broken boat new york/new jersey

[zaf88]

hi all, i dont know what to do here. i have a 2004 malibu wakesetter vlx boat. i dropped it off late last yea to get some fiberglass work done and to winterize it. i dropped it off last week in oct. 2005. when i got ther he told me it was probably too late to winterize and he would fix the fiberglass which is covered by my insurance. anyway, com 2 weeks ago. of course he just started working on the fiberglass. when he was done w that he asked if i wanted him to check out the engine. i told him yes. he called me back sayin that the block was cracked and that i need basically a whole new engine at $5000 remanufactured or $7000 new. i was livid. he said it was my fault for bringing it in so late. but it was warm in oct. for god sakes i was wakeboarding 2 weeks b4 i dropped it off. i knew there was no ice because the day i dropped off the boat i opened the bilge drain and water drained out. i then went to NOAA's website paid for the temperatures in that area and saw that the lowest it had gotten all oct was 38 degrees on oct 27th. i even talked to a meteorologist there that said it couldnt have frozen until NOVEMBER 25th!!!! a month after i dropped it off. when i approached the mechanic about this he said i was wrong and that i dropped off teh boat mid DECEMBER!!!!! i know this is not the fact because the boat was stored in my friends driveway and he was getting married nov 5th and wanted the boat out of there by then, just to be safe i dropped it off 2 weeks b4 that and i have witness (people that helped me move the boat that day). #2 i talked to a mechanic friend of mine and he said even if it was a block of ice he should have dropped heaters in there melted it and winterized it as the colder ice get the more it expands and the more damage it will do. he said he got a boat in dec that was a block of ice and was able to save the engine. anyway i am lost and have no idea what to do here. sorry my story is sooo long but i would appreciate any responses. im losing sleep over this. im sure insurance wont cover it, and now its a he said she said game w regards to the drop off date

 

[ecmst12]

Sue him for the cost of the new or rebuilt engine. Sounds like you have a decent case that the freezing happened while it was in his care.