open a claim or deal with it myself

Yesterday I beached my boat in some nasty waves and now have an absolute disaster on my hands as it filled with sandy water from waves crashing over the back. I don’t know the extent of the damage, but the worst part is (that I know of) is that my remote oil resevoir filled up with water, displacing Yamalube onto and into everything in my boat including the carpet. The sand is another issue, but I can powerwash that out.. The electricals were at least partially under water (batteries completely submerged) but I haven’t tried anything except for the trim which worked in order to trailer it. I finally was able to get the boat over to a dock where it also sustained damage, but just cosmetic stuff. It blends in with all the other scratches and gouges from other various incidents so that’s not a huge deal to me but it definitely took a beating. I didnt run it afterwards, nor was it completely submerged. Maybe up to the midsection with a lot of water slapping up against the cowling (I’m sure some got inside since there are vents to the rear). I also checked my gas tanks and it doesnt appear as though water entered, but I have no way of knowing. Would you guys try to claim this on the insurance or just wash, degrease, remove all the water from the oil tank and siphon the gas out. I’m also pretty sure I burned out the bilge pumps with all the sandy water. Lastly I havent looked at the bottom of the boat but I dont believe there were any rocks underneath it but she got ground down into the sand pretty good. So the question is should I call my ins. co and open a claim or just deal with this myself. And if that is the case, anything I should do with the electrical stuff or the motor to aviod future issues?

It seems like you have a lot of unknowns here. I’d get a better idea of what actually happened and do your own breakdown of time and costs involved. Then call your agent for sure.

Sorry about your bad luck.

I’d get Dan Larson to detail the boat for $200.

Seriously, if you make a claim, the insurance company may very well total it. You need to find out what they are willing to pay you for the boat and if you have the option to buy it back before salvage. (or walk away) If the numbers work, go for it.

-J.

Tough break dude. If it was me I’d dry out real good, replace the oil and gas and take it straight to a mechanic and have them start it up.

Doesn’t sound like there’s enough there to total the boat to me.

Personally, get a better idea of what’s wrong. If it isn’t much over what your deductible is, then pay it yourself. If it’s a lot over your deductible, file a claim.

You may want to notify the insurance company prior to doing any thing to it at all. You can always come back and do the work yourself but if you proceed with fix up & clean up without notifying the insurance company first, thus not allowing them the chance to inspect it as is, they may very well deny you claim later.

What kind of boat? I once saw a 14′ Lund tiller that had this happen and was not properly cleaned in a timely manner. The acid from the batteries resulted in a lot of hull damage that required a new bottom to be put on it by the factory – sure was a heavy beast after that…..

Like said previously, I would for sure check with your insurance before doing anything. It would suck to do a bunch of clean up and then find out there is major issues. The insurance should have a chance to look at it in its worst condition.

Can I ask where you beached it at?

thanks for the advice. I am going to call my ins co this morning and assume they’ll send someone out to look at it. No way it’s totalled, but it is quite a mess with all the sand and oil. I guess I am mostly worried about future electrical issues since it was filled up with water.
It was on Lake Puckaway. She was blowing pretty bad out there in the afternoon when all the storms rolled through.

Careful with the insurance companies and specify whether or not you’re making a claim or you just want advice/information on your policy. I’ve had an instance where a claim was started unbeknown to me when I was just seeking information about the policy, talking in hypotheticals, etc. Then, to back out of the process, I had to sign my life away, and risked not being able to go back and make a claim for the same/similar issue in the future. I got it straightened out, but it was quite the process.

Joel

Allstate has been pretty good to me except for denying me a new roof from hail damage when everyone else in my neighborhood got one. At the time, it was only a few years old, but they did mention that it is on record so if we see premature wear they will replace it. Who knows though. They did buy that roof for me after a tree fell on it so I can’t complain too much…Not to mention the other boat that was totalled which they cut a check for within a couple days for a very fair price. I contacted them this morning and I have to bring it in to get an estimate done at my marina of choice. They also said anything in the boat that was damaged by oil will be replaced. Rain gear, life jackets, etc…. I’ve got a $250.00 deductible and that’s 6 hundo right there just on those items.

37 ####ing days into this claim with no end in sight