Lolalita is a 1996 Privilege 65 that was in dry dock at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour, British Virgin Islands, during Hurricane Irma on September 6th 2017.
During the storm the vessel was blown off it’s chocks onto the gravel ground. An initial survey on 28th September revealed damage to the hull around both keels and the port rudder. The starboard rudder post pushed through the hull. Both props and prop shafts were damaged. A neighboring boat pierced the starboard hull mid-ships leaving a hole and damaging the interior cabinetry. Both engine rooms were flooded with rainwater to roughly half way up the engine. A mast inspection conducted later on December 20th, 2017 revealed the standing rigging was intact showing only areas of flaking paint and no signs of impact damage.
Due to the overwhelming number of damaged boats Lolalita was relocated to Fort Lauderdale, Forida, using a container ship for a faster and professional completion of the repair and refit. A temporary fiberglass patch was applied to the stern section of the hull around the rudder so that she could be towed to the cargo ship before being craned on.
She arrived in Fort Lauderdale 29th August 2018 and was towed to Lauderdale Marine Center where Multitech was contracted to carry out the remaining work under the management of the Captain, except the navigation electronics which were provided by MazOcean. The owners decided to use the opportunity to not only repair the damage but to upgrade all aspects of the vessel.
The boat was re-launched nine months later at the beginning of May 2019 and several sea trials were conducted between Florida and the Bahamas, with follow up work conducted at Royal Palme Marina and Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale. Final work was completed by 29th of May and the boat left to the Bahamas to fulfil charters that had been booked. The boat was then sailed down to Panama for hurricane season and then all the way back up to the British Virgin Islands for the start of the 2019/20 charter season in November. At the time of writing (May 2020) the boat has sailed over four thousand nautical miles and delivered over ten charters without any mechanical issues.
Since Hurricane Irma, the insurance company paid out $480,000 in cash settlement. The owners invested a further $720,000 of their own funds for upgrades bringing the total cost of the repair and upgrades to $1.2million. Before the boat left Fort Lauderdale an insurance valuation survey was performed concluding the boat worth $1.3 million. The boat was then covered with it’s existing insurance policy provided by Yachtinsure to a value of $1,205,000.00
