Bertram 630 Sportfish Sinks?

Most professionals in the industry have a bur over this. This incident negatively effects the industry on multiple points and issues. It makes us all look bad and leaves a sour taste with owners in general, and owners are what fuel our industry. They give us the money to do what we like. My guys pay me what they do because they know I make sure they are taken care of.

I don't know Shazam, but I think he offered very good viewpoints and information. As well as information on build type and some viewpoints on cored hulls in general.

I am completely independant. I've run every manufacturers sportfish, some are better then others.......some have a great hull.....and others from the same manufacturer are so-so........it all boils down to the boat.......I am located in South Florida and have seen several Bertrams with serious structural issues that have not been mentioned very much here, I know of 6 boats all built over a 2-3 year period that had serious issues. I ran a 2005 57' Bertram and was it's first Captain, and the boat had all of the bulkhead tabbing break free throughout the vessel. When you're doing a 280 NM crossing in 50 degree weather and over 100 miles offshore, and before you get in to port you notice the woodwork above the day head is split, and when you get in, you start seeing all of the bulkhead tabbing broken loose, it really hits home.....back then everything was kept quiet and you think it's a remote issue......now you see and hear many different yachts all with the same issues......

The bottom line is the boat came apart in conditions that were WELL within the boats design perameters, and it all boils down to build quality.

And if you look at the seas when this happened......they're CALM

Exactly. I know everyone keeps mentioning insurance, but whose to say that the insurance company would have done anything other than paid for the salvaging the wreck, investigated the cause of the accident then denied the claim if indeed it was found to have been caused by a manufacturing defect?

I'm not among the priviliged who has viewed the video but based on the reactions of members that have I still come to the conclusion that buoy, rogue wave, subway car or not, THERE IS NO WAY A YACHT OF EVEN MEDIOCRE QUALITY SHOULD HAVE SUFFERED SUCH A FAILURE.

What requirement is this?

The helm is apparently still in place, but the hinged instrument console (designed to raise up from and lower into the helm console itself) seems to have torn free from its hinges and that is what's resting against the helm seating. The instrument console appears to only be attached by its wires at this point.

The insurance company makes the owner whole first then subrogates where applicable. That's why you buy insurance, to cover your risks, and then they can recover.

The instrument panel only has one attachment that goes to the hydraulic ram to keep it up. The rest of it is only supported with a piano hinge.....it is not the epitemy of strength. if the ram let loose and it flung foward.

Insurance companies have been known to deny claims where latent manufacturing defects were found...

Now that I look, I can't find the spill liability legislation. I know I always see it as a separate page in the insurance package.

So then the instruments are attached by magic? What are the wires and cables that are running to them for?

Here's an update:
I spoke with a rep at Coast Guard Station Georgetown regarding this case. The fuel was not classified as an immediate concern right aftet the sinking since there was no apparent pollution or noticable sheen on the surface. They did issue a Notice of Federal Interest of the potential for pollution, which notifies the owner that the fuel must be removed, either by pumping the tanks or removing said vessel. The USCG does not have an order to have the boat raised for any other reason.
As per the owner's lawyer, all fuel was removed from vessel Absolutely on Dec 28/29, 2009. Interesting though the Coast Guard did say that they have had several calls from other concerned Bertram owners, inquiring as to the cause of the sinking. This remains an open investigation.
Another point was that there have been recreational divers to the site as the yacht appears to have been looted a bit, with fishing gear gone and chairs taken (I'm assuming the helm chairs).

unreal.

I see that claim a lot in both maritime and aviation casualty discussions. My experiences as an insurance adjuster don't reflect that. Can you cite some specific verifiable instances where this was true? Plus, in order to deny the claim, they would have to salvage and prove that condition exists, so basically they made the case for the guy to collect from whatever product liability company that covered that build, so better for them in a customer service view to just pay the claim and subrogate to the other company. Insurance companies do a lot to keep customers.

The instruments are mounted by the factory on the helm section. The flip up cover is where one mounts electronics and that is done at the dealer level. These do have wires, but they offer no structural support to keep the flip up electronics section in place.....it has a piano hinge(s) on the foward side..... and a ram on the rear side with a bolt that goes through the end of the ram.......

There exist some narrow (read - discount) insurance plans in maritime, aviation and whatever industries, with wider then usual coverage limiting/voiding cases list. First, people shop for the price obly, then they wonder why this and that is not covered. When it is all there, right in the papers.
There is a reason why insurance companies are willing to make a discount for most of any and every obscure limiting clause you agree to sign on. Several relatively big "insurance denial" stories I know of first-hand were based off stuff like that. Yet it is not like they actually force you to make such decisions - they need clients, and they cannot get any if they are known to never pay off.
Even then, just as Henning wrote, denying a claim often means doing all the prepwork for owner himself to go for manufacturer/seller liability.

And it's the wires running to the instruments that are the only thing remaining connected to any part of that console. That console, rather than the helm station, is what's resting against the helm chairs. It has ripped from its ram(s) and hinge(s) and sits atop the helm station itself.

If you watch the video, you'll see this rather than being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.

I am late to this party, but I have a couple comments.

I have done some work looking into the damage that large floating logs (common in the Pacific Northwest) would do when hit. They are similar to the buoy in question.

Buoyancy doesn't matter much in an impact, the mass of the object is more important. However, you do drag some water along when you hit it. A rough assumption for the effective mass of the water you move is 25% of the buoy mass, which makes the total effective buoy mass about 300 lb.

I found that you should be able to broadside something of this mass at 30+ knots without substantial damage. If you hit it end-on you can punch a hole in the hull, but I have seen fiberglass yachts hit piers that opened a good size hole and not suffer the destruction in the pictures posted. I don't see how you would hit the buoy on end anyway, more likely is that you push it down and it slides along the hull.

This thread can't have gone so quiet ...

What, is everyone waiting for 999 so they can claim the millennial post?

Here ya go.

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