ALERT )))))
Bad Cleat Installations and Good Samaritans
Two surveyors, Jonathan Klopman in Massachusetts and Jack
Hornor in Maryland, recently sent Seaworthy photos of cleats
that had pulled out of decks with relatively little force. The cleat
on one of the boats—a million-dollar sport fisherman—had
been securely bolted to a block of wood, but the wood was only
attached to the boat with four small wood screws (photo on
the left). The cleat on the second boat, a sailboat, was attached
with small bolts that were only fastened about an eighth-inch
into the cleat (photo on the right). The cleat popped off, leaving
the two bolts still sticking out of the deck.
Weak cleat installations can
be dangerous. Last fall, a
Good Samaritan was trying
to free a grounded boat on
Long Island Sound when a
cleat pulled out and came
whipping through his boat’s
sliding glass door. Even
though there were kids on
both boats, no one was hurt.
Jim Reynolds of TowBoatU.S.
Bay Shore in New York, who eventually freed the grounded
boat, said there have been several instances where people
have been seriously injured or even killed when cleats or lines
failed. Reynolds says he’s learned to be especially careful
where he secures the lines. He also uses a 300-foot Poly-Dacron
line, which has less stretch and is safer than nylon.
The message here is that unless you’ve had a lot of experience
towing or ungrounding boats, the jobs are best left to
professionals
Reporting Claims Quickly
A member in Maryland wrote BoatU.S. recently to complain
about a claims settlement he received after his boat had partially
sunk. Even though he’d been sent a check to pay for the damage
identified by the surveyor, he felt he was still owed money for
a generator he claimed had been ruined by seawater. He was
angry.
was nothing to show that the generator had failed due to the
partial sinking.
The problem was that the member had waited over a month to
file the claim and by then the generator was long gone. There
Under “Actions to Take, Sue and Labor Coverage,” the BoatU.S.
policy says you must give us the opportunity to inspect the boat
as well as damaged equipment before it is repaired or discarded.
The best way to avoid this sort of problem—also spelled out in the
policy—is to report any sort of accident immediately, so there’s
no question as to the cause, nature, and extent of damage.
Scupper Sinkings
Have you checked your cockpit scuppers lately? You might
be surprised at how close they are to the water. Scuppers are
supposed to drain water out of the cockpit, but over time, boats
tend to gain weight when items are brought on board and
never removed (spare anchors, batteries, oil, for instance) and
scuppers get lower and lower, sometimes ending up underwater.
Eventually two things happen: The scuppers are no longer very
effective at draining water (especially if they’re also full of gunk),
and worse, if they’re low enough, water can back up into the
boat. A study done by Seaworthy noted that almost half of all
outboard boat sinkings were due to rain or snow.
In this claim (#0909074) the owner kept raising the waterline
until the scuppers had to have a coating of bottom paint (a bad
sign). Three days of rain were too much for the slowly draining
underwater scuppers (the rubber flaps won’t stop water from
back-flowing) and the boat sank.
Three things to consider if your boat seems to be slowly sinking:
keep excess weight out of your boat, keep the scuppers clear, and
use a cockpit cover to keep your boat floating in rainy weather.
