Insurance Boat Repair

A large share of the work in our shop comes through insurance claims — collision and impact damage, and groundings. If your boat has been hit, has hit something, or has been put on the bottom, this page is what to expect from us.

The short version: we write the estimate, we deal with your adjuster, and when we open the boat up and find more than the estimate covered, we go back to them rather than to you.

We write the estimate

This is the part that matters most, and most owners do not know a yard can do it.

The estimate is what the claim gets settled against. If it misses something, that something is either not repaired or comes out of your pocket later. An estimate written by the people who will actually do the repair is written by people who know what the job really involves — what has to come apart to reach the damage, what the structural repair underneath the cosmetic damage will take, and what it costs to make a paint repair actually match.

We put that estimate together and give it to your carrier.

We deal with the adjuster

You do not have to sit in the middle translating between a marine surveyor, an adjuster and a repair yard. We talk to them directly.

That is not an adversarial thing — most adjusters are reasonable and want the boat repaired correctly. It is simply that the conversation goes faster and lands better when it happens between people who both understand boats.

Hidden damage and supplements

On impact and grounding damage in particular, what you can see is frequently not the whole story. Load travels. A strike on a hull side can crack tabbing two feet away. A grounding does not stop at the running gear — it can go into the keel, the stringers and sometimes the engine beds.

None of that is visible until the boat is opened up, which is after the estimate has been written and the claim approved. When it happens, we file a supplement with the carrier for the additional work. That is a normal part of the process, not a sign something has gone wrong, and it is our job to handle rather than yours.

What we repair

• Collision and impact damage — dock and piling strikes, boat-to-boat contact, struck objects. Hull sides, transoms, running gear, hardware and the structure behind all of it.
• Grounding damage — keel and running surface repair, stringer and bulkhead damage, drives and running gear, and the structural work that a hard grounding puts into a hull.
• Structural fiberglass — stringers, transoms, bulkheads, wet cores, delamination and cracked tabbing. See fiberglass and gelcoat.
• Paint and gelcoat — including blending a repair into existing finish so it does not read as a repair. We spray Alexseal and Awlgrip in house.
• Custom fabrication where a damaged part is no longer available — swim platforms, consoles, hardtops and one-off glass and metal work.
• Electrical, plumbing and onboard systems and electronics, where damage has taken those with it.
• Repowers when the engines do not survive the incident.

Why it matters who writes it

A repair and an estimate are not separate jobs. The person writing the estimate is making decisions about how the boat gets fixed — whether a section is repaired or replaced, whether the paint is a spot repair or a full panel, whether the structure underneath gets addressed or covered up.

When that is written by someone who will never touch the boat, the repairing yard inherits a number and a scope that may not match the work. The owner finds that out in the middle of the job. We would rather write it ourselves and be accountable for it.

What to do first

1. Photograph everything, before anything is moved or cleaned up. More photos than you think you need, from further back than feels useful.
2. Report the claim to your insurer and get the claim number.
3. Do not authorise anything permanent beyond making the boat safe and preventing further damage.
4. Call us. Tell us what happened, the boat, and your claim number if you have it. We will arrange to look at the boat and put the estimate together.

You are entitled to choose the yard that repairs your boat. If you have been handed a list, you are not obliged to pick from it.

Getting the boat to us

Our shop is in Port Huron, and insurance repair is shop work — structural fiberglass and paint need a controlled space. We are not on the water, so the boat comes in on a truck. We can point you at haulers, and transport is frequently part of the claim.

We take boats in from the length of the system, from Lake Huron down through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. See the area we cover or all marine services.

Call us

Phone (586) 960-5829 or email sales@guildmarine.com. Send photos if you have them. Guild Marine, 3605 32nd Street, Bldg 5B, Port Huron, MI 48060.