it a second home), will you be compensated for your loss of use of the boat while it is being repaired? Additionally - did they winterize it or are they still using heaters to prevent additonal damage? PS remember you loss when you file next years taxes - there is a deduction available if you are not made "whole". Wishing you the best outcome! - Jeff
 
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