ice out damage
 

ok, I don't know about you guys but my breakwater got HAMMERED by the ice this year. been on the lake since '97 and never before have I seen anything like this. took the last 15 feet of my dock off like it was butter and actually ripped out a 16" log right from of the breakwater! holy costly repair! permits, delays and significant cost not to mention what the %^&* do I do with my boat? make this an "interesting" spring. whatever.
my wife and I were at the boston marathon last year ON THE FINISH LINE when our two daughters were just about to cross the line and... well we all know what happened, fortunately nobody hurt and today we were there again so all is well.

puts things like the damn ice in perspective. know what I mean?

rsmlp - At our previous place on the lake we had full exposure to both the northwest and easterly winds, waves and ice floes. I used to keep an NH DES/Wetlands Bureau "Maintenance/Repair" permit in effect at all times in the event of the kind of ice damage you have just incurred. It paid off for us several times. That DES permit, once issued, is good for five years so you might consider keeping one in effect going forward to minimize the time it will take you to have ice damage repairs made to your dock.

Repair permits are good for 5 years and now can be extended to ten years. BUT you have to request to extend the permit BEFORE it expires.

If the state allows repair permits to be on file for 10-years what is the point? Why even have repair permits. Couldn't the same be accomplished by allowing homeowners to repair damaged docks at anytime to their previous status?

follow the money
 

Without permits, how would they get your money? ;)

I had no idea you could even have a permit on hand-----

Dock Damage
 

My dock never had any ice damage. I have owned the camp witch is on Lockes Island for 16 years.

Boy that stinks! I suppose I shouldn't grumble that I have to assemble/disassemble my seasonal dock each year.

I bet anyone doing dock repairs this year will have a banner year. Better get them lined up early or you're going to be waiting till august to get it fixed.

My dock looks much the same as the pic above. I called my insurance agent who told me I was covered. She then called me back an hour later to say the underwriter pointed out the language in my policy that excludes ice damage. The language was there so maybe I should have read the fine print. I am with Nationwide, is this standard on most policies?
Working on getting a price now but what might I expect to fix something similar to above?

Sorry to say...
 

That exclusion is part of the HO3 Homeowner policy coverage and applies to Coverage A (the main structure) or Coverage B (Appurtenant Structures, which are buildings or structure not attached to the main house). The exclusion, in part, applies to Wharves, piers, docks, etc..

Unfortunately, the Insurance gods giveth, and they taketh away, and sometimes even giveth it back, and could taketh it back again. Policies are not made by Insurance companies, they are basic forms which have been modified by legal opinions, and hence are more written by Lawyers and Judges than by Underwriters and Actuarials. :(

I always hold my breath when I go home to the back side of Mark for the first time...keeping my fingers crossed! :)

sorry to see that Bart....did you run a circulator??

Dock damage
 

No. I don't think it would have helped in this case.We had a big SW wind and a high water level

I feel your pain, it's nothing a thousand or so dollars won't fix. BTDT. One year out of 14.

you're probably right...I'll still hold my breath going out! :)

Watermark is extremely busy!
 

We suffer varying degrees of dock damage every 2-3 years. It all depends on which way the wind is blowing when the ice starts to move. In our case southerly winds usually cause the problem.

This year was a bit different. We had some minor damage in mid-winter. Anyway, earlier this week I called our friends at Watermark to get them lined up. They are already booking well into July!

While having a permanent fixed dock, is a nice luxury, Seasonal docks, are often the safest bet... Sure you have to get in the water twice a year to put it in and take it out.... but it is safe from the ice... and I personally love that security blanket....

IF you plan to do the repairs yourself, you'd need to break out the farm jack.

Still under $50 from Harbor Freight.

Crank It Up (to 11)
 

...as long as you crank your dock up high enough! Lesson learned this year: make sure you pull the dock up high enough that the legs closest to shore are high enough to avoid the rising ice as the lake refills during the early spring. Ours was OK in the Fall, but didn't give it enough clearance to account for the high spring lake levels. We lost both shore-side dock legs (Thank You, Island Girl, for spotting it this weekend and letting us know!)

PricesTavern, As I too have an articulating dock.. My advice is to take the legs closest to the shore complete off the dock... I ran into the same problem a few years back..... ever since then the legs closest to the shore come off... yep its a few minutes more work... but overall the it is much more stress free wondering if I have the dock up high enough...

Same Here
 

I ran into the same situation a few years ago with my insurance company (Amica). (Like you, I hadn't read the "fine print" closely enough.) My dock got whacked by the ice and needed considerable repair, but when I contacted Amica they said ice damage is not covered. So if someone runs into my dock with a boat and smashes it I'm covered, but not if the ice smashes it.

in some carriers cases, you can purchase the coverage back from them, and might be surprised to find out that it would not cost all that much.

On the downside of doing that, if you put the claim in, not that your rates will go up, but you will loose your loss free credit for 3-5 years depending on carrier, which is about 10% so you ideally would just be financing your $1,000 repair instead of paying out of pocket

insurance is going the way of it is only there for the major loss instead of the little things, which has caused the rates to rise, all the little things, amongst others.

Alton Bay damage
 

Cruised most of Alton bay this weekend and didn't see much ice damage except this on west side near Pumpkin Point. You can tell that the ice was moving out of the Bay (North) when it hit this boat house.

Would agree with you. I have never seen the ice move the way it did with the wind and then to suddenly change wind direction within an hour. I watched it just destroy two of our neighbors docks in a instant !! Hope your up and running soon !! :(

Looks like a slush puppy might have been able to make that damage on that structure.Stills unfortunate though.