I guess from as lessons learned POV - thought I'd share my recent mis-fortune and maybe it will help others avoiding what I did. Took the Speedster up a river in Brisbane, Queensland for some waterskiing. The river has a reputation for being quite dodgie when it comes to shallow banks / bars etc. For instance the river mouth is about 1km wide but only a narrow channel of 30 metres is actually deep enough to take a decent sized boat through.
Anyway, I was following the channel markers but obviously not close enough. I was about 5 metres off where I should have been and it was low-tide. By the time I realised I was in shallow water it was too late and I beached the speedster in ankle deep water at about 40kph. We slid for about 10 metres but unfortunately the bottom was full of rocks.
My passengers were ok as although it was a painful to me (grinding / scraping noises and bangs), the impact was a gradual stop. We got and out inspected the damage i.e. I checked the ski locker and engine compartment for hull breaches and fortunately we were ok. We then had to wait for the tide to come back in and refloat the boat. Once I could get it off the bar, I rocked the boat back and forth in an attempt to clear out the jet unit and then swam underneath with a dive mask to remove some of the mud and debris by hand and visually inspect.
It looked clear so I fired up the engine (2nd mistake). There was still 1 rock in the impellor. Although I turned it off within 1/2 a second the damage was done.
Signalled another boatiee and got a tow back to the ramp (about 1km away). I've since taken the boat to my trusted home mechanic and he's come back with a super mates rates deal of about $400 to fix, including a rebuild impellor, wear ring and hull repairs. A shop would probably be seeking upwards of $2000 for the same work.
On this basis I've decided not to make an insurance claim, however I am not sure I would have even been covered as when I read the claim form there was a tiny little box / question asking whether I had reported the incident to the Marinetime Authority. I’m guessing this is a way out for the insurance company as I hadn’t thought to report such a small incident.
Anyway, I think I got off lightly. I was actually quite impressed with the strength of the Speedster hull. For the record, I am going to put the OEM impellor back in as I was less-than-impressed with the Skattrack one.
Cheers.
Anyway, I was following the channel markers but obviously not close enough. I was about 5 metres off where I should have been and it was low-tide. By the time I realised I was in shallow water it was too late and I beached the speedster in ankle deep water at about 40kph. We slid for about 10 metres but unfortunately the bottom was full of rocks.
My passengers were ok as although it was a painful to me (grinding / scraping noises and bangs), the impact was a gradual stop. We got and out inspected the damage i.e. I checked the ski locker and engine compartment for hull breaches and fortunately we were ok. We then had to wait for the tide to come back in and refloat the boat. Once I could get it off the bar, I rocked the boat back and forth in an attempt to clear out the jet unit and then swam underneath with a dive mask to remove some of the mud and debris by hand and visually inspect.
It looked clear so I fired up the engine (2nd mistake). There was still 1 rock in the impellor. Although I turned it off within 1/2 a second the damage was done.
Signalled another boatiee and got a tow back to the ramp (about 1km away). I've since taken the boat to my trusted home mechanic and he's come back with a super mates rates deal of about $400 to fix, including a rebuild impellor, wear ring and hull repairs. A shop would probably be seeking upwards of $2000 for the same work.
On this basis I've decided not to make an insurance claim, however I am not sure I would have even been covered as when I read the claim form there was a tiny little box / question asking whether I had reported the incident to the Marinetime Authority. I’m guessing this is a way out for the insurance company as I hadn’t thought to report such a small incident.
Anyway, I think I got off lightly. I was actually quite impressed with the strength of the Speedster hull. For the record, I am going to put the OEM impellor back in as I was less-than-impressed with the Skattrack one.
Cheers.
