Irresponsible Boaters - "Frickin' frick!"

[Ex-Calif]

So I get home from work last night about 5PM, sit with my son to help with the maths and about 5:30 our boat mechanic calls.

"Mr. Dan. Something happened to your boat."
"OK. What?"
"Maybe something hit it near the bow."
"Is it sinking?"
"No. it can probably be OK till tomorrow but I wanted you to know."


Ok - I won't put the whole dialog in but long story short, it's not sinking but it needs a look at. I think maybe I'll go over Friday but curiosity really has me going. I have a conference call at 10PM so a run out and back should be OK.

Well, I get to the boat on the mooring and both rails of the bow pulpit are laying over to starboard about 30 degrees. The forward mount on the starboard side has failed the bolt, the aft moount on the starboard side didn't fail the bolt but pulled completely out of the deck pulling a hefty chunk of fiberglass with it. The port sides are attached but lifted from the bedding compound and when I get it off I am gonna bet on some fiberglass damage as well as partial bolt failure.

A real close examination revealed no major collision damage but right on the point of the bow mid way from the water line to the top of the bow is a nice chunk missing with a large smudge of grey paint.

Near as I can figure someone hit us dead on the bow, locked horns with the pulpits and ripped the crap out of mine getting off.

The club sends a "security" boat around twice a day primarily to run off birds and to check mooring lines to the boats. If they checked properly yesterday morning then it had to happen during the day yesterday. That's unlikely as someone would have noticed that. We are only 40 meters off the club dock. More than likely happened Wednesday night sometime.

The difficult bit will be to repair the pulpit. It looks like someone ran over it with a car and may have to be completely remanufactured $$$. The fiberglass work shouldn't be too bad.

I am contemplating filing a police report tonight, just to go on record so if I see a grey boat with a damaged bow I can fry his ass - who knows he might even get a caning

The stupid part is, everyone in Singapore is supposed to have liability insurance. I can't get comprehensive on a boat this old so a note would have been nice - sorry about your boat - a decent fix and a ~$700 claim.

I sure would like to get this guy in a corner for 30 minutes or so

[ep_sail]

Wow, that sucks. I hope you find out who did that and get them to pay for your damages.

[Boracay]

Now, three deep breaths, count backwards from 10 to zero, sitting quietly.

Is that better?

Let's start.

This an act of man, not of god so standard detective work should suffice.

First witnesses. You have worked out about what time it happened, so go looking for witnesses. This is Singapore. People everywhere all the time. Someone probably saw it.

Second habits. People are creatures of habit. The boat that ran into you was there for a reason, so they must go round your place or similar places. They won't be far away.

Third call CSI. Well not CSI, their local branch - you. Sit down with a pen and paper and take notes. You know the colour of the boat, but you can also work out the approximate size and weight and probably some other details like course etc.

This should lead you to the boat but this is the time to take it easy. You must know that in Asia drunk driving by big wigs is an art form, but so is negotiation. This part could best be handled by your significant other.

[Ex-Calif]

I'm not really "that" po'd but it is darned annoying. Funny though the club has talked about putting in a web cam so people can see the conditions from home. I originally thought it a bad idea.

I am an infrared "recording" web cam fan now that the cows are out - LOL.

Regarding detective work. Good points all. There just aren't that many boats here and if he has any damage at all there are only like 5 places on the whole island to get it fixed.

The sneaking suspicion is that it might even be the club's boatman doing his rounds say less than sober?

[Alan Wheeler]

Awwe heck Dan, that just plain stinks. While I was reading, I was wondering if there was a security cam around you could get footage from. I guess they don't have crime issues in singapore quite the same as other places to warrant having a security cam.

[mickmul]

A competent boater/sailor would have more than likely left a note on your boat or contacted you through the marina office. I say that because of the mutual respect that exists between those that love the sea, and the respect they have for the boats that carry life on it. (why a boat is called "she"). I recently had a fairlead ripped out by an incompetent newbie with a motor boat fresh out of the plastic, hammer down and passing a dock at full speed. There are many many cowboys on the water today - boats are a status symbol to them, a "must have" decoration, and their lack of respect and training make them a danger to themselves and others. I'd venture you're looking for someone with a fairly recent purchase, whose only worry about damage is when it happens to his own new toy . . . .

[markpj23]

My guess is very few pleasure craft with gray paint... yard craft, government or commercial would be my suspects.

I wish you luck in finding the culprit(s).

[Sunspot Baby]

Must be a fairly large vessel to have caused that much damage that far above the water line. Mark's idea of government boat seems very possible. Not much commercial traffic in close to the yacht club as I remember. Some patrol craft cruising the club sightseeing pretty boats. If it is government, my guess is you are SOL, lah.

George

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

First of all I'd like to state that we are not superstitious in any way and we would never worship pagan gods, ever, and we would certainly never hang out or associate with people that do. Having said that we "are" going to rename our boat . . .

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I already bought cheap grog. If I also shrink the cups I know we'll be cursed - LOL.

I don't think it was re-naming your vessel that jinxed you, Dan, I think it was the cheap grog and too-small portions!

My intuition tells me that your "sneaking suspicion" regarding the club's boatman is most perceptive. Good luck.

TaoJones

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

I don't think it was re-naming your vessel that jinxed you, Dan, I think it was the cheap grog and too-small portions!

My intuition tells me that your "sneaking suspicion" regarding the club's boatman is most perceptive. Good luck.

TaoJones

Aaarrrghh! Cheap booze! As soon as I get the new $600 pulpit I'll be ater some o' dat Don's perig-nee...

Actually the CSI-Singapore team brought the boat to the dock to remove the damaged pulpit, take photos and jury rig the lifelines.

We have a new innocuous theory. Our 3/4 inch mooring lines have 3/8 leaders on them with a second small float. You snag the leader and small buoy with the boat hook and haul up the big line. most folks have a habit of draping the small buoy across the pulpit or lifelines so the little ball doesn't bang on the hull.

We also have some deep draft "ferry" bum boats that ply a route right in front of the club. We are also in a shipping channel with huge container ships going by. Bottom line is we often get very big wakes rolling through our mooorings. We have seen boats pitching 30 degrees.

A new theory is we pitched deeply, the large mooring line, cleated on the port side, went "over the nose" (across to starboard) and the resulting jerk caused the little buoy to wrench on the pulpit to starboard.

My only problem with this theory is that a jerk that strong to pull 4 pulpit mountings out should have been strong enough to damage the 2 bolts holding the cleat.

At this point either theory is valid.

I found a source for a new pulpit - $680 USD + shipping. Pretty sure we can make a new one here for half that.

In the meantime we've rigged the lifelines to the forestay fitting and tempprarily plugged the holes so we can sail.