part 2: Northern Marine 90' Yacht Capsizes Upon Launch...!

this video seems to be of the same yacht ...

TLP Mediaplayer - Motor Yacht Launch | Fail

If and a big if..it was the dolly that went off the ramp and caused the accident, surely the Ins Co of the yard would cover that and then no reason to shut the op. down ?? very odd set of issues closing the yard there. If the yard did shut down the Ins Co would fight tooth and nail to avoid any payout as the biz. was virtually gone , if the owner had course of const. coverage then he would have no worries and it may have covered all the trades and the yard also if the yard defaulted on it's coverage.

If they were properly insured then the accident wouldn't lead to a shut down. Now the word they leaked, reported through "sources" so may or may not be true, was that they had no other work so that's why they sent everyone home, that they were depending on continued work on this boat. I know many want to still argue the point but there were problems well before this incident.

The issue of insurance won't be resolved for ages. Who had how much? What is the amount of the loss? Salvage value? Cause? Was it insured at cost or selling price? Do they have business interruption insurance and would it apply in this case? Any negligence or other issues that would allow the insurance company to attempt to avoid payment? Who does payment go to? Who owns the boat? What happens to it? There are some extremely complex issues that aren't likely to be resolved for a long time. Now, the one with the financial loss is the buyer who had made progress payments on the boat. It is highly likely (the way much of the industry works, especially the very small builders such as Northern) that the buyer had already paid considerably more than the value of the boat at it's stage of build.

There will be a lot of people holding their hands out, likely for far more dollars than exist, and lawyers taking a great share as well.

Read somewhere on the Internet

that the launch ramp was owned

by the city of Anacortes, Washington.



Someone somewhere must be drooling

with such info in mind, if info is true.

I have read on the net (so it must be true) that it was well known that the ramp was too short and that the pavement ended before the point where the launch dolly would travel. As such, the use of that ramp could be classified as an "assumed risk" activity.

I'm sure someone is, although I'd imagine a disclaimer is clearly posted plus it was common knowledge that the ramp beyond a certain point wasn't stable. After all, at low tide is was mostly visible and that which wasn't was only in a couple of feet of water.

Hi,

There has been so much he said she said and so on that I am confused.

I understood from some of the plethora of stuff I have read -( all of it being on the internet) that the Builders have launched a number of other vessels using the same method on this very ramp.

If this is the case it surely needs to be determined what made the dolly drop off the end this time ( if that is really what happened) when it hasn't had any issue previously?

I would also be very surprised if the use of the ramp carried any liability on the ramp owners side for anything that happened anywhere near the facility not just your boat falling over on launch.

That is my understanding as well. The boat seems to go down the ramp smoothly with no sudden drop like the carriage just falls out from under it.

And when I watch that video the transom door seems to stay above the water line at all times. So I don't see how much if any water could have come in that way.

It looks to me that as the boat came free from the carriage it just rolled over. It really just looks like some one F-ed up calculating how much ballast the boat needed at launch.

You're correct, a number of other vessels using the dolly method. Mostly smaller vessels. I don't know how they've launched the 151's. Interesting that the press release says to wait for the USCG determination but then attempts to do the opposite and say the problem was dropping off the end of the ramp. Clearly the boat was tilting long before reaching the end of the ramp. At this point we don't know the cause or if there is a single cause. Likely a combination of factors.

An interesting read:

http://www.northernmarine.com/documents/yachts_intl_northern_aftereight151.pdf

http://www.northernmarine.com/151trideck-arrangements.php

She usually berths in False Creek Vancouver, owner passed away and the vessel was for sale at 30Mill or so, I last heard down to 20 Mill, I know the mate who just to be on her but he got bored as the boat seldom moved family is big in automotive biz etc.

Always amazes me at the wealth created by auto retailers who can sell cars at dealer invoice and generate so much profits.

The whole situation is very much hearsay. Maybe there will be something a bit more definite once the expected lawsuits start and someone looks through the dockets for information.

That said, it's said that small builds were launched on the ramp, large builds with a nearby synchrolift. This attempt was their largest ramp lauch.

Will there be an official report? This would be interesting because it is said that in order to get enough stability into the yacht for the short tow to the haulout additional 30 tons of ballast were calculated. Also that there was not enough room for that much ballast.
If that is really the case the root cause is much less in the launch procedure and ramp than in design, engineering and or construction of the yacht.

There will be an official coast guard incident report. It will be public. How much depth it will go into I don't know. There will also be an insurance report which won't be public and will likely even be misrepresented by some if typical. However, it could very well become public in the course of litigation as an exhibit or as part of discovery. Also very possible you'll end up with dueling engineers making opposite assertions. You already see Northern positioning themselves in the press release. Note this section, "the project naval architect/Professional Engineer has confirmed that the yacht, as designed, had adequate stability with the amount of ballast aboard at the time of launch, provided that “severe heeling moments” were not induced during the launch." That's basically saying our employee is saying he didn't screw up. Meanwhile an ex captain saying I warned them and they must have not listened and if I'd been around this wouldn't have happened.

Holdbacks, volume rebates, trade-ins and used cars. Invoice is invoice but invoice isn't cost in the case of an auto dealer.

Nope, there's generally 3% of hold back....but the manufacturer only foots the bills for so many days for free (90 I think) and then the dealer has to pay interest to the manufacturer each month and the holdback generally goes to paying that.

Magic, After Eight, etc. (the big boats) traveled on surface streets (on dollies) down to Dakota Creek Industries and were launched into the Guemes Channel by DCI. They usually made the trip at night so as to not impact traffic too much.

I see Dakota says they can handle up to 450' and 275 tons.