On 4/6/2014 10:35 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 06 Apr 2014 21:37:47 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/6/2014 9:21 PM, Wayne.B wrote:

It has been quiet on rec.boats this weekend. Hopefully that means
folks here are getting out and doing some boating, or working on their
boat, thinking about working on it, or maybe planning a cruise or
fishing trip.

Our massive re-varnishing project is coming along and starting to look
decent again. After stripping most of the trim to bare wood and
starting over, I'm now up to 8 coats, about 260 linear feet per coat.
One or two more light sandings, and one or two more top coats and
she'll be good to go.

We had our 5 year insurance survey done on Friday and that went
reasonably well with no show stoppers, just a couple of relatively
minor followups before we head north.

Friends of ours recently had their 60 footer burn to the waterline
while they were underway near Sanibel Island:

http://www.abc-7.com/story/24870538/boat-on-fire-south-of-sanibel#.U0H671fvil8

Carl was down below investigating smoke when the boat became fully
engulfed. Terri jumped from the flybridge as the flames erupted and
Carl jumped from the other side. It took them 30 minutes to find
each other and be picked up by a passing boater. Fortunately they
both had life jackets handy.

As a result Mrs B has developed a sudden interest in personal EPIRBs
and other safety equipment.




E-Gads. That's the worse thing that can happen on a boat. I wonder
if it was equipped with a "Fireboy" or similar automatic extinguishing
system. My Egg had the Fireboy system and I always worried that it was
going to go off accidentally for some reason.

===

The boat was very well equipped and in immaculate condition so I'm
sure they had some sort of automatic engine room system. Apparently
it either malfunctioned for some reason or became overwhelmed. To add
insult to injury, USCG estimated that they spilled over two gallons of
oil, and they are being assessed almost $700K in environmental
penalties.


Oil spillage fees always concerned me. I used to debate insurance
issues with people, including my father-in-law about this. Many people
(him included until I scared the crap out of him) have their boat
insurance as riders on their home insurance policies. The problem with
that is it doesn't cover oil spills and any resultant environmental
clean up fees. Having a *real* boating insurance policy by a marine
underwriter typically gives you a minimum of $500K in oil spill
protection. Your friend's unfortunate experience only goes to prove
that it isn't just big boats that should have marine insurance. A small
I/O that has an oil pan let go in the bilge can dump more than 2
gallons of oil in the ocean if the bilge pump turns on.