Boating loss from Sandy hard to calculate
Kevin Kelly couldn’t quite tell the damage Hurricane Sandy caused his 30-foot Wellcraft Sportfisher when he saw it last week. It was in the middle of Shrewsbury Avenue in Highlands, N.J., under a pile of about 30 boats entangled in power lines.
He got the bad news last Wednesday: American Star is a total loss after the top was ripped off its tower and the engine compartment was flooded.
The Coast Guard, industry organizations and insurers are all still trying to get a handle on the extent of Sandy’s damage.
But some in the recreation boating industry say boat destruction will be among the worst caused by a storm hitting the United States.
“The comment we’ve heard over and over is that, ‘We’ve never seen anything like it,’ “BoatUS spokesman Scott Croft told the Asbury Park Press.