To what extent should I take responsibility for this accident?

I.e. All, half, none, something else and why. Please and thanks.

I would pay for ¼ of the Sea Doo if you can. Really it is your friends responsibility. It is his and it was his descion to let you take it out. There is risk assumed with everything. Not carrying insurance is another big no-no. If it was insured I would suggest half of the deductible. I dunno man. That’s a tuff one. ¼ of it if you have the money. If not a sincere sorry and a talk over some beers sounds good. Good luck.

I take it that your friend was the owner, not you? You didn’t say.

Uh, my take is that he invited you to play with his toy because he didn’t want to do it alone, and the use of it was his gift to you unless he said otherwise. You didn’t surprise him with your ineptitude or carelessness for his toy. His toy broke. It’s ALL his responsibility, and you owe him nothing, as far as I see. Your and his values may vary.

Was he on it with you when you took it out?
And did you have experience with one before?

Hmm this is def a gray area. But I think since either one of you could have done the same thing to the engine, and it was his choice to to take it back out and burn up the motor, you really arn’t responsible for it. Plus if he had insurance there wouldn’t be much of a problem.

If you’re interested in having access to a Sea Doo, and this is someone you see often, I might ask about “halfing” a replacement… that way you can both use it and there’s no problem.

It sounds like that might not be the case, honestly I’d just ask him what his thoughts are. He probably either a) figured it was due to blow anyway or b) would like a little help with a replacement. I definitely wouldn’t go over $500, and if it were mine, I’d be thrilled you were taking some responsibility at all. A couple hundred dollars would be very much appreciated, really whatever you could do would be a plus.

He must not have been too worried about the cost to hand over the title. Parts are worth something and putting a used engine (as opposed to a new $4000 engine) into a used Sea Doo would be a much cheaper option. It may have just been the end of use on that one.

I would offer to pay half. It did get gummed up while you were using it so you are clearly responsible. However your buddy did go out and play with it afterwards which likely contributed to the boat’s failing. The lack of insurance is irrelevant when it comes to these matters(or that is what all the court shows I watch say, hehe).

Did the dirt and sticks get in the intake through normal, responsible use, or were you doing something you shouldn’t have been doing on it?

@Likeradar I was thinking of a similar question but couldn’t word it correctly. GQ.

Okay…

1. Friend is the owner (actually a friend of my uncle’s, and this is my second time being invited to one of their trips). It was a group of five of us, and the three guys used it primarily.

2. His response was “whatever you can do to help would be appreciated.” So, it’s kind of on me now, and I’d feel like a dirtbag for trying to get off cheap. I want to parse out every detail to come to a reasoned conclusion, and I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who is all that interested in such a conversation (plus we aren’t terribly familiar with each other), so for that reason and because I feel like I have a good bit of bias in one or both directions (under- or overpaying) I’m parsing it out with you all instead.

3. Traveling slowly, I “grounded” the Sea Doo on a flat rock in a shallow spot. Rather than getting off the thing, standing up in the water and turning it around by hand, I tried throttling forward and reverse. (Obviously, I didn’t stop to think about it first.) That’s what got the debris in the system. I don’t know if that’s “normal responsible use” or not, but I’m guessing not. It’s a common first reaction, I think, with many types of craft (canoes, etc).

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts.

4. He wasn’t on it with me. I have used one before.

@kevbo That really sucks. I’m sorry you have to deal with this. I would definitely offer half considering the circumstances. If you can’t afford half offer to pay less now and then make payments for the rest of it.

I think unless you made a careless mistake, or he explained that his invitation included some particular group responsibility, then it’s all his risk and loss. Also, the story has it that it just died, and no one knows why. Probably because this wasn’t the first time he used it. What is the percent of the lifetime wear and tear you contributed to it?

In my value system, I would be offended and insulted if I did nothing wrong but merely accepted an invitation to play with his toy and did so with care and the competence level we both knew I had with it.

Sorry… the mechanic thought it (the engine dying) was due to overrevving. So the engine was working harder to compensate for the lack of throttle, I guess. The RPMs were higher than normal when it was running at 85–90% as described above.

Part of the answer is, do you want to maintain a relationship with this person, and be invited back to hang out? What’s fair is not so much what you think is fair but what he thinks is fair.

In order to keep the relationship, I’d offer to pay half of what it was worth at the time (if I could afford it).

I think it may have been faulty when you started riding it and that you should not only pay nothing but sue for reckless endangerment.
But if it were me I’d probably want to pay half just for peace of mind.

If he gave up on it, and gave them the title.. I don’t see what he wants you to help with, unless he is going to get a new one…

@augustlan took the words right out of my fingertips…if you can afford it, I’d go halfsies.

That said, you are not obligated to do this. Halfsies is the friendly, kind thing to do. This is what a generous, thoughtful, helpful person would do. And I think that is the kind of guy you are.

Good point, @rangerr. It’s one thing if he wants to purchase a new machine to replace the ruined one and is accepting a contribution from you. It is quite another if he expects to be compensated for the unsalvageable machine, when the money is spent in any case and what he is out now is not money but the use of the machine.

Insurance would pay up to the value of the vehicle rather than the cost of repairing it.

Sea Doo’s are notorious for blocking cooling supply inlet and cooking the engine. Plastic bags often cause it. They have gauges on them – whoever is manning it should be watching the gauges and stopping when the engine/s begin to overheat. Back in the early part of the decade we had one – I got sick of having cooling problems with it. Traded it on a real boat. Our mechanic said that most people who owned them need work several times a year.

Half seems like overkill (to me) since he’s used it quite a bit before you were involved, and most likely you will never (or very rarely) use a replacement. The engine didn’t die because you grounded it, the engine died because it’s 15 years old and not that reliable to begin with. If you’d destroyed it outright, (say in a glorious explosion, or Niagra related boating accident) or if it was a rental he was responsible for then I could see taking that level of responsibility, but it obviously ran post-kevbo well enough that he wasn’t worried about taking it out. There could very well be no connection between your use and it picking that afternoon to give out.

If it were a mid-90’s truck with 150k miles on it you guys took out in the mud, you got it stuck, pulled it out and then he took it right back out and it died, it seems like the same situation but you paying for half of his recreational vehicle seems completely out of line.

Honestly though, you probably have a better feel for what the owner’s reaction was and from that what he’s expecting. Personally, I’d be thrilled if you dropped me a couple hundred dollars towards a replacement. I’d probably spend it on our next trip out.

FYI, he needs a deck rebuilt and some wood chopped, so I’m getting 130 hours of hard labor. ;-)

@kevbo Thanks for the update. That seems like a fair compromise.