Most of our business comes from referrals. 
Below, you can read comments submitted by our customers with actual stories from the web.

2011 Feburary

Visiting Your Boat: The First Line of Defense Against a Dockside Sinking


- By Gerry Charest - Marina Village Marina Manager
If you need a reason to visit your boat more often, consider that the cost of repairing a boat that has been underwater, even briefly, is usually about 40% of its value.

A recent Marine Insurance study found that thru-hull leaks (including stuffing boxes), bait well discharge and knot meter plugs caused 18 percent of dockside sinkings.

Raw water cooling system and exhaust leaks were responsible for 12 percent of the sinkings, and missing drain plugs accounted for another 12 percent.

The study also found that for every boat that sinks underway, four boats sink at the dock.

In fifty percent of dockside sinking claims, water found its way into the bilge through leaks at underwater fittings. The majority of the leaks were at stuffing boxes (12 percent) followed by outdrive or shift bellows (11 percent), failed hoses or hose clamps (8 percent), sea strainers (4 percent) and drain plugs (4 percent).

Besides having to pay the deductible, the skipper typically loses the use of the boat for several weeks or even months while it is being repaired.

At least twice a season, inspect any fittings above or below the waterline that could be allowing water into the boat. All too often, owners rely on installed bilge pumps to bail them out when they can't visit their boats. Ultimately, the pump fails or the batteries die and the boat sinks.

This was the situation with a recent mishap. If you can't visit your boat regularly, consider using a buddy system with other boat owners on your dock to watch each other's boats. It is also a good practice to shut your thru-hulls and seacocks when you leave your boat.

Boat sinkings are not just an event that happens to someone else at another marina. We encounter several near sinking incidents per year due to the above-mentioned causes.

Take the time to inspect your fittings below the water line. If you don't feel sufficiently knowledgeable to do the job yourself, hire someone who is. The money spent to pay for an inspection will pale in comparison to the bill you will incur to salvage a submerged vessel.

Vigilance and attention to detail are two attributes that will serve you well in keeping your boat afloat.


2010 January From the Columbian newletter:

Just after 7 p.m. on May 14, 1977, a loud pop was heard from the boat docks. Suddenly, flames gushed out of the east boat sheds. When it was all over, 12 boats were destroyed.

A chain reaction occurred, with the 188-foot long wooden dock engulfed in flames within five minutes. Since the boats were parked so close to each other, the fire spread quickly from boat to boat. No firefighting equipment existed on the docks, and people formed a bucket brigade. Others who were boating on the lake sped by the docks at close proximity so as to send a wave of water up over the area.

Nothing helped. Some boats were saved, cast free and pushed out of harm’s way.

Other recent fires include:

May 4, 1986: Boileau’s main dock suffered the loss of a 33-foot boat and a two-story float home at the end of the dock. Minor damage occurred on adjoining structures. Bayview firefighter Gerald J. Franz collapsed from smoke inhalation and later died from a heart attack at this fire.

June 13, 2001: A boat owner was vacuuming his boat inside a boat shed when a spark ignited fumes in the bilge. Within seconds, the owner bailed out and swam to safety. Destroyed were two boat sheds containing four boats and the two float homes at the end of the same dock where the 1986 fire occurred.

Summer 2004: D Dock at Scenic Bay Marina, a small fire from a discarded cigarette was extinguished by locals.

Timberlake Fire Chief Jack Krill issued a report March 16, 2009, outlining the more egregious fire safety code violations he found in his late winter inspections.

Among the requirements that need to be in place by June 1: Fire extinguishers must be placed in boat sheds and boats and must be within 75 feet of any place in the marina. They must be approved devices and be inspected annually. Electrical shut-offs for individual float homes and boat sheds must be identified. All electrical transformers, control panels meters and breaker panels must be readily accessible.

2008 May - 22m Motor Yacht 'Stealth' - sinks at Sydney Marina 'A FAULTY seal is the most likely reason a 22-metre luxury power boat sank at the prestigious Royal Motor Yacht Club on Sydney Harbour, police say. Police were called to the club's Rose Bay marina about 4am (AEST) yesterday after the Warren cruiser was discovered almost submerged. No one was aboard the boat, owned by high-profile accountant Anthony Bell, when it went down.'

2007 July

Boat Owner Makes Costly Mistake  (KSL News) A $100,000 dollar boat sank in Utah Lake this morning. The boat's owner docked the boat at the harbor late last night, but he forgot to put in the plug. a neighboring boat driver, noticed the boat taking on water and called 911. He was then directed to the sheriff's office for help, which said the problem was not in their jurisdiction. witness says, "Someone should have come out and pumped out the boat because, like I said, it wasn't even in the boat yet." By the time the park ranger found out what had happened, it was too late to do anything about it. The owner must now pump out the water or get a crane to remove the boat from the water.

from Seaworthy Magazine: Why Boats Sink (And How to Keep Them Afloat)
The cost of repairing a boat that has been underwater, even briefly, is usually about 40% of its value.    According to the BoatU.S. Marine Insurance claim files, for every boat that sinks underway, four boats sink in their slips. reason #2, boats tend to spend a majority of their time at the dock.

2006 - November Boat/US Magazine Any boat can, theoretically, sink in a heavy rain storm. But a recent Seaworthy study found that this is the most common reason outboard-powered boats sink at the dock, accounting for 47% of sinkings.  Here's why: Most outboard-powered boats typically have low freeboard (distance from the gunwales to the waterline), large cockpits and just a couple of drains aft to carry water overboard. In a heavy rainstorm, water can quickly back up and flood the cockpit, especially when drains are full of gunk. The additional weight then shoves the stern down and water begins to flood back through the drains.  Another 20% of dock sinkings were caused by failed underwater through-hull fittings, the majority of which were plastic.

2004 - from YachtSurvey.com
M. Pascoe, a widely respected marine surveyor, “Tens of thousands of boats of all types and sizes sink every year, most of them at their dock.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2009 April Spokesman ReviewBayview’s Vista Bay Marina on Lake Pend Oreille was experiencing an early season warm day.