Hull Damage

rukidn

.
Apr 23, 2012
160
Catalina 310 258 Sandusky, OH
We launched on Friday with no trouble and I piloted Brio the 20 cold minutes to our marina. We began moving in and as I was stowing some items in the starboard quarter, I noticed cracks in the area under the berth where the stands had been. One crack was wet and seeping; fortunately slowly. Apparently that stand was placed in a way that delaminated the fiberglass. The boat was moved a few weeks ago, and there are actually two cracked areas

I must admit I was stunned. The launching marina would not take responsibility until I engaged a surveyor to assess and determine that shoring was the cause. Fair, but time is ticking. My surveyor examined the boat in the water yesterday and found the delamination was more extensive than thought and extends up under the liner. He can't examine the hull exterior until haul out 14 May. The marina is busy all day launching boats and this is the earliest opportunity. While I'm confident the surveyor will find the stand(s) did the damage, the repairs will need to be extensive, and the wounds are now wet and getting wetter. I expect scars as the shop will likely need to cut away liner to access.

With such a short season on Lake Erie, we are devastated at the loss of the boat for what looks like a huge portion of the season. Not much sleep this week.
 

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Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
Really sorry to hear about this. Me, I couldn't imagine anything worse at the beginning of sailing season. Someone REALLY heaved up on the supports rather than just finger tight.

Have you brought your insurance adjuster in yet ?

I'd want as many people on my side as possible as the yard has already tried to worm their way out of this and I would expect minimal financial help with the repairs.
 
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Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
This is indeed devastating. We expect the professionals to know better.
I had noticed some oil canning at the rear stands on my boat a few years ago, and started investigating the cause. I found I had put the rear stands too far forward. By measuring the aft cabin layout, I realized there is some bulkhead support there. By placing the stands about 1' forward of the aft cleats, I found there is no more oil canning. This later was confirmed when I found a diagram in the Catalina manual showing the proper position of the stands. The center stands are pretty much centered, and the forward stands go under the lift strap markers, with a bow stand under the bow.
The damage to your hull must be addressed by the marina. I was fortunate that the oil canning did no permanent damage to my hull.
 
Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
The damage to your hull must be addressed by the marina.
I think that when the marina tried to deny responsibility, they revealed themselves as the enemy. It must be your people who call all the shots on the repairs or lawyer time.

I know in our marina works yard, as I previously mentioned, the eight supports on my 31" hull barely make contact when I'm out. 99.9% of the weight is on the keel.

If you're ever caught touching a stand (on your boat) in the yard, it's pretty much game over. That's the one thing they don't tolerate and put it in big letters around the yard.
 
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rukidn

.
Apr 23, 2012
160
Catalina 310 258 Sandusky, OH
Thanks all. Yes insurance consulted and they are waiting on survey as well. I think yard will take care of, but doubt a fast repair. Also, yes the stands were too far forward and I did see oil canning on starboard. Will advise. /Ed
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,993
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Sorry to here your experience. It is the little issue like misplaced stands that can disturb your season. Good thing you discovered the issue as soon as you did.

Good luck with the repairs. May you be sailing again soon.
 

RoyS

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Jun 3, 2012
1,739
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
You may not be alone. One marina that I was in consistently overtightened the stands rather than just balance the boat on the keel. They also liked to put the bow up higher than level. They did this to each and every sailboat in the yard. You are not alone with this issue in your marina.
 

rukidn

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Apr 23, 2012
160
Catalina 310 258 Sandusky, OH
I know marina has had trouble getting seasonal haul / launch help. Root could be lack of experience and training. I will always witness from now on.
 

Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
I know marina has had trouble getting seasonal haul / launch help. Root could be lack of experience and training. I will always witness from now on.
Good idea to be there. Most marinas don't allow owners to do the actual work, but they can't stop you from observing. My yacht club is member owned and members are required to participate. There is a regular yard crew that operates the Brownell trailer, but the owner is expected to place his own blocks and stands. The crew is happy to orient the boat whichever way the owner wants, and it is ultimately the owners decision and responsibility.
 
Aug 29, 2016
131
Catalina 2004 310 (Hull #250) BC
I know marina has had trouble getting seasonal haul / launch help. Root could be lack of experience and training. I will always witness from now on.
I video my haul outs and ins. I also ask for the weight whilst in the lift slings between front and back, taking a photo of their weight monitor, to give me an idea of the weight distribution, and general curiosity of gross weight. Good documentation too.
Thanks for sharing your experiences here....yeah it really sucks. Keep us posted.
 
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Jun 4, 2004
67
Catalina 310 LaSalle, MI
We launched on Friday with no trouble and I piloted Brio the 20 cold minutes to our marina. We began moving in and as I was stowing some items in the starboard quarter, I noticed cracks in the area under the berth where the stands had been. One crack was wet and seeping; fortunately slowly. Apparently that stand was placed in a way that delaminated the fiberglass. The boat was moved a few weeks ago, and there are actually two cracked areas

I must admit I was stunned. The launching marina would not take responsibility until I engaged a surveyor to assess and determine that shoring was the cause. Fair, but time is ticking. My surveyor examined the boat in the water yesterday and found the delamination was more extensive than thought and extends up under the liner. He can't examine the hull exterior until haul out 14 May. The marina is busy all day launching boats and this is the earliest opportunity. While I'm confident the surveyor will find the stand(s) did the damage, the repairs will need to be extensive, and the wounds are now wet and getting wetter. I expect scars as the shop will likely need to cut away liner to access.

With such a short season on Lake Erie, we are devastated at the loss of the boat for what looks like a huge portion of the season. Not much sleep this week.
Very sorry to hear this...We are based on the west end of Lake Erie with Lion's Paw (Hull#312). I have been at Toledo Beach Marina for 26 years. Last year, due to COVID, our yard boss, Les decided to retire, and, honestly, I am having a hard time trusting anybody there anymore. Last fall, when they hauled me out, the tractor driver drove my boat right in to a set a power lines (the whole marina was out of power). Luckily, I checked the boat thoroughly and there doesn't appear to be any damage (although I have yet to hoist the jib...launched last week). Point is, just after this happened I contacted my insurance carrier, and sent the marina a letter summarizing what happened just in case some issue arises. If I find that something happened as a result of the accident, I WILL go to the marina for repairs (on their dime). If they refuse, I will take legal action. Interestingly enough, just before they hauled me, as I was paying for winter storage, this guy walks in and says they set his boat wrong on the cradle and he has lots of stress cracking. I splashed the boat last week with no incident, but I am considering moving to (possibly) a yacht club closer to me. Long story short, don't ever underestimate the value of a good yard boss (WHO KNOWS SAILBOATS). Good luck. Hopefully you can find a ride on a another boat this summer.
 

rukidn

.
Apr 23, 2012
160
Catalina 310 258 Sandusky, OH
I've been absent for a while but wanted to update status. We had to fight with insurance (ours and marina) from May into December but have finally achieved a full settlement. Final tally to repair the hull damage was just under $11,000. The repairs are good as new, or stronger, and cosmetically such that even the inside of the hull does not show any signs of the repair. The season was lost for Brio, but we did purchase another boat. That's another post.

Th root cause for the most acute damage was the yard trailer. The boat is transferred from the slings to the trailer to be placed for shoring. These trailers lift from under the keel and have hydraulic arms + pads to balance the boat. In this case an inexperienced or careless operator lifted the aft starboard arm into the hull. The boat was moved by the yard two weeks prior to launch, and I was not informed so I could observe.

There was other damage due to that winter's shoring. The original discovery was higher on the hull, near the level of the liner. THIS is where I'd originally noticed water the day of launch. The split was where the hull is tabbed to the liner. We engaged an excellent surveyor who found other small cracks from prior shoring/oil canning events, but all were in the starboard quarter. We both originally missed the more severe damage much lower on the hull, just behind the raw water through hull. This damage was behind/under our feet as we sat to examine the liner level damage.

Note that many of the cracks were not visible in the bottom paint, nor did they leak until in 2-3ft seas. To facilitate full examination, I chemically stripped the hull in the target areas, then cleaned up with 320 grit orbital sander. This "polishing" really accentuated the cracks. This facilitated the surveyors very complete and compelling report, which ultimately led to our full settlement and excellent repair quality.

OBSERVATIONS:

Involve your insurance day one. Do not assume the yard will cooperate, even if they indicate they will. In our case the marina’s policy had been “if we damage it, we’ll take care of it”. Not so, since they were bought by Safe Harbor. The SH marina manager indicated we needed to get a survey, and if they caused the damage they would repair. I won’t elaborate, but that didn’t happen. He proved to be a complete ass.

Get the best surveyor, who routinely does insurance surveys. Ours fought hard for us, and this was the one area where all was good.

I involved my BoatUS/Geico insurance. Another long road. In summary, I conclude that the BoatUS adjusters are not trained in subrogation, where our insurance pursues settlement with the marina’s. It took months to get the right team engaged. My original adjusted was useless, I engaged another who we excellent. Don’t settle for the first person to answer the phone.

A huge headwind was finding anyone to provide a repair estimate. Many of the long-standing local yards have closed their fiberglass shops. I finally networked my way (read: got lucky) to find an excellent independent to repair on site, although he had to travel Toledo to Sandusky to the boat. A challenge was finding on-site repairs, since I didn’t want to undertake a long trip in a leaky boat, especially since the damage was so close to the thru-hull! We did move the boat, but a short trip on smooth water, and leaks were minimal.

The sling points are marked on the hull. The hull will easily withstand the uniform sling loading, even if somewhat off the sling points. The sling locations importantly serve to keep the boat balanced and the sling off of the prop shaft; a common cause of shaft/strut damage. Unless way off, sling damage is unlikely.

Stand placement is another matter, and one we as owners should address by either marking or being present and engaged in the shoring. In the case of the 310, the aft-most stands should ideally be at or just slightly aft of the winches, NOT on the soft belly. If concave or oil-canned, they need to move back. Seven stands are better than five. If a stand concaves the hull on a calm day, imagine the loading in 50 knot winds.

The yard trailer arms are adjustable within limits, and as observers we should also encourage the yard to extend them as far back as possible. In our case, with the 6’ fin keel, the arms had to rotate higher and more forward. In our case, though, we believe the root cause was an inexperienced operator. With COVID, the yard had a lot of turnover that year, and rookies in the yard.

Encourage the yard to inform you when they will be moving the boat. We should be present.

After all this, Brio is good as new.
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Oct 3, 2011
825
Anam Cara Catalina 310 Hull #155 155 Lake Erie/Catawba Island
Your Hard work Paid off!
Hope the new owner appreciates all you have done!
Fair Winds with the new boat!