The good and the Bad!!

[limeydal]

Had a great start on launching my new XS-550 for the first time.
We arrived at Mission Bay San Diego on a hot sunny day with perfect conditions. We were told to keep the engine under 3000RPM for the majority of the time, so had a gentle cruise around just to break her in.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the boat and my wife even took the helm for the first time ever!
So after a great day we headed for home and that's when the trouble started.
On arriving home , we found the Nissan Xterra wouldn't reverse the boat back into the drive (we live on an extremely steep hill) So I opted to drive into the garage with the intention of unhooking the trailer and spinning it around to park alongside the house like we used to do with our SIB .(Bad choice!!!) The extra length and weight of this boat caused the trailer to start to roll and was heading off down the hill. The only course of action I had was to swing the tongue around and turn it into the bank to stop it.
It stopped it alright; ripping of the skeg completely in the process!!
The only consalation I had was if not for this it would have ended up down the hill and into the neighbours house!
Luckily no one was injured apart from my pride (and the gouge marks in my Bum where I slid trying to stop it. )
So a mixture of emotions today and I'm sure more to come on Monday when I revisit the Suzuki dealers!!!
For now heres some photos of the "good "part of the day.
I will post the bad part later when I can handle the embarrasement better,
cheers Dal

[TIM]

It looks great , congradulations............

You are very lucky.... that trailer could of easly got away on you not the hill and you may not have been able to stop it..... That dosent bear thinking about

[ashbypower]

The boat looks great, I guess your really pleased with her Hope ours turns out as nice. V sorry to hear of your problems, glad to hear the only real damage was to you and your pride. Annoying but at least the engine is reperable and no one was hurt, less your rear

Brian

[MarkWildey]

Hey Dal

The boat looks good and you can put the other thing down to experience!

I'd be careful about mooring the boat up using the grab handles as one day they may well tip off.

Cheers Mark

[limeydal]

Thanks for the kind words and concern.
I was "irrate" (understatement) about the skeg ,but as you say; if it took a turn down the hill, next stop was 200ft away into a neighbours house.
Probably would have totalled the boat !!! So looking at it today as a near miss and feeling lucky.
Thought you might like to see our house(on left of hill) and what I have to cope with.
Thanks again
cheers Dal

[jewels]

Hi there me old matey!

From "the guys" in Romsey....I know we don't normally communicate in this public way but I had to say the house photo doesn't do the steep slope justice....think of the steepest road in San Francisco, multiply it by 3 and add the north face of Everest! It's like one of those roads you see on the cartoons....!! You can't believe that angle is physically possible! On visiting the "Limeydals" a month ago (friends from WAY back!!) in San Diego we got the jitters parking the car on that road...the thought of a trailer and rib...well! We missed the arrival of the new rib in California by a couple of weeks...grrrrr!! It looks great though.... and the family photos too! Must dash..oldest son went off to University today so I have some blubbering to do! So spent the day in Reading as opposed to the Solent!

Ju (and Mikey)

PS hello to Zebedee's owner...we chatted..in the loos...at Ocean Village Sports boat and rib show in May....about wearing pink. think we may have mentioned ribs in passing!

[Daniel TD5]

limeydal

the rib looks realy nice and at least you get the the wife out with you
my wife won,t go near my one its all ways raining at weekends she a fair
weather sailor

sorry to hear you had some problem it happens to us all

when i got my rib i rolled it back into the garage put the power trim down
and left it next time i went to use it pulled it out by hand scraping the skeg
along the lengh of the garage wont do it again

dan

[swginn]

Dal,

She looks even nicer in the water. You've got to look on the bright side when it comes to boating though, at least you've got the dreaded "first scrape" out of the way. Could have been a lot worse. Get her fixed and get back out there!! Good Luck

[timboli]

We live on a steep hill although perhaps not so steep as yours,I have a jeep cherokee 2.5 and reverse(in normal 2 wheel drive) down the hill and across into the drive which is also sloping up,took a bit of practice but works OK.
Occasionally I have to pull out when in the drive to straighten up.
I have quite a curb to reverse over and have to retract the extention bars for the light board so that it doesnt ground.
I have thought about one of these power launch devices but unsure how they will last with occasional dips in salt water.
I have also thought about a front towbar but so far havent bothered,my Rib is small enough to maneuvre reasonable easily in the space available,this however will not be the case when I upgrade!
Hope this helps.

[pettal]

Hi,

The boat looks good and I hope my new XS looks as good!!

Believe me I've done worse.....On a crisp very early morning on the way to launch my last rib I didn't tie the straps down enough and didn't pay attention to the on-coming speed bump as I should have done. The rib slipped off the trailor and I ended up with a 5.5m rib stuck in the middle of a roundabout!!!

Luckily there wasn't much traffic around at the time and a Policeman friend of mine (once he'd stopped laughing) helped me get the rib back onto the trailer.

I leave my pride at home these days as everytime I take it out with me it always does something to upset me!!

[limeydal]

Nuff said!!!
cheers Dal

[gingercoastie]

[The Jackeens]

Originally Posted by jewels

PS hello to Zebedee's owner...we chatted..in the loos...at Ocean Village Sports boat and rib show in May....about wearing pink. think we may have mentioned ribs in passing!

I remember you !!! Encouraged you to join RIBnet so it was a serious conversation too !!!

Don't worry about son starting at Uni. He'll be back with his laundry before you can say 'have you got enough beer moner, dear?'

missus

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by limeydal

Nuff said!!!
cheers Dal

Now you'll be able to reach those places others can't reach.

Judging by gingercoastie's prop, he already been there.

[limeydal]

thanks Gingercoastie!! feel better already
cheers Dal

[Bittentobuggery]

Why do people do such stupid thing with their new boats. It's as if the natural laws of science no longer apply because they've acquired this brilliant new toy.

Second day out on my brand spanking new, gleaming pride and joy, I grounded the leg trying to get underneath Langstone Bridge when even the ducks were walking ! The village idiot, with an IQ of room temperature, wouldn't have attempted what I did that day, but somehow because I had this new, go anywhere, any conditions, piece of high tech marine engineering, I could do anything, no matter how implausible. Luckily I escaped with just a dinged prop and bruised pride.

Limeydal, as Mark Wildey suggested, you have just made an investment in the Bank of Life Experience.

From the pictures, you don't appear to have a painter on the D ring on the bow. This would greatly assist mooring; just make sure that it is not long enough to foul the prop !

ATB

Brian

[limeydal]

Brian,
thanks. Still pretty new to the RIB world but learning fast.Hopefully not too painfully though!
. Appreciatte any advice and suggestions as no one over here to really learn from.
Will take your advice,
cheers Dal

[limeydal]

Got an estimate today on the skeg repair.
As the skeg was in several small pieces they advised against welding and instead said it would need a complete lower unit below the cavitation plate.
Cost around $3,000 !!!!!
If my insurance covers it,I dont really need to worry, but if not will be looking at alternatives.
I saw the bolt on stainless ones but don't think I have enough left to bolt it onto.
Are there any alternatives that could be considered if I have to pay out of my own pocket?
cheers Dal

[Bilge Rat]

My insurance covers the lower leg with a heavy excess policy on it, though this is a lot better than the cost of a complete lower leg, however i've not checked if it covers accidents such as Dals.....something i'm going to have to check out !!!

[Phil Davies]

My insurance paid out for my smashed skeg when the lugs on the tilt bracket on my Honda sheared off resulting in the engine crashing down onto the road at 50mph. Apparently it's not designed to be trailered on this bracket and so I couldn't make a warranty claim against Honda. Following a report by their claims assessor, the insurers initially wanted to pay just for the skeg to be welded, but my Honda dealer told them the integrity of a welded skeg repair could not be guaranteed and that such repairs invariably break again. I followed this up with a grovelling supporting letter to them. He also convinced the insurers that the labour costs required to dismantle the entire gear box etc. would be unviable and in the end the insurance company agreed to pay for a complete new lower unit at a cost of c.£1,100

Moral of the story is, Limeydal, you may have to perservere a bit and enlist the help of your friendly Suzuki dealer in persuading the insurers that this is the required course of action. Like yours, my engine was also fairly new at the time of the incident and I think this will act in your favour. Keep us all posted re. outcome and good luck.