Safe to Fix ???

It certainly looks bad enough, but from a boat integrity stand point is it safe to fix? If it is fixed would the hull still be covered by BCBs lifetime structural warranty? It may not show in those pictures, but the damage is thru the outer glass, thru the flotation, and into the inner fiberglass. That isnt the only damage, but its the worst damage. There are a few stress fractures in the gel coat elsewhere, and what looks like impact fractures in the gunnel near the front of the boat also. The marine surveyor hired by the insurance company says, yep. Fix it. The boat is fine. Nothing wrong with fixing that, and the other damage. A service writer who I trust says, that he thinks the cap and hull would need to be seperated to fix that properly, and he believes that would effectively damage the over all structural integrity of the boat is its not intended to be seperated after its assembled. The fiberglass man has not looked at it yet. There is some damage to the outboard as well. The skeg is snapped off, and thats pretty much fixable. The prop is dinged and bent which means prop job or new prop. Neither are a big deal. What I was concerned about are a couple of 1/2+ depth gouges on the side of the gear case. My immediate thought was new case, and check the guts for trueness before installation in new case. Both marine mechanics I talked to said the same thing with gouges that deep in the case. The marine surveyor argued very stongly to just weld in the gouges and grind it smooth. Its obvious he works for the insurance company. My thoughts are even if the fiberglass is repairable would it void the lifetime structural warranty? How about if it needs to be seperated to fix properly? I absolutely do not expect BCB to make public comment on this as it would open up a whole can of worms, but I thought you guys might like to see what the inside of a BCB boat looks like, and realize what arguements and decisions you may face if you ever have to file a claim with your insurance company. For those who are interested, this is the minor part of the damage from a relatively low speed accident. At about 40 MPH we had a wild burro suddenly bolt out in front of us at night. I swerved and braked, lost control, fishtailed, and the truck went over on its roof. Probably got a little more out of whack when the boat smacked the guard rail. The donkey spent the next several hours standing on a nearby hillside braying at us. We came to a stop with the truck on its roof pointing back in the direction we had come and with the passenger door just an inch from the guard rail. The boat was sideways across the road still on its wheels, but it had torn the hitch receiver apart, and was held up on the bottom of the truck by the safety cables. (Good cables guys. ) I have to say the truck insurance has been much more pleasant to deal with. They totalled the truck, and I should have it paid off and a check for the balance of its value next week. They even made an upward adjustment based on the value of the work box camper shell I had on the truck at the time. It is a shame though that truck values are so deflated currently due to the price of fuel and so many people selling in favor of more economical vehicles. Bob La Londe http://www.YumaBassMan.com Last edited by Bob La Londe on July 5th, 2008, 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.–Bob La Londe Forums, Free Lures, Product Reviewswww.YumaBassMan.com CNC Molds N Stuffwww.CNCMOLDS.com