Hull Penetration Caused Eventual Delamination
Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 10:54 pm
Hi folks. I am a long-time CW member, and until recently proud owner of two Boston Whaler boats, a 1999 28 Conquest and a 1996 20 Dauntless. Let me start by saying that I love my Dauntless and loved my Conquest (past tense intentional), and I seriously considered not posting this note as I do not ever wish to be thought of as a Whaler basher, especially here amongst friends. But if this had happened to one of you, I'd have wanted to know about it, and I hope my story can prevent similar occurrences.
So what happened, you ask? Here are the facts:
I always take my Conquest from Cape Cod Bay around to Nantucket in August for a couple of weeks. When I was on Nantucket I noticed that there was an inch of water collecting on the sole in the cabin draining into the forward bilge. There was also about a half gallon of water that had collected in the storage lockers under the forward berth. Because the water was mostly draining into the bilge, it was hard to tell how much had already been pumped out by the bilge pump, but my batteries weren't drained or anything.
No big deal, I thought. We had some torrential rain here and there, and I figured my anchor locker was leaking like it had in the past, letting rain water in. I didn't think too much of it until I got back to my home port on the Cape, and after inspecting the anchor locker I found that the caulking all seemed good. I spent a good 90 minutes with a hose and just couldn't find a leak, especially one that would let in the amount of water I found.
So I ended up calling up my marina and asking them to figure it out and fix it. The next day I get a call that they found saltwater on the sole (guess I should have tasted it) and they were pulling the boat out of the water. As soon as they had it out, they found a stream of water peeing out of a quarter-inch (tiny) hole below the waterline in the port bow. The hole was at the center of a one-inch circular section where the gelcoat had been chipped out by some impact. They also discovered a small crack in the inner hull on the starboard side in the bow storage locker where the water was seeping into the cabin. So sea water had gotten forced into the foam between the inner and outer hulls and worked its way all the way around to the starboard side where it found or created the crack.
Now for the sad part. After a lot of water drained out (I have no idea how much as I wasn't there), they tapped the hull and found a 5-foot by 8-foot area of de-lamination. Ugh. At this point I got things rolling with my insurance company (Chubb) and they sent out a surveyor to do a thorough examination. They ended up drilling several core samples to understand the full extent of the damage, and they determined that the damaged area was simply too big to repair.
So the end of the story is the boat was declared a total loss. I was obviously hugely worried that Chubb would dispute the claim. Even though it was clear to me that I had hit something at some time, the damage had obviously gone undetected for quite a while, and I just didn't know what would happen. Fortunately they stepped up to the plate entirely and then some, agreeing to pay the full value of the boat as insured.
The Lessons Learned from This
Inspect your hull whenever you can. It's clearly an EXTREMELY rare event to have a small hole like I got without some obvious damaging incident (e.g. hitting something hard, hearing a big CRUNCH, and thinking "I better check this out"). I think I was very very unlucky. Nonetheless, the unique construction of a Whaler hull can turn a small penetration into a big problem especially if it is in the bow of the boat and thus subject to intense hydraulic pressures. Bottom line: at least once a year, look over your hull very carefully for any damage.
Get top-notch insurance. I'm sure there are many great insurance companies out there, but I cannot say enough good things about Chubb. I will never insure a boat with anyone else.
Whalers still rule. I will not be replacing my Conquest with another Whaler, but I still have my Dauntless, which I intend to keep for a good long time (recently powered it with an E-TEC in fact). And even though my beloved Conquest is heading for salvage, it got me home safe and sound, and no matter what the damage was it was always going to get me home!
So what happened, you ask? Here are the facts:
I always take my Conquest from Cape Cod Bay around to Nantucket in August for a couple of weeks. When I was on Nantucket I noticed that there was an inch of water collecting on the sole in the cabin draining into the forward bilge. There was also about a half gallon of water that had collected in the storage lockers under the forward berth. Because the water was mostly draining into the bilge, it was hard to tell how much had already been pumped out by the bilge pump, but my batteries weren't drained or anything.
No big deal, I thought. We had some torrential rain here and there, and I figured my anchor locker was leaking like it had in the past, letting rain water in. I didn't think too much of it until I got back to my home port on the Cape, and after inspecting the anchor locker I found that the caulking all seemed good. I spent a good 90 minutes with a hose and just couldn't find a leak, especially one that would let in the amount of water I found.
So I ended up calling up my marina and asking them to figure it out and fix it. The next day I get a call that they found saltwater on the sole (guess I should have tasted it) and they were pulling the boat out of the water. As soon as they had it out, they found a stream of water peeing out of a quarter-inch (tiny) hole below the waterline in the port bow. The hole was at the center of a one-inch circular section where the gelcoat had been chipped out by some impact. They also discovered a small crack in the inner hull on the starboard side in the bow storage locker where the water was seeping into the cabin. So sea water had gotten forced into the foam between the inner and outer hulls and worked its way all the way around to the starboard side where it found or created the crack.
Now for the sad part. After a lot of water drained out (I have no idea how much as I wasn't there), they tapped the hull and found a 5-foot by 8-foot area of de-lamination. Ugh. At this point I got things rolling with my insurance company (Chubb) and they sent out a surveyor to do a thorough examination. They ended up drilling several core samples to understand the full extent of the damage, and they determined that the damaged area was simply too big to repair.
So the end of the story is the boat was declared a total loss. I was obviously hugely worried that Chubb would dispute the claim. Even though it was clear to me that I had hit something at some time, the damage had obviously gone undetected for quite a while, and I just didn't know what would happen. Fortunately they stepped up to the plate entirely and then some, agreeing to pay the full value of the boat as insured.
The Lessons Learned from This
Inspect your hull whenever you can. It's clearly an EXTREMELY rare event to have a small hole like I got without some obvious damaging incident (e.g. hitting something hard, hearing a big CRUNCH, and thinking "I better check this out"). I think I was very very unlucky. Nonetheless, the unique construction of a Whaler hull can turn a small penetration into a big problem especially if it is in the bow of the boat and thus subject to intense hydraulic pressures. Bottom line: at least once a year, look over your hull very carefully for any damage.
Get top-notch insurance. I'm sure there are many great insurance companies out there, but I cannot say enough good things about Chubb. I will never insure a boat with anyone else.
Whalers still rule. I will not be replacing my Conquest with another Whaler, but I still have my Dauntless, which I intend to keep for a good long time (recently powered it with an E-TEC in fact). And even though my beloved Conquest is heading for salvage, it got me home safe and sound, and no matter what the damage was it was always going to get me home!