MacGregorSailors.com

Hi Everyone,

Early December a large ferry detached from it's mooring in strong winds and bumped it's way through 13 boats moored in the bay...including mine.
We are now mid Feb and club marine only contacted me last week to start discussing this, I assume the repairs will take another month.
I am insured comprehensively with Club Marine in NSW.

I have a blue hull 2007 26M which up until this accident was free from scratches, but now has scrapes and rubs all over it.

The insurance company are telling me I need to pay 50% of a full hull respray because they can't adequately match the colour if they only repair the damaged areas.
They are telling me a respray will improve the value of my boat so this is why I need to pay additional.

Has anyone heard of this before where the owner needs to pay additional for the repairs? I am not sure if marine insurance differs from motor.
I have read the policy and it does have one line about improving of the value, but doesn't go into any detail, just said that improving value is excluded from the policy.
A very broad statement, surely any repair or replacement part is likely to improve value.

On a separate note - does anyone know where I can get a replacement rub rail? The repairer is telling me it is no longer available as a spare part so they can't fix it. I have tried the 2 suppliers in AUS but if anyone knows any others even international?

thanks for your assistance.

Geez, sorry to hear of your tale.

I'm pretty sure Blue Water Yachts in the US can help you with the rub rail if you can't find the stuff locally.

I can't imagine how the insurance company can get away with that one. Surely they have to return the boat to its previous condition so its up to them to do the full respray if that is what is required! You need to contact the ombudsman on this one, let us know the outcome.
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/C ... rance.page

Sorry to hear of your hassles.

That's a tough spot to be in. These days you essentially have to read every word in the product disclosure statement, and even when you think you understand the policy the wording can be open to different interpretations.

I can appreciate the insurance companies point of view in respect to not adding value to the boat. So speaking in general terms and not about you boat in particular, if for example a boats hull has faded equally on both sides over the years and damage occurs to only one side of the boat. That does make it a challenge because you can't match faded paint.

It seems reasonable in that instance that the insurance company would repair and repaint the damaged side of the boat and make an offer to the owner to share in the cost of repainting the undamaged side at the same time so that both sides match. That would of course increase the overall value of the boat. Really it's not the insurance companies fault that the undamaged side of a boat has faded over the years. It's one of the challenges with insurance. We all take it out thinking of a fire, theft, or total loss of some sort in mind. Rarely do we think about this kind of scenario popping up?

Might be best to have a private chat with the repairer and see if you can get a deal to do the other side while he's at it.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

igooba wrote:On a separate note - does anyone know where I can get a replacement rub rail? The repairer is telling me it is no longer available as a spare part so they can't fix it. I have tried the 2 suppliers in AUS but if anyone knows any others even international?

Sorry for your loss.

I ordered mine in from Blue Water Marine in Seattle. Very quick and cheaper than getting it here in Australia. Interestingly it comes in only one piece so they will have to cover both sides!!

Gail at [email protected]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I did a deal with the insurance company, they didn't need to replace the rub rail and I didn't have any contribution towards the respray.

I don't agree with this, and probably could have got a better result but time was against me. I was paying weekly mooring fees and summer was quickly disappearing.

Glad to hear you have at least got them to pay for a full paint job. That will no doubt be a lot more expensive than a rub rail which you can put on yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Ib9j47LnY

Don't forget to share some photos of the damaged boat and after the paint job and new rail