A cautionary tale

[Riggerdood]

This P-18 belongs to a buddy of mine who lives up by Arrowhead Lake, CA. Here's where he stores it in his yard:

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Here's what it looked like with 12 feet of snow on it:

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Here's what it looks like now. The boat was covered, but the weight was too much. I've never seen anything like this before:

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He's trying to find out if insurance will cover it. Yes, of course, now he knows he should have covered it better, but when roofs of houses are caving in ... ?

[Brian N.]

     Ouch! Sure hope his homeowners or umbrella policy covers this.

[DBthal]

Ugh. Looked like a nice, newish boat.

[tjspiel]

I remember him coming to a happy hour and was very worried about it. I really didn't think it would be a problem but that's a lot of snow.

Not sure how you can prevent it, and I'd bet his boat was far from the only thing damaged in that area. Hopefully it was just a fluky winter and not some sort of new norm.

[Straander]

We had one wet, heavy snowstorm here in Seattle this last winter and I remember going out to brush as much snow off of my boat as I could partway through it. I was just worried about the mast getting deformed, but it looks like much more serious damage is possible.

[johnandcandace]

Gee whiz. Finally California lakes will be full, and the boat broke.

[Riggerdood]

    Ouch! Sure hope his homeowners or umbrella policy covers this.

He's looking into it Brian. He's already making plans to build an entirely new design, using as much as he can salvage from this one, starting from the stub keel/CB on up. If it didn't get squashed, it's going on the new boat.

[Riggerdood]

Ugh. Looked like a nice, newish boat.

It was Dan.

[Riggerdood]

I remember him coming to a happy hour and was very worried about it. I really didn't think it would be a problem but that's a lot of snow.

Not sure how you can prevent it, and I'd bet his boat was far from the only thing damaged in that area. Hopefully it was just a fluky winter and not some sort of new norm.

Yes, it's Jim Steele Tom. I wasn't sure who all was on that PSHH where he showed the first two pics, and we were all wondering what he'd find when he finally dug it out. Now we know ...

Yes, there were caved in roofs all around that area, and some caused house fires due to broken gas lines. It was a highly unusual Winter up there, unless it keeps happening, then it will be the norm.

[Riggerdood]

We had one wet, heavy snowstorm here in Seattle this last winter and I remember going out to brush as much snow off of my boat as I could partway through it. I was just worried about the mast getting deformed, but it looks like much more serious damage is possible.

It is Straander. I think it's easy to underestimate how much water weight is contained in that amount of snowfall, even if it does initially fall as light fluffy flakes.

[Riggerdood]

Gee whiz. Finally California lakes will be full, and the boat broke.

Some lakes and reservoirs will be full, others won't. None will be for very long, as unfortunately, with no good system to catch it, most of the precipitation will be runoff to the Pacific.

[epic1969]

Yup I saw that happen to my Santana. Wasn't able to check it during winter (partially covered except cockpit. Drain became clogged and 2' water ice causedit to buckle same area. Total loss. No insurance except liability.