Let's start this by saying that I'm an idiot and maybe the worst boat owner on the planet. I bought a 1984 Catalina 25 just about six weeks ago. The only thing I have sailed prior is a dinghy. I took it out a few times, watched a ton of you tube videos, and scheduled sailing lessons. I thought I was really doing pretty well. Then this happened...
My son and I were looking for places to take family that would be visiting this coming week. We were trying to find a dockside restaurant. On the way, we were in a channel on the Savannah river and the winds kicked up. We were motoring about 5 knots and hit an underwater jetty off the starboard side. We went to the closest dock, parked overnight, and I went to get the boat the next day.
On my return, I noticed that it was taking on some water. When I got back to my marina, I had it towed to another marina for service. They took it out and found damage to the keel. It has damage at the front towards the bottom where it struck the rocks and had a spot where it was driven backward and caused a leak at the top of the back of the keel. They said that the bolts had been pushed down and to repair it they would have to essentially take it off, fix it and then reattach it to the boat. As you can imagine, they want a fortune to do it. Probably more than I paid for the boat itself. They have since repaired the leak and it's in the water, but now what do I do? Should I try to cover the cost of this repair from them and move forward or quit?
I could use any advice, second opinions, or insight into other solutions. I thought about trying to find another comparable hull and trying to transfer everything over, but I really don't know what I am doing. So that's possible, but challenging. Thanks for listening.
John (feeling adrift)
My son and I were looking for places to take family that would be visiting this coming week. We were trying to find a dockside restaurant. On the way, we were in a channel on the Savannah river and the winds kicked up. We were motoring about 5 knots and hit an underwater jetty off the starboard side. We went to the closest dock, parked overnight, and I went to get the boat the next day.
On my return, I noticed that it was taking on some water. When I got back to my marina, I had it towed to another marina for service. They took it out and found damage to the keel. It has damage at the front towards the bottom where it struck the rocks and had a spot where it was driven backward and caused a leak at the top of the back of the keel. They said that the bolts had been pushed down and to repair it they would have to essentially take it off, fix it and then reattach it to the boat. As you can imagine, they want a fortune to do it. Probably more than I paid for the boat itself. They have since repaired the leak and it's in the water, but now what do I do? Should I try to cover the cost of this repair from them and move forward or quit?
I could use any advice, second opinions, or insight into other solutions. I thought about trying to find another comparable hull and trying to transfer everything over, but I really don't know what I am doing. So that's possible, but challenging. Thanks for listening.
John (feeling adrift)