How a Kiwi boatie's propellor ended up under his coffee table

A large damaged boat prop is proudly displayed under this Mariner customer's glass coffee table in his Auckland home. This is the story of how it got there (and how it stayed there). 

Warren’s an Auckland boatie and family man who shares a 40 foot Bruce Roberts launch with two mates. It was the first bit of beautiful weather after the cyclone and he was overnighting at Onerahi. After a few days of fishing and relaxing in the sun he was on his way back when all of a sudden - THUMP. 

Something hit the boat hard and the engine vibrated. Warren quickly shut down the right hand engine and motored at reduced speed on the left hand engine to a spot near Browns Island. 

Fearing the worst

The thump was a big one and the noise from the engine was concerning, so Warren didn’t have high hopes when he anchored to inspect the vessel:

“I feared the worst but when I was down there I could see there was some damage to the right prop. I had no time to see what we’d hit so I made sure we weren’t taking on water and motored back to Half Moon Bay Marina on the good engine.”

“The boat was a bit of a lifesaver. Would have been so embarrassing to call the coastguard.”

When Warren got back and spoke to the coastguard they said there had been reports of large debris in the water following the weather events in Auckland. 

Insurance time

The other two partners in the launch had been clients of Mariner Insurance for 10 years and Warren had joined more recently. Warren says this was one of those moments when you’re glad you’ve got the right insurance:

“I’m a partner in the boat so I was conscious that I was inconveniencing the other partners. Having such a fast and attentive response from Mariner and getting things started so quickly really eased that stress.” 

Within days of the incident, the claim was already progressing:

“We had an initial haul out and an engineer to assess the vessel. Then the boat went back into the water and was hauled out again a bit later for an assessor and an engineer to have a good look.”

During the repair, the engineers discovered that the right prop had large chips taken out of its blades and the impact had bent one of the blades at its root. The shaft was bent too and there was some damage to the thrust bearer and gearbox housing, but the gearbox was luckily unaffected. When the prop had to be replaced Warren saw an opportunity:

“I took it home and I’ve got it under my glass coffee table right in the middle of my lounge. It’s a real talking point whenever I’ve got visitors and it looks really cool,” Warren said. 

“Mariner asked for the old prop back to recover the cost, which I understood and I was happy to return it. But I explained how good it looked under the coffee table and they very kindly said I could keep it.”

“It was very good of them and that was on top of the fact that they’d been really attentive to our claim from the word go - the repairs took place at a pace that was as fast as you could expect.”

Taking the worry out of a stressful situation

Warren explains that having other partners in the boat made the situation a little stressful for him, but the ease of the insurance claim made life easier: 

“It’s been superb how Mariner dealt with the claim and coordinated the repairs. This is exactly how I hoped it’d play out. It’s been fantastic and really took the worry out of a stressful situation.”

“I’ve got partners in the boat and I was really worried about inconveniencing them. I wouldn’t have felt so bad if it was raining but it was calm the whole time and I was kicking myself. But the speed at which this claim has progressed has been great.”

After a short time out of the water, the boat is back and running, good as new. Warren and his mates are so keen to get out there that they made a few modifications:

“We’ve bought a heater for the cabin so we’re hoping to get a couple months on the water now that Octavia’s back in action. Can’t wait.”