ericson travels 80miles in Irend hurricane; Ericson 34 severely damaged

This is one for the books: From New Bern, NC, Taberna man's boat on unmanned voyage "his 27-foot Ericson sailboat decided to take an adventure on its own." On Thursday, Monroe had anchored his boat, Slow Motion, in the Upper Broad Creek near Blackbeard Sailing Club in preparation for the storm. After the hurricane winds died down over the weekend and it was safe to get out Sunday, Monroe went to check on his boat and put it back in its slip at the sailing club.
But when he got there it was gone. See article at http://www.newbernsj.com/news/irene-100120-monroe-boat.html

Meanwhile my 87 Ericson 34, anchored not far away went aground in a swamp/marsh and is probably totaled. See my pic

Sad news indeed!

Is it a "total" due to hull damage or the cost to remove it/ re-float it intact? ( I know that crane costs are quite high.)

Regards,
Loren

Very Sad...

That's terrible! Do you know for sure that it's totaled? Did it flood?

//sse

here is the amazing E27

QUOTE=sailingdeacon;69462]This is one for the books: From New Bern, NC, Taberna man's boat on unmanned voyage "his 27-foot Ericson sailboat decided to take an adventure on its own." On Thursday, Monroe had anchored his boat, Slow Motion, in the Upper Broad Creek near Blackbeard Sailing Club in preparation for the storm. After the hurricane winds died down over the weekend and it was safe to get out Sunday, Monroe went to check on his boat and put it back in its slip at the sailing club.
But when he got there it was gone. See article at http://www.newbernsj.com/news/irene-100120-monroe-boat.html

Loren Beach said:

Sad news indeed!

Is it a "total" due to hull damage or the cost to remove it/ re-float it intact? ( I know that crane costs are quite high.)

Regards,
Loren

Click to expand...

Yes a total. 8 inch hole, 2.5' tear through. somehow done by reputable recovery people. However even before this, the toughness of an ericson showed. See this lead keel destruction yet the keel stayed on and no apparent leaks. but would not want to cross oceans with it. probably 50-70 mph for 6-8 hours -- from the West as the hurricane slowly left. Unusual. a number of larger boats totaled as well in the same area.

Sorry to see that much damage to your boat.

I don't know how it works with the insurance company, but if you are interested in parting out anything I may be interested in self-tailing winches and hatches, especially Lewmar size 30 and 70 Rollstop or Ocean series hatches.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. that storm packed one hell of a punch.

Best Always,
Frank

The results testifiy to the ericson's strength. The aft edge of the lead keep apparently tangeled with a cypress stump and ended up twisted ver badly. gell cracks entire length of the keel joint but no leaking at least for now. If I kept her the keel would have to be dropped, bolts inspected. The holing was right at the edge of the waffle stringer design and appears not to have cracked but cant tell because of the galley furntiure there (pushed/cracked inward).

Am now looking for an E35-3 or E34 in top condition... assuming insurance comes through soon I am in NC.

Don't give up yet

She might be quiet repairable. Here's a link to an article from EpoxyWorks Magazine (West System) about a Bureau of Immigration & Customs Enforcement boat that was rammed, holed, and repaired:

http://www.epoxyworks.com/21/custom_repair.html

and here's a general link to the TOC the above link is from:

http://www.epoxyworks.com/indexprojects.html

To be fair, "totaled" and "repairable" are not mutually exclusive. It boils down to how much you get from your insurance company, how much work needs to be done, how long it will take, how much time on the water you're willing to forego while the work is being done, how much you think you might want the boat after it's been repaired, and what other boats are available.

My sympathies on this loss. I had assumed that with Irene's storm surge up here in NY and my boat in a fairly crowded mooring field that my boat would be lost along with half or more of the other boats. Somehow, only one boat from my club left her mooring and the only damage done to mine was the loss of the mooring ball.

Insurance... Ways n Means.....

Totaled... is a way of saying that the cost to repair exceeds the insured value of the boat.

Two boats in our moorage have gone this route in the last year. A third may be in that same situation right now.
The first one was a shroud break that brought a double-spreader rig down in pieces. The owner bought back the hull, repaired it completely himself (and lost a year of sailing in the process) and it's back out sailing late this season. "Better than ever" as the saying goes...

The next one was the Ben. 35 that had the breaching whale fall on it. Lost rig and heavy hull damage. Owner has bought it back for pennies on the dollar to part it out and is looking for his next boat with cash in hand.

And, just recently, another 37 footer had the rig go over the side -- in pieces again -- due to rot in a bulkhead that allowed the chain plate to pull straight up n out.
That claim has not been settled yet but considering that one (or both) main bulkheads need major repair and a new rig is needed, it could well belong to an insurance company any day now.

While any boat can be repaired, so often the skilled labor far exceeds the value in the policy. I would note that most larger boats - over about 26' or so - have Agreed Value polices. Otherwise, any "market value based" policy would be just about worthless.

In my position as our club's moorage chair, I cringe a bit at seeing owners of smaller but decent quality sailing boats including them in their household policy just a save a dime or two.

Loren

Fully aware of what totaled means from an insurance standpoint. But if she's worth 30K-60K, I wouldn't write her off assuming that just because it looks bad, it's not fixable at a better economy than starting all over, including buying her back from the insurance company . My point was that severe damage can be fixed, and perhaps more economically than might initially be thought. Also, a ton of this comes down to the skill/motivation of the owner. If you can do a lot or most or all of it yourself, that makes it much more economical, assuming you have the time and money. Gee, that sounds like someone's triangle of boat ownership :0. Loren!

That "Triangle"

Great words from our own Capt Dan:
To own a boat you need any two of : Time, Money, and Skill.


LB

Actually you need all three, however one will make up for a certain deficit in another OR you need a whole triangle but it does Need to be equilateral