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Hole in hull, loose fin


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I have a 2001 sunscape 23 LSV. At Lake Norris now, perfect glass on water, 90 feet deep going about 30 mph. Sudden ugly clunk as something hit prop, bad vibration. I pulled boat out of water and of all things my front fin was gone and water pouring out of 2 bolt holes. My prop was torn up and 3 deep scratches that may penetrate thru hole just above prop. Now the reallt unusual part, my front bolt for fin is still in hole, doesn't appear sheared and the head of bolt didn't pull thru hull. The rear bolt head ripped thru hull. I think my front bolt came loose, I probably didn't hit anything but my fin tore loose into prop causing the severe damage. Anybody have any thoughts or experience with something like this? Any help with hull repair options? Thanks.

Mike Martyn

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Unless you're handy with fiberglass and gelcoat, I'd say take it to the dealer. Not to mention that your shaft may be out of alignment which will cause you tranny problems down the road.

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Insurance will take care of it. Sounds like it could be a $5k bill.

Are you sure about that?

I have my State Farm boat policy in my hand. I see two areas of concern:

b. defect, weakness, inadequacy, fault or unsoundness in:

1)design, specs, workmanship, construction;

2)materials used in construction or repair: or

3)maintenance

a. wear, tear, marring, scratching, denting, deterioration, inherent vice, latent defect, mechanical breakdown, corrosion, electrolysis

IMO: He is out of luck on the fin and the repairing of the fin, however the subsequent damage(hull scratches, shaft, prop) are more than likely covered.

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I had the same thing happen to me on my boat. My prop didn't get touched though. Turns out that there was an air pocket in the gelcoat under the gorrilla fins. The dealer removed the fin that still remained and repaired the gelcoat. Everything back to new and no issues, all work was done under warranty. If they decide you have the same issue with the gelcoat maybe they will pick up the tab.

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Insurance will take care of it. Sounds like it could be a $5k bill.

Are you sure about that?

I have my State Farm boat policy in my hand. I see two areas of concern:

b. defect, weakness, inadequacy, fault or unsoundness in:

1)design, specs, workmanship, construction;

2)materials used in construction or repair: or

3)maintenance

a. wear, tear, marring, scratching, denting, deterioration, inherent vice, latent defect, mechanical breakdown, corrosion, electrolysis

IMO: He is out of luck on the fin and the repairing of the fin, however the subsequent damage(hull scratches, shaft, prop) are more than likely covered.

4 words....."I hit a log". Plenty of those floating around Norris. Assuming of course that Malibu doesn't assume responsibility of the failure.

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Not sure about anything, but I've never seen a tracking fin rip off after 7 years without hitting something....

My front bolt came loose, but the back one held on and I did not hit anything. The boat just got real squirelly all of a sudden. Took the boat out and saw the fin hanging down with the front bolt just sticking through the hole. I have no idea how that bolt backed out.....It is under the gas tank in my boat with very little space (what a PITA to fix since I had just filled up the boat to take out that day).

When I put it back in there was locktite on both bolts to prevent them from backing out again.

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4 words....."I hit a log". Plenty of those floating around Norris. Assuming of course that Malibu doesn't assume responsibility of the failure.

CLICK HERE

Insurance is a fraud, I have never once been satisfied with an insurance claim of any kind. IMO this is something that insurance should cover, but it probably won't so.... who's to say there wasn't a log involved?

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IMO this is something that insurance should cover, but it probably won't so.... who's to say there wasn't a log involved?

It should cover it if it is not excluded under the policy. Whether you think it should be a peril where coverage is afforded is irrelevant.

That's right... you should lie to get what you want and obtain something which is not owed to you.

I sure hope these guys don't show up at your door after your nice little fib.

Maybe you can make the hall of shame, too

Edited by martho
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This has got to be covered in one of two ways: Malibu Warranty or insurance. Which is the lesser battle?

Can someone point to the Malibu manual that says to periodically check tracking fins for loseness? I don't think this is a maintenance issue, therefore it would be classified as a defect failure. Parts aren't supposed to just fall off of the boat. Sorta like the wedge bolts popping. Malibu has taken care of those customers, including myself.

Or, you hit a log. It's not lying if you really don't know. I've seen plenty of telephone pole sections floating in Norris and Cumberland. They like to hang just below the surface. The only piece of the boat that would tell the story is sitting at the bottom of the lake. What's one to do? Martho, it sounds like you would just get it fixed and pay the bill yourself? Hope that makes you feel better about yourself so you can call everyone else a fraud.

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I have a 2001 sunscape 23 LSV. At Lake Norris now, perfect glass on water, 90 feet deep going about 30 mph. Sudden ugly clunk as something hit prop, bad vibration. I pulled boat out of water and of all things my front fin was gone and water pouring out of 2 bolt holes. My prop was torn up and 3 deep scratches that may penetrate thru hole just above prop. Now the reallt unusual part, my front bolt for fin is still in hole, doesn't appear sheared and the head of bolt didn't pull thru hull. The rear bolt head ripped thru hull. I think my front bolt came loose, I probably didn't hit anything but my fin tore loose into prop causing the severe damage. Anybody have any thoughts or experience with something like this? Any help with hull repair options? Thanks.

Mike Martyn

I appreciate the thoughts. In reply to "hit a log" the only thing odd to me is that the front bolt did not tear thru the hull or shear. It is still poking thru an undamaged hole and the rear bolt tore thru. I didn't mention in original posting but I thought the day prior that my bilge was running more than it should and I was going to check for sites of leak - I now think it was thru the front bolt hole which was loose. Also, I had noticed a tightness turning left at 25-40mph the day prior that was not present at low speed. I was wondering why this was happening and now I think it is tied to a loose tracking fin. Also in response to hit a log - the boat didn't have that gut wrenching or crap waht did I just hit feel to it. Just a clunk then vibration. No jumping or sudden bump in boat.

Mike Martyn

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This isn't about me or what I would do. This is about making up a story...or as it was phrased "4 words, I hit a log."

As for the statement it isn't lying if you don't know what happened, I can't go with you there. If you don't know what happened, how can you say you hit a log? One can clearly state they don't know what happened and that would be an accurate statement. Stating I could have hit a tree is nothing more than a guess with no evidence to support that theory (unless the bottom of the boat shows something consistent with that set of facts. If there is wood jammed in the strut or around the prop hub, that could be great proof.)

DONT GET ME WRONG. I wish the best for the OP and his situation. However, people making blanket statements about how insurance will cover this could be incorrect. Depending on the wording of the exclusions, the OP may get every penny which would be great. In the event there are coverage conditions or exclusions for the device which failed, the OP should be aware that is possible.

Finally, if you lie to your insurance company to get something which is not owed to you... you are a fraud.

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I hate it when threads turn into this, Martho quit judging people and putting that fraud speech diarrhea on the site. Seriously, what's up with you and your avatar, who named you the fraud police of TMC? Can't you go post that crap up on some insurance forum somewhere else? We don't need to be lectured, we're all big boys here. Mmm-kay.......... Mad.gif

Mike Martyn, i hope you get your boat fixed soon so you can enjoy summer, do you have any pictures of the damage you can post? If the fiberglass is all torn up then you know it was ripped out from striking something. If the glass is all shiny new where the tracking fin was and you have 4 bolt holes then you know the bolts backed out.

A side note, I've heard of few cases of under water gear getting stolen off boats since raw metal materials are getting so expensive. If the boat is parked in the public somewhere i wouldn't put it past that somebody could have tried to steal some nice heavy brass and got scared off half way through it. If your in a public storage it might be worth a phone call. (NO Martho this is not some other way to FRAUD our insurance companies)

good luck getting it fixed, doesn't sound too hard to repair even to do it yourself. Certainly should not cost 5K.

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I hate it when threads turn into this, Martho quit judging people and putting that fraud speech diarrhea on the site. Seriously, what's up with you and your avatar, who named you the fraud police of TMC? Can't you go post that crap up on some insurance forum somewhere else? We don't need to be lectured, we're all big boys here. Mmm-kay.......... Mad.gif

Easy there, big boy. Martho knows just a bit about insurance. Though you may find his delivery offensive in some way, he is attempting to inform us about 'white lies' that could end in jail time. Ultimately the decision rests on the individual--better it be a well informed decision.

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good luck getting it fixed, doesn't sound too hard to repair even to do it yourself. Certainly should not cost 5K.

Typically when people hit something at 30 MPH and rip tracking fins off, which is usually followed by a shaft, strut, rudder, prop, wedge and subsequent gel coat damage, what I thought with the original post, it can easily cost $5k to fix. I would imagine the prop would tell a good story here, and hopefully any impact did not damage other drivetrain components.

As for how "easy" it is to repair, I'm going to differ on you there. To get to those tracking fins, you have to pull the gas tank, which invovles taking the back of the boat apart, proably 4 hours of work for someone who knows what they are doing. With the fiberglass and gelcoat work (the gel doesn't have to be too pretty but the glass better be really good), putting it all back together, etc. It will easily cost a couple grand to fix it up.

-Chris

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Well, in the end I hope you get your boat fixed, that's all that matters. To me, it is more plausible that you hit something than the thing just fall off. But I guess I'd be telling a white lie to speculate. I hope Malibu helps you out on that, but it could be a long summer of Malibu and insurance pointing at each other with you left in the middle. Your boat won't necessarily jump up hitting something floating in the water vs. something solid like ground. Unless it is something very large, the boat would push it down instead. It is odd with the bolt. However a SS bolt threaded into bronze material, I know which of the two is most likely to give way first. Again, speculation though.

IF you did hit a log, let's just hope it's not a log from a ficus tree, because damage from ficus plants probably aren't covered either.

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IMO this is something that insurance should cover, but it probably won't so.... who's to say there wasn't a log involved?

It should cover it if it is not excluded under the policy. Whether you think it should be a peril where coverage is afforded is irrelevant.

That's right... you should lie to get what you want and obtain something which is not owed to you.

I sure hope these guys don't show up at your door after your nice little fib.

Maybe you can make the hall of shame, too

I'm pretty sure "fine print" was invented for insurance companies because they don't want you to easily spot what they will not cover. Isn't that fraud? Well, it is certainly deceitful, and least as deceitful as saying, "I hit a log". How you're comparing this to faking back pain to get cash is beyond me.

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