oil spill damage to fiberglass boats

[kingwoodie]

Need some info and help. My sailboat is docked at a marina that was just flooded with crude oil.The co that owns the well is in the process of cleaning up the mess. My fiberglass boat is setting in the muck and the clean up crew is trying to clean the area . The oil booms are out and they expect more crude when the tide changes.
Does anyone know what kind of damage will crude do to my fiberglass boat? I can see already the waterline stripe changing color. I have ordered a surveyor to come out and see. There is limited info on the net so I thought I would ask the members here and tap into their experience.
Thanks
Kingwoodie
s/v Margaret Ann

[Sailmonkey]

Other than staining your hull will be fine. However go after the well owner and/or operator for cleaning or a paint job if cleaning is insufficient.

Don't run you engine or air conditioner or any other seawater consumers while the oil is on the water.

[thinwater]

Structural damage is a non-issue. If it were, diesel and gasoline spills would destroy boats daily. Prop and outdrive seals have oil on the other side and should be no issue. This is just a staining issue. Whether that's worth getting in a twist over is up to you, since that should fade over time.

It can have a slight tendency to deactivate the antifouling near the water line (don't move the boat until it's gone). You may get a haul/scrub/paint out of it.

[Sailmonkey]

Out of curiosity, what marina are you in? Only ones I can think of with nearby wells are Baytown and maybe something in Dickinson Bayou.

[kingwoodie]

Bayland

[Pete7]

I hope they offer to lift and polish the top sides, clean the boot topping or repaint if necessary. Think about the top few inches of the antifoul paint, will you be able to just paint on top of it next year or will fail to adhere properly

Good idea on the surveyor, be worth taking lots of photos too for your own records.

Pete

[zeehag]

the crude will cause antifouling paint to fail. you need to get that addressed. with the blow of bp deepwater horizon, out boat we we sailing was oiled in mid gulf of mexico, the paint fail was obvious with the tiny barnacles everywhere growing on the hull. the owner was granted new paint for that difficulty as a result of damages caused by crude oil. other than that, no damages.

[bsurvey]

I have done many oil spill claims on yachts and participated in the cleanup after the exxon valdez so I can spill from experience.


the boat has to come out of the water for a proper cleaning, there are several citric acid type cleaners that will clean even the toughest crude from the fiberglass, unless you top sides are old and heavily chocked it should all wipe right off.


we usually dig a 2 foot deep pit line it with plastic build it up a little more with sand bags and put the boat in the middle of it,


we high pressure wash the bottom then spray on the citric acid cleaner on to the hull and wipe it off with sponge mobs..


as I said, I did claims for boat cleaning in California when shell would spill oil into SF bay and have worked elsewhere.


this should be paid for by the spiller, including the anti foulant renewal

[Wallaby]

Having been through the Great Beaufort Oil Spill of 2016, here are my thoughts.

1. The longer it sits in oil, the worse it gets.
2. The longer the oil is on the hull, the worse it gets.
3. You can, depending on viscosity/wax condition, get most off above the waterline by prompt cleaning while the boat is in the water. Any severe cleaners, the Coast Guard will likely stop you.
4. You need to haul out to get the bottom paint repaired. This can range from vacuum sanding to soda blasting to get damaged paint off. It will go down about 12".
5. While hauled out, remove oil stains from topsides. Good luck on green cleaners. The yard ended up using lacquer thinner on my boat, with immediate washing, waxing etc. Excellent results btw.
6. You might need to get the boot stripe repainted.
7. If you want reimbursement, you are about to find out a lot about the Oil Pollution Act of 1990

[CHRIS V CLEMENT]

I am in South Louisiana and was involved in a number of oil related BP claims.
The best advice that I can give you is to find an attorney that is experienced in these claims. The biggest damage numbers from these claims came from loss of use, and the expenses due to loss of use, including depreciation, slip fees, insurance and personal on the water time lost.
Keep track of the number of days that it was not safe to move your boat due to the risk of oil intake through raw water intake hoses. Even if the oil is cleaned up in your harbor, the risk of oil intake, or ingesting of oil by one of your guests that might fall overboard is not worth the risk to move your boat out of the harbor.

Many of these BP individual claims were settled for over $100,000.00.
The key is find the right attorney who has the patience to correctly fill out the forms and stay behind the BP attorneys to move the claim along.

[maxlynn]

We sail often in an area where there are continual natural leaks of crude from subterranean cracks. Sailing through these leaks always stains the hull and/or leaves tar-like deposits. I have always been able to remove the deposits with a rag saturated with regular paint thinner. Lacquer thinner would be more aggressive but tends to damage gel coat if used liberally. There is usually a residual light stain remaining on the white hull which fades to the normal color in a few days. The previous responses may be correct regarding damage to anti-fouling paint but I have not noticed this. If your boat is stationary in a marina the crude would only come in contact with the bottom paint at the waterline since the oil floats on top the water. In any case I would think your greatest damage would be to the anti-fouling.

[Cheechako]

The stain may be tough to remove. Try to get paid for it to be done properly. I had this problem in the Carribean. Entering the area of one of the French islands a grey ship looking like some sort of Navy boat maybe 100 ft long was circling around in a big wide circle. It was dumping something in the water that looked like oil as it was a bit choppy but this stuff flattened it down. I had yellowish stain on my hull forever after that.