www.iFourWinns.com

We're with Zurich, but they're leaving marine insurance. I think our yearly is around $1400, for $190,000 and same 1% making for a $1900 deductible. Any claims against one of their policies triggered at least a 10% increase, but typically it was more like 20% according to an agent I spoke with. We'd already heard they'd be going up by probably 20% anyway (before they bailed on marine insurance). The interesting thing is a claim against Zurich on the way out might not negatively affect getting a new policy with someone else. That is, other companies are running a bit less, so an increase based on having 'paid out' might still end up being less than Zurich was. The work done totaled $2300 so it'd be around $400 back. I'm not sure it's worth the hassle dealing with an agent over it, or the risk of increases from a new company next year.

Who are you with that's offering $1120 premiums?

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill
This policy is written by NBOA for an agreed value of 269K. My friend I mentioned is with USAA, but the admin is done by progressive.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

Holy Moly! First of all - is everyone OK? So sorry to hear about this!

Also with Zurich (written by NBOA), $1128 with the 1% deductible.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Everyone is fine withe the exception of bruised egos for not calling it a day before the winds picked up. We are fine. Deductible is 2671.00. 1% of agreed value. So the premium is good but the deductible could be better. After the winter when my policy is renewable I will rate shop.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

From what I've learned, 1% is fairly typical of marine policies. Didn't push as to whether there's anything lower. The call wasn't about shopping policies at that point so I didn't get into it. Looks like I will for next year. Maybe there's enough 348/358 folks here to finagle a discount...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Well, $2671 is still alot less than 7k. (Trying to be optimistic, because it sucks no matter what)

What happened out there? Where did you sustain such major damage? I saw pics of boats with scrapes and scratches, but 7k is ALOT of damage, isn't it?

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Just scratches on both sides and some gelcoat damage on the swim platform along with the swim ladder and the vent for the head.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

all be it, I'm only a 318... My insurance bill is 875/year for agreed value with a $500 deductible. I get coverage for Canada, but not if I head up to Alaska.

You guys are getting a great deal at 1100ish I think.....

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Oh man sorry to hear you had damage It was nuts out there!! I came out of it unscathed because I dropped anchor WAY out by the fireworks buffer. Everybody thought I was kind of lame for anchoring so far away but I told them that's what the dinghy was for. I got tense when 3 ~45' motoryachts got tangled up and got kinda close to me. There's some footage on youtube of the scene -just- before the storm hit. Search "fairview beach 2009 aquapolooza." BL - I was looking for you out there but never did see you.

Like this story? http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-ma ... ost3880989

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Impellers on the 6.0L inboards are pretty simple to replace. Required two sockets, 15mm and 10mm and an extension. The 15mm relieves pressure on the belt tensioner and the 10mm removes the 3 bolts on the raw water pump. Pretty easy to remove and reinstall the impeller, no special efforts or tools required. Each engine took about 10 minutes. The ones in there were a bit worn but in pretty good shape otherwise. Piece of mind and all that, I'm glad to have new ones in there. These were the spares I kept aboard, and I just replaced them with a new set of spares.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

So this weekend we had a situation arise and it is still a problem. Fired up the engines, turned on the Nav lights, GPS, VHF, and put on the spot light, when all of a sudden, I lost all of the above. Turned off completely, thought I popped a breaker so I went hunting and found nothing out of order. (Just a note keep a flashlight close to the helm at all times so you can find things in the dark.)

I recycled my ship systems switch, I turned the helm breaker on and off, I checked for popped breakers and nothing. I did notice that my horn stopped working, some lights would be on but dimly lit. Power helm seat was inop as were the wipers. Cockpit lights worked as did the radar arch lights and all other 12V systems beyond the helm were functioning normally.

This afternoon my buddies and I were hunting around behind the dash and in the engine room and looked for anything we could find that would confirm our diagnosis of a short somewhere in the system and we came up empty. Glad I am still under warranty!

Does FW close during August normally? My fiberglass guy says he can't raise FW on the phone at all and he had a check returned from them for warranty work he did. This does not sound good. I hope I still have a warranty and that things get fixed under it. This could be an expensive repair if it can not be pinpointed easily.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

Breakers and batteries do fail. I'd start by checking voltage at the batteries. Then check it at the main switches in the transom. This will require pulling that panel out, but it's easy to do. Remove the screws and slip a razor blade behind the lip of it to break the caulk and the whole thing will pop out. From there you can continue to check the voltages. They should read around 12v when not on shore power or without the engines running. Otherwise it should generally read around 13vdc. If you find a bad breaker they're easy to replace, just some screws.

Word of advice to anyone working with batteries, wear eye protection and be VERY careful about metal tools shorting across the terminals. "That would be bad". If you replace the breaker make sure to remove the wire from the battery to assure there's NO voltage running through the breaker panel.

From what you describe it sounds like corrosion on a battery post or a bad battery. I've just ordered a replacement D31 optima blue top since my starboard engine battery crapped out. Amazon had 'em for the best price and free shipping. But it won't ship until the 20th.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill,
I looked at the voltmeter in the cabin and it showed 12V. Some friends were checking breakers and circuits and all were showing 12v or 13v so could it still be th battery? It is a new Optima and I know things fail. I will pull the battery terminals and wire brush them. Just to be sure.

What is more disturbing is trying to get warranty work done since no one at FW answers the phone. I called the folks I have been using for warranty work and they can't get a hold of FW either. This could be problematic.

How could it be the battery when other 12v systems are working properly?

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

There are three batteries (as you likely already know) and most of the accessories come off the Ship System battery. That's usually the one shown on the voltmeter in the cabin. You've read my posts about the drawbacks associated with this...

It's possible for the voltmeter to read 12v when nothing's drawing current, but to drop down quite a lot under a load. Make sure you're reading it both loaded and unloaded. I've seen loose or corroded connections cause a considerable drop in voltage. Unlikely with a new boat, but not outside the realm of possibilities. Same thing with a new battery. Read it under several conditions:

Batteries alone, no load.
Batteries alone, with load(s)
Shore power & battery charger breaker on, no load.
Shore power & battery charger breaker on, with load(s)

On batteries alone it wouldn't be unusual to see just 12v. If you see lower than 12v then you've got a battery that's drained. On shore power, with the charger running, you should see at least 13v. With the gas engines running you could see as much as 14v. With the genset you should see the same level as with shore power (assuming the shore power is legitimately providing 115vac).

It's also possible that the wiring leading to one of the devices you listed is corroded. A corroded connection will still allow power through it but will sometimes cause a much higher drain. I'd go, one-by-one, through those devices being powered on and watching the volt meter. If/when you see a big dip in voltage you've got something to investigate. The spot light pulls a lot of current, and it's a long length of wire to get to it. The horn also pulls a lot of current, Mine seems to act up now and then, perhaps spray is getting up into it. It sort of 'bleats' the first couple of times I hit it. I now tend to 'test' it once or twice when we first get underway.

I've spoken with FW as recently as last Wednesday (to talk about new props). I did notice the receptionist answered "Four Winns/Wellcraft" instead of just Four Winns. Seems some consolidation is going on...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista