What do you do when you find another boat tied to you?

[2ericson27s]

I have my Ericson 27 moored in the ICW just South of St. Augustine Fl. I go to check on it every other weekend during the winter. I go there yesterday, paddle out there on my kayak, and to my surprise theres now a larger sailboat tied up to mine. Looks like it may have broken loose from somewhere. Their anchor line may be tangled up with my mooring, and someone looped part of it around one of my stern cleats. I designed my mooring to hopefully hold my boat, not two. What course should I take? The boat is all locked up, I'm not sure how to find the owner. Call the marine patrol? Cut her loose?(just kidding) I posted an ad in Craigslist in the lost and found section and the boat section. Can I charge rent? Put in a salvage request? Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[907Juice]

Not sure how things are at your harbor. I'm at a highly sought for marine where they haven't given any new slips in about 10 years. I'm in what is called permanent transient mooring. My boat occasionally gets moved around and tied to other boats if they need the space. I'd contact the harbor master and talk with them. If they didn't tie it up with you they'll know how to deal with the situation.


Juice

 

[2ericson27s]

Theres no marina where I'm located, or harbour master either. I'm on my own personal mooring which is actually an old tractor box-blade. I don't think its gonna hold two sailboats very long.

 

[Loren Beach]

Theres no marina where I'm located, or harbour master either. I'm on my own personal mooring which is actually an old tractor box-blade. I don't think its gonna hold two sailboats very long.

Yikes. I guess I would start with the local county (sherif?) marine patrol, and then the USCG. I would call my insurer as well.
If there is a name and/or state numbers on it, do a look up and talk to your state's registration folks. If no numbers, look it up on the USCG site.
Good luck!

Loren

 

[bgary]

...or....declare it abandoned and claim salvage rights?

 

[Frank Langer]

If you have no luck with any authorities, and your insurance company offers no solution, I would be tempted to add a few more anchors from your boat to ensure that the boats are as secure as possible. I would also loop a chain around some part of his boat and add a lock, so he can't simply leave you, and leave a large note with your phone number suggesting he call you immediately. I would check the boat frequently until it's resolved.

Once you hear from the owner, you can determine by his responses whether this is an unfortunate one time accident, possibly resolved with a case of beer for your trouble, or if you want to pursue legal action and compensation.

If you haven't heard from him after a reasonable amount of time, I would begin to check maritime law to see if you have any salvage rights.

Just my thoughts...

Frank

 

[2ericson27s]

Thank you guys for your thoughts on this. I'm going back this weekend to check on things and add more ground tackle.

 

[Rick R.]

Here's what you do.

Call Towboat US or Seatow and they will tow it off and deal with the owner and/or salvage.

Or if it has an anchor, move it and anchor it away.
Rick

 

[bgary]

Or, if it has an anchor move it and anchor it away.

I'm no lawyer (!), but this one feels like it has the potential for some sort of liability attached to it.

If *they* attach it to my boat, they are liable for any damage/costs that may accrue, but if *I* put it at anchor somewhere else, in theory I am potentially liable if (for example) the anchor drags and the boat is destroyed/creates a spill/etc.

Better to get the sheriff involved, IMO.

 

[Rick R.]

I'm no lawyer (!), but this one feels like it has the potential for some sort of liability attached to it.

If *they* attach it to my boat, they are liable for any damage/costs that may accrue, but if *I* put it at anchor somewhere else, in theory I am potentially liable if (for example) the anchor drags and the boat is destroyed/creates a spill/etc.

Better to get the sheriff involved, IMO.

Thats why you call and have it towed. The towing company will gladly deal with it (and the owner). :nerd:

 

[toddster]

It wouldn't cost anything to make a couple of calls. If you do, let us know what you find out. I'd say let the Sheriff deal with it. I'm guessing that a tow company might hesitate because they're not about taking on liability. But maybe there are a greater variety tow boats out your way than there are here.

We've got a big runaway barge sunk in the river about two miles from here, because nobody would touch it. The Coast Guard got an anchor on it, but since it was outside of the shipping channel, that's as far as they would go. Any salvage company could have put a couple of pumps on it and towed it 100 miles to the scrap yard, but nobody would take the risk. It sat there for months until it finally just sank. Now we have a little yellow buoy to mark it.

 

[fool]

http://myfwc.com/boating/waterway/derelict-vessels/

In CA we have CF #'s for state registered vessels, look for a FL registration on the bow.

"If an officer sees a vessel that is AT RISK, he will enter the vessel information into a Statewide Database and will leave a notice on the vessel for the owner to take action."

Maybe you can persuade the fwc officer to give you a hint on contact information for the owner...

http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/CoastGuard/VesselByName.html

...for federally documented vessels. If the registration numbers aren't on the bow, try the name from the stern in this data base. If the current owner is really interested you'll get a name and address to work with on google. If the name is very common you'll have a bit more detective work to do so check the hailing port on the stern below the name too. It might help to be able to identify the boat maker too. (47 documented vessels named sea bird, go figure.)

Not so elementary, Watson.

Max
September Sun
ERY35240D686

 

[TakeFive]

Remove the broken padlock, find some documentation with the owners name, and call him.
Report the boat as stolen if no documentation.

 

[Christian Williams]

Interesting question all right.

I think I would call my insurance company and tell them my boat has been struck by another boat and demand immediate adjuster service. In effect, that is what happened.

I would call the coast guard and tell them an abandoned boat is drifting in my area and has become entangled with mine, and may break free at any moment.

If the boat has an anchor, I would consider moving it well away from other boats and tossing its anchor over.

Then I would think twice about that, for liability as well as citizenship reasons, and not do it, and be glad I didn't!

 

[toddster]

Come to think of it, our Marine Patrol tows and impounds small power boats and jet ski's all the time, and locks them up in their impound lot on trailers. They probably have no plan at all for dealing with a keel boat. They certainly don't have any extra dock space. I'm guessing that the Marine Officer might be pretty reluctant to even return such a phone call...

 

[Rick R.]

The reason I suggested calling Seatow or Towboat US (after you exhaust trying to reach the owner directly) is that inviting FWC to the party may get you into trouble for your improvised use of a tractor mowing deck as a mooring.:0

It is an interesting dilemma you are in.

 

[Alan Gomes]

The preferred solution is to strip the boat of anything of value with a Sawzall, light it on fire, and then set it adrift.

Boy, I think we're all waiting with eager anticipation to see how this one plays out!

 

[TakeFive]

The preferred solution is to strip the boat of anything of value with a Sawzall, light it on fire, and then set it adrift.
Boy, I think we're all waiting with eager anticipation to see how this one plays out!

Alan, I am never going to anchor next to your boat. :nerd:

 

[Alan Gomes]

Alan, I am never going to anchor next to your boat. :nerd:

As long as you don't tie up to me without permission you should be just fine.

 

[2ericson27s]

I finally made it back to check on my boat. The "new" sailboat was still attached. Didn't look like anything was changed. Their anchor line was wrapped up in my mooring. After unsuccessful attempts to get anything done by law enforcement- Sheriff said to cut it loose- marine patrol said not to and asked if I was on a legally permitted mooring

-coast guard didn't even return my call. So, taking in all the advice that I got from my friends on here, I towed it to a nearby derilict boat that had a warning sticker on it from the marine patrol. Tied it to it and never looked back. OK I did look back, was that my chance to upgrade? Oh well, it wasn't an Ericson anyways. Thanks for everyones help!