That's a troubling argument in my opinion. What does ABYC have to say about marine electricals and equipment? What kinds of electric motors did Hatteras put in our boats (diesel or gas)? NTSB accident reports are replete with inspections that fail to take note of some pretty basic discrepancies. Saying it's OK because it passed inspection is awfully close to accepting a I got away with it mindset. Human nature, wouldn't you agree? I wonder how one would feel paying a contractor to fix a problem and discovering an installed component that wasn't rated for the usage. We don't have to wonder about an insurance company's position.
A 57' diesel boat caught fire and sank off Charleston this past week. We don't yet know the cause. We do know the insurance company will look for any reason to mitigate or deny their exposure. A 74' Hatteras (Inspected Passenger Vessel), at this marina, passed multiple annual inspections that'd leave a blind man scratching his head. I mean how does a boat with a rotten transom and paper thin thru hulls, sans, bonding pass?* The owners got away with that and much more for years. A change in sector command added emphasis to inspections and did away with the seemingly unlimited automatic two-week compliance extensions. That boat's certificate was jerked, and spent six months in a yard to try for recertification. The list of deficiencies was epic.
So, saying a repair passed inspection and is, therefore, an approved repair is kinda like troopers allowing 10 over the limit. You got away with it. Getting away with an extra 10MPH makes justifying another 5 that much easier.
I realize it's a gray world, and who doesn't want to stretch a boat unit?
* Since that boat left for the yard, my zinc life has almost quadrupled.
