Bad end to a bad 1st Season

T

TMK988

New Member
Sep 17, 2009
118
Lloyd Harbor, NY
Boat Info
290 Sundancer 2006
Engines
Mercruiser
Any one who has followed some of my threads will know that I have had kind of a tough first season with my first boat ('06 290DA), well, my season ended today with a call from my local police asking me if that Sea Ray sitting on the rocks was mine? It was! I was moored. The boat was about 300 yards from my mooring sitting on sand and small rocks. I just about cried (I may not be the manliest guy on this forum). It took me easily a month and a half to get things sorted out, including being sea sick every time I looked at the boat. About three weeks ago I finally started to enjoy the whold boating experience you guys have been enjoying for a while. The boat still had the mooring ropes on the cleats, the are in great shape. The two ropes gave way underwater, I guess there is a ring down there connecting them to the chain thaty went bad. I rent the bouy and the guy who put it in doesn't seem to think any of this is his fault. The damage doesn't look so bad, some cosmetic damage to the blue hull, scraps and such. I have spent more time polishing and cleaning the boat than driving it (I have to admit that I do enjoy that part of ownership). The boat was sitting on the outdrives and I suspect that there will be issues with them. My insurer is BoatUS and they came and grabbed the boat at high tide with little fuss. The people I have been dealing with at the insurance company have been very gracious so far. I was hoping to get another month out of the boat before putting it away. Well... thank you for letting me vent and for so much great advice during my short first boating season. I guess next year couldn't be too much worse!
 
Hang in there-wrapped 3 inch buoy line around one of the props in my 320 on my first visit to the fuel dock-no damage but had to have a diver clean it up-I've learned a lot since but my wife and I still laugh about those firsts=Like rhythm and blues-try Roy Buchanan-out on the hook!
 
I agree, it will get better. On my first inboard boat (a Regal), on our FIRST trip I wrapped a dinghy painter left on a mooring around a wheel. This is in San Francisco Bay, right in front of the ferry landing at Angel Island. This was at 5 pm on Sunday, no divers answered. I got to jump in the 60 degree water and cut the line with everyone cheering. My wife enjoys this moment all the time.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss.......

Did you have a written agreement for renting the mooring? If not, were you told anything about the condition of the mooring? Just curious about legal responsibility on this one. Best of luck getting her fixed up.
 
I believe your mooring owner has some liability in this situation. Do you have proof of rent payment?
 
Keep your chins up. Things will always get better.
 
Our first season with the 320 is wrapping up and I also have to say it's been a learning expereance from the start. We wraped the anchor line arround a prop shaft the first time we used the windless. A coulple weeks ago ran over a cement column just under the water line with our dinghy and put a 36" cut through the bottom, $200.00 to patch it, looking back I should have sunk the darn thing and collected the insurance. All things said we can't complain about the weather, it's been hot.:thumbsup:

Thanks to all who post all the good advise on this site.:smt038
 
About 10 years ago I trashed my runabout's outdrive on a sandbar while pulling a kneeboarder.
I had just previously idled through the area watching the depth readings and it all looked to be around 6 ft.
Evidently I strayed a little too far from where I thought it was OK.
That was in mid-July, so my season came to an abrupt end.

I learned a hard lesson about risk-taking, but was back on the water next year with a rebuilt outdrive and a $500 deductible reminder.

Hope things work out ok for you, and her's looking forward to next season!
 
sfergson727 said:
Your dinghy mishap didn't occur at Saugatuck did it? Last year, my three week old Boston Whaler lost a fight with unknown submerged pilings there, causing $1600 in damage. Since then, Saugatuck is on my Axis of Evil list as well.

If your accident happend in spring lake, then I will be adding Spring Lake to the Axis of Evil.
Click to expand...

Scott,
It happened near the Wharf Marina in Grand Haven. There is a train bridge with about twelve open spaces to pass under, for small boats only, two are marked with a white dot.:smt089 Didn't know that till after the fact.
 
sfergson727 said:
Your dinghy mishap didn't occur at Saugatuck did it? Last year, my three week old Boston Whaler lost a fight with unknown submerged pilings there, causing $1600 in damage. Since then, Saugatuck is on my Axis of Evil list as well.

If your accident happend in spring lake, then I will be adding Spring Lake to the Axis of Evil.
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if it happened in SL. I've boated on that lake for 34 years and have covered about every part of it. Aside from a few known shallow spots, it's pretty hard to run aground because it is deep almost up to the shoreline. We have three feet of water in front of our boat in the slip and 16 feet at our transom and that is not unusual. We used to keep the kid's 13' Boston Whaler tied up at the front of out boat
 
Hopefully next season will be better for you. I have been boating for a number of years and last month I pulled the boat out leaving a nice aluminum streak up the ramp. Yes the out drive needs to come up before you leave the water. :smt021

I'm still waiting for my first accident/mishap free season to come.:smt043:smt043
 
As always, you guys are terrific. The good news is that I am already looking forward to next year. As per they guy who put in the bouy... I have a canceled check so there really is on question about that and he is not suggesting that he didn't put it in. I went out yesterday to dive on the bouy and what is obvious is that the ring that connects the ropes to the chain is gone. Either he used a ring that was not rated for a nearly 10k lb. boat or put one on that was comprimised in some way. It sure seems to me that were I putting in a bouy either for myself or someone else, I certainly would use a ring that was rated at least for 20k lbs. Could that ring cost maybe $10 more? As I mentioned he was just a little defensive when we spoke. He says that he wants to go check it himself, I guess he will also pull it. I did sign one of those stupid 'waivers' that suggests that if he actually came out a sunk my boat, he would not be responsible (I'm being jockular here). Legally, this is not a weather issue (thought there was a sustained 15-20 mph wind that night, no other boats my size broke loose) and as the ropes are still on the cleats this wasn't my fault, this, in a court, would probably be neglence (assuming he couldn't prove that the manufacturer made a defective product). I do have insurance and am not looking for him to cover my $1k deductable, but I would like some kind of recognition from him that this was his problem and some token recompense. Anyway, I do enjoy hearing that I am not the only boater out on the waves doing less than bright things. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Tom
 
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