On 9/6/2009 NRO  was advised that a vessel owned and operated by Operator 1 had struck an object in the water and did extensive damage to his vessel.  NRO went to the slip that is rented by Operator 1 at Shady Creek Marina to view the vessel.  NRO observed a very large amount of damage to the vessel. NRO  learned that Operator 1 had contacted his insurance company in regards to the accident, but had not yet contacted NRO  about the accident. NRO made contact with Operator 1 by telephone and told Operator 1 that he needs to meet NRO at Shady Creek Marina today to report the accident and to complete some paper work.

NRO  met with Operator 1 an hour after his conversation on the phone. Operator 1 stated that he and two other occupants were heading to the Rock Quarry to meet up with some other friends when Operator 1 felt the boat hit something and rock the boat from side to side. Operator 1 stated that he stopped the vessel and checked all the gauges and everything seemed to be working fine. Operator 1 state that he took off again but could not get the boat to plain out. Once at the Quarry, Operator 1 stated that him and some other guys looked the props and lower units over and did not see any damage. Operator 1 stated that the next day he put his boat on the lift and that is when he noticed that there was a large amount of damage.

NRO  took photos of the damage of the vessel. The damage started when a sunken object made a hole in the bottom of Operator 1's boat. The damage to the hull of the boat is consistent with striking a fixed object. The object not only caused a hole to be knocked in the bottom of the boat but it also caused damage to the stringers in the vessel. One of the out drives/lower units also had a large indentation showing where it had struck an object. The damage indicates that the object was struck had to be round in shape to cause the damage that it did. The rest of the damage appears to be from the force of the water pulling the fiberglass away from the hull of the vessel.
El Dorado                     