Goodbye Neverland

In my first and only other post on this blog, I explained what had happened to our boat and the state in which we found her three and a half months ago at Green Cove Springs Marina in northern Florida. Since then, we've had a long, slow and frustrating time with the insurance company to resolve this massive mess. Our insurance policy was with Seaworthy, but GEICO has bought both Seaworthy and BoatUS.   Most BoatUS policy holders we've spoken with have not been informed that they are no longer dealing with Boat US if they have a claim. You do not want to deal with GEICO. Check your policy if you have boat insurance, and read it very carefully. We have learned, for example, that mold and mildew are usually considered as exclusions in policies, whether they are a direct or indirect result of an occurrence of something that is covered, such as vandalism. This was the case in our policy. Therefore all damage caused by mold as a result of the boat being left open was not covered - only damage caused by the vandals themselves or due to rainwater entering the boat and accumulating on the cabin sole along with leaking engine oil, diesel fuel and transmission fluid in the water. Also, take lots of photos to document what the interior and exterior of your boat and its equipment look like, and keep the photos current.

This is a very long and detailed story, but I will try to keep it short. When you have a claim you are obliged to deal exclusively with your insurance company until all avenues with that firm are exhausted. So although many people want to know why we haven't gone after the marina as being negligent, if that were to happen it can only happen after you have reached the end of negotiations with your insurance company. It is the insurance company's responsibility to subrogate against the other party if it choses, not yours. If you interfere, you may make your policy null and void. 

In the aftermath of discovering the break-in, most expenses submitted to GEICO were initially rejected. Our adjuster claimed, for example, that insurance would not cover a cost like unstepping the mast, because we could have had the boat trucked to a repair facility with the mast up. Really? 55 feet about the ground? How do you get under bridges and around power lines?  There were lots of equally absurd refusals to pay for expenses incurred by us and others involved in dealing with the boat.  We just kept carefully documenting everything, kept logs of all communications, and gathered information from other boaters, the transportation and highways commission, the CDC, the EPA, marine survey organizations, marine attorneys and expert witnesses and elsewhere to back up what we were expecting to recover in costs. We submitted information over and over again in letters and emails to GEICO.  It was very labor intensive and we lost a lot of sleep. 

GEICO's second surveyor had assessed the damage to the boat on December 10. Despite a half a dozen requests, we were not provided with the survey report until February 16. Their surveyor had no certifications from accepted US survey organizations. His report stunned us. It was full of glaring omissions, errors, lies, and false allegations. It completely discredited Pacific Seacraft's repair estimates and failed to provide a rationale for the surveyor's recommendation to give us about 40% of the agreed value of the boat. We wrote a 4-page letter to dispute this report point by point. We recommended to GEICO that they reject the report, refuse to pay for it, and never use this guy as a surveyor again. 

Fortunately, we had hired a PhD-trained industrial hygienist on our own to collect and assess samples inside the boat, bow to stern, cabin sole to headliner, for hydrocarbon contamination (from the fuel and oil in the flooded boat) and persistent water saturation in the teak and other absorbent materials above the highest watermark. Her report asserted that the entire interior of the boat would need to be ripped out and rebuilt. The cost to do this would exceed the agreed value of the boat, so GEICO conceded that the boat is a constructive total loss. As a result, we just received the agreed total value, we did not have a deductible, and now GEICO owns the boat and all its gear and is responsible for salvage operations. in addition, all costs incurred by us and others have been or will be paid. 

So this ends a chapter of our lives on the water with Neverland, the boat on which we met and shared so many remarkable adventures. A sad and very senseless end, to be sure. However, we are now able and ready to move on. We're in negotiations to purchase another Crealock 34 in Maine, and hope to be back on the water this summer to spend a few months in that magical part of the world. 

This unfortunate experience has had one bright side. We were able to be in Wilmington, DE for the birth of Laura and Curtis' twin boys on February 13 - Ryan and Andrew.  They are adorable (of course!). Until we leave for Maine we're helping out as much as we can, especially during the couple of nights a week that their dad is working and Laura is on her own.

This is big cousin Donavan feeding baby Ryan, one month old  on March 13

And this is Donavan's younger brother Jaxon, holding Andrew. Both babies have gained at least a pound this past month from their birth weights of 5.5 pounds (Ryan) and 6.5 pounds (Andrew). Such sweet and handsome boys, all four of them! 

Thank you, thank you to everyone who offered support and kind words over the last few months. Without question, it's family and friends, old and new, who make our lives so incredibly rich, and we are grateful.  We will keep you posted on progress with a new boat and new adventures on the water!