Good Surveyer in Panama City Area

[No Hurry]

It is interesting that the David Pascoe topic came up in another thread. I have a friend that asked me if I knew of a good surveyor in the area (we live in Panama City), and I referred him to Pascoe's website. He called the office number listed last week and no one returned his call.

My friend had his boat pull at a local yard to have the underside of his swim platform painted. When they were lowering it back into the water the straps broke on the travel lift and it dropped about six feet flat into the water. The boat is a 56' Neptunus, and weighs about 60K lbs. The boat is only two years old. There is no visible damage to the hull, but I told him I would probably wan't a surveyer with alot of experience in structural aspects of hulls to look at it just for piece of mind. I don't know much about these boats other than they are made in Canada.

Do you guys think a six foot drop like that would cause much damage?

thanks for any advice,
Benjy

 

[mike41tc]

Yes, unless it's a Hatteras but even then I'd want it surveyed for any hidden damage. He'll have a problem trying to make a claim a year or more later.

 

[Sparky1]

Surely a six foot, flat drop into water wouldn't cause any structural damage. If it did, I'd sell that boat. Karl should know somebody in that area, so you may want to send him an email to get a faster response.

 

[No Hurry]

That was my first thought also, that there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The boat ought to handle slamming around in rough seas that may come close to the same as dropping that distance, but... it would always nag at me "What If?"

Even some "minor" non structural (carpentry, plumbing etc) damage could cost a pretty penny to fix. We all know nothing is cheap on a boat. I assume if something was found now, the boat yard's insurance would pay, but if it wasn't found for a year, my friend would just have to eat it. The guy that owns the boatyard is a really good guy, and my friend is definitey not trying to get something out of this, so there is no friction between the parties involved. Just genuine concern about the "what if's".

I don't think I would give it a second thought if my 1972 36' Hatt was dropped from that height, but a 2008 56' pleasure boat might make me a little more nervous. I doubt they were built to the same standards.

When the boat fell everyone standing there was so shocked that no one grabbed a line on the boat and before anyone realized it, it had drifted out of reach, It drifted about 70 yards out into the bayou before they could get into another boat and retrieve it. I bet it actually would have been pretty funny to watch. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.

Thanks for your input,

 

[Sparky1]

Yeah, it would have been funny to watch unless you owned it.

There's no doubt the yard is on the hook for this one, so I'd make sure there were no problems if it were mine. Drive over to Destin next week and I'll buy you lunch/dinner.

 

[No Hurry]

Sparky - PM sent.