Our beloved MONICA wrecked by incompetent marina

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by sailingmonica, Aug 11, 2022.

  1. sailingmonica
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    Only those who designed and built their own boats can understand the pain one feels when something happens to your her. You create her from your soul, with your blood, and your tears, and with unimaginable sacrifices. You protect her as you would protect a child. You sail her South, you survive Hurricane Irma, you bring her back to Canada, you wrap her for the winter, without knowing the winter will last three years. But when it all comes to pass, and the borders reopen, you clean her, you get her ready, you remast her, and...and the marina wrecks her after assuring you they can tow her out the undredged channel. 200 feet. That is all they had to dredge, but didn't.

    To those who helped me, and remember me from my building days, and those who don't, this is what happened.

     
  2. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Get the friggin dredge out ffs.

    How bad is the damage? Any?
     
  3. bajansailor
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    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    At least they finally decided to not try to proceed further, and turned the vessel around and towed her back in - I hope that she was able to get back on to a berth again?
    It looks like this operation was carried out at the maximum high tide, yet the water is still very shallow, and it appeared to be getting more shallow, the further along the channel you proceeded.
    Even if you had got to the entrance, then things could have got very dicey, as there seems to have been a bit of wind, and there could have been a risk of being blown on to those rocks.
    But she seems to be a steel (or aluminium) boat, so hopefully any damages sustained are very slight (?)

    Dare I say that the title screaming 'SV Monica wrecked during tow' is rather sensationalist, perhaps to get Youtube hits?
    One can argue about the definition of 'wrecked', but going aground relatively gently and getting off again is not my idea of being 'wrecked'.
     
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  4. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I did hear something crack. Wonder what it was..
     
  5. comfisherman
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    comfisherman Senior Member

    Keel/keel bulb junctions probably took a beating and the bottom is probably right good and sanded might needs some cracks fixed. Towards the end it settled appeared to sit level, boats on the hard being towed do some wild healing but it didn't look more than it could handle. Bumps and lumps are a bummer but certainly happen.

    I'm not familiar with eastern Canada and realize they get some monster tides on some big flats. I play in some areas with 20+ foot tidal changes for a few months, find it hard to believe the shoal snuck up on someone. Modern budget sounders are pretty dang good, and barring big storm surges and seismic influence tides are pretty predictable. Seems like someone in the chain of command did a poor bit of research and estimation.

    Bottom contact can be a bummer, wallowing around with a big ol list being victimized by a lousy skiff driver is even less fun. On the upside, guessing the same skills that built the boat will have if fixed fairly quickly as well.
     
  6. sailingmonica
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    I know why you'd think that, and the last thing I am looking for, as a 62 year old female, are YouTube hits, whatever those are. I received the video from the person who took it as a link. I sent the same link to my insurance company, who said they are not allowed to open such links, and that I have to upload it somewhere. The only one I could think of was YouTube. Now, as for wrecked. When a parent reads that a child was hurt in a school brawl, you feel some compassion. When YOUR child is hurt, you see every bruise as a gaping wound. In my case, the boat took on water through a vent at deck level. It was as a decommissioned vent, and it was plugged, but the pressure of the water pushed the plug in. The sender unit on the top of the tank leaked fuel. If this was for a short time, no problem, but what you don't see in the video is the fact that we were left leaned on starboard for about 30 minutes, as one of the marina boats went to get a bilge pump, as he was taking on water. Back in my boat, fuel and water raised on starboard until both my fridge and my freezer motors were submerged. Upon return to dock, my boat was dragged into the rocks. I also took water into the engine oil, and my electric toilet base broke. The rigging is also damaged, as I can see that the backstays are wavy on top. So, gash in hull, stretched rigging, fuel in the boat, ruined flooring, fridge, freezer, toilet, laptop from HAM radio, and the rest is too small to mention. Oh, and the boat is solid fibreglass, not aluminum.
     
  7. sailingmonica
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    We are still waiting to be hauled out to fully assess damage. What I assume is a gash in the hull due to hitting the rocks on return may be nothing, or maybe worse. The boat is one piece, with internal ballast, so the keel joint is not an issue. Scraping the sand is. Now, while there are 45 ft tides in Nova Scotia, where I live, and where I was going, there are no tides on Lake Ontario, where the boat is. We had to leave her behind when we moved, because there are only two ways to take a boat from Ontario to Nova Scotia, and both pass through the United States. So this summer was the first time we could take her home. Instead, we are going to have to pay for a hotel, and stay here to fix the damage, then leave her behind again because we cannot get out of here. She can't be trucked either, she is too high for bridges, and we can't dismantle anything, because she is all one piece blue water vessel.

    As for the shoal, it is the natural silting occuring when a river flows into a lake. The marina did not dredge, but they assured us that there is a 5 ft channel, and they will tow us out, no problem for our 6 ft draft, they said.
     
  8. bajansailor
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    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    Oh dear, that is sad news.
    Sorry, I should have cottoned on that you are on the lake, with no tides.
    Re how you are still waiting to be hauled out to assess the hull damages, 2 weeks later, is the haul out yard full up?
    Has the marina agreed to dredge the channel? Surely they must have some liability in this regard?
     
  9. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Well, while the boat is quite damaged, it does not sound to be 'wrecked'. Some of us use different terms is all.

    We have in common here that we all like boats, so none of us enjoy your story; despite the show the fools put on.

    If someone told me my 6' draft vessel was going through a 5' channel, I would be very nervous. A 6' draft allowing an extra foot of clearance to the 5' channel requires 48 degrees of maintained heel. Even to plan to scrape requires maintaining 33 degrees and this predicts damage.

    It might be maintained with bags, but not a boat pulling the mast.

    Now, you may take my point the wrong way, but if they told me their plan, I'd never have allowed them to put ropes on my vessel.

    But they did.

    And so, you need a surveyor involved.

    Even the mast may be bent..

    Have you ever seen sailboats go under bridges with too little air draft? I'm very surprised anyone thought this was a good idea. I mean zero disrespect, please do not be offended.
     
  10. sailingmonica
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    Well, that's another issue. They towed me back to the dock, then informed me that they are closing for Summer holidays until August 15th, so I won't be hauled out until after. They assumed no responsibility for what happened.
     
  11. sailingmonica
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    If they never dredge, I will never get my boat out. I live 1,800 km away, and over the past three years we travelled twice a year to check on the boat, verify batteries charge, reinforce the shrink wrap. That was all we could do. We paid for a boat, storage, insurance, travel costs, but we didn't have a boat we could use and enjoy.
    We have recently learned through the grapevine that the marina is up for sale as industrial land, and they are offering the travel lifts for sale separately. If they sell, and we are still here, it will be the end of us.
    So, when you have a boat two days drive away, a boat you couldn't bring where you are because of border restrictions lasting two years, when you hear the marina is selling its assets, and you suspect they won't pay to dredge because of that, when they collectively assure you they can get you out, when your own insurance broker, whom you call to ask, tells you to trust them, as they get boats out by heeling them "all the time", what would you have done?
    The insurance will send their surveyor when the boat is out, and the mast is down. Should I get my own surveyor, or the insurance one will do?
     
  12. bajansailor
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    bajansailor Marine Surveyor

    I can see that they would quickly jump on this bandwaggon, never mind that it was their hare brained idea and they were the ones doing the operation.

    But they must at least have a duty of care to their clients re getting the channel dredged - dredging it now while they are closed for their summer holiday would have been the perfect opportunity.
    I hope at the very least that they do not have the temerity to charge you for berthing now.

    Edit - just read your latest above.
    Once you are hauled out, and the mast taken down, and the vessel has been surveyed, and repair work carried out, would it be possible / feasible to put her on a low loader (or ideally one of these self jacking trailers that many boatyards have) and take her somewhere else nearby to launch her, perhaps with a mobile crane if required?
    Sadly it does sound like the yard is bailing out now, and probably have no interest or desire in dredging the channel, if the land is being sold :(
     
  13. sailingmonica
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    sailingmonica Junior Member

    There are bets being made around me, whether they will send us a bill for waiting for them to return from vacation.
     
  14. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Please work hard to not be offended by me.

    The ship is always the responsibility of the captain. Noone is above him. The reasons for this are clear and it is loss of life, first, safety of vessel next which rolls back to the first.

    Find a marine hauler to get you out of the marina and down the road to a deeper one.?

    Otherwise, going out their harbor is possible, but risk to ship still presents. However, you may be able to waterbag. However, your insurer is probably on the hook to move you now since they told you to trust them (big error on all parts).

    But getting the ship to a new yard by way of road and deep marina away from what will now be a hostile environment would be my plan.
     

  15. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Send all the bills they give you from this moment on to your insurance company. You were leaving, the insurer told you to trust them.

    The insurer is on the hook for all of it; most likely.

    Haul out. Transport. I would not pay a dime to anyone.
     
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