Nightmare in the marine industry

We bought a reputable boat (Tartan) from a reputable dealer, that had been maintained by a reputable boat yard. We had a reputable survey done, and contracted reputable servicemen to do a rigging and mechanical inspection of the boat. In fact it was the same service people who had been taking care of the boat for several years and claimed to know it well.

Less than 10 hours of low power operation later the V-drive failed catastrophically, taking the transmission, bell housing, and coupling with it.

And thus began a nightmare repair. Walter machine insisted that their V-drive had never been installed on a Westerbeke engine using a Hurth transmission, that Tartan would never spec such a thing. (They did and it was.) We never found a bell housing and ended up reworking the old one. The coupling had to be custom machined. (At least Tartan came up with a drawing.) The new V-drive arrived from the factory sans the studs needed to mount it to the boat. The repair is still underway with no good idea of when the boat will be operable again.

It would be wonderful if I could say that this was the worst of it...but that would be untrue. Purchasing this boat has been the most frustrating, infuriating, endlessly troubling enterprise that I have ever fallen into. The water system didn't work. Much of the electrical system was the same. Stuff that was represented as being on the boat (like a V-berth mattress and auto pilot) weren't. Much of the running rigging failed the first time it was put under a load. Point blank, if I knew then what I know now I would seriously reconsider the wisdom of trying to retire onto a sailboat. (Then I would probably try to do it anyway - being seriously smitten by the ocean.)

One thing I have decided is that the previous owner, the broker, the surveyor, the boat yard, and the mechanics, all knew just how bad this boat was. It is inconceivable to me that anyone familiar with the thing could miss how badly abused she had been. Being an aviation person and not a marine person, I made the mistake of hiring and listening to the opinion of "experts," who clearly saw an out-of-town Mark coming when they needed to unload a problem boat.

Since then the experts at Tartan couldn't tell me what units they had designed into the boat. The experts at Walter Machine couldn't tell me what unit I needed - even when they had the old one in their hands. I have conflicting stories on the drip-less seal on the shaft, and have seen the worst kind of "craftsmanship" in every nook and corner of the boat. In fact I have yet to find a singe installation or repair that is even as good as "half-assed. Unused hose and wire filled the bilge. Interior parts had been removed for work and reinstalled with one screw out of six, mis-aligned, out of place. The head system was missing major parts, the head floor wasn't even secured to the boat.

So far as I can tell the pre-owned portion of the marine industry is seriously broken; and some of the stories I have heard from new boat buyers suggests the same is true industry wide.

There is a lot of debate about the sailing industry and its decline. Young people don't seem to be interested, us older folks know well that the journey is more past than future. There is a lot of debate about leisure dollars, the lure of the Internet, the lack of adventuring in the next generation, harassment from the Coast Guard and the ever growing security apparatus of Western Culture.

But maybe the answer is a lot more simple. The Marine industry has become a den of thieves. Designs are poor, quality control is non-existent, warranties are worthless...eventually people get tired of being fleeced, move on, and tell their friends to buy an RV.

Which is okay, if you don't mind being on the land. If you do, the marine industry sells the only tools for getting off shore. They may be ill conceived, poorly built, miserably maintained and overpriced tools...but they are the only ones around.

Water works

I started changing the potable water lines in the boat this weekend. It is one of several jobs in the works. Just a review:

Ongoing V-drive / tranny repair.
Spice rack for galley.
Preliminary dodger review.
New splash guard for galley.

We would like to get the water lines replaced before putting water on the boat for the first time this season. That job will include plumbing the engine cooling loop to the water heater; which will require fittings and hose yet to be determined. Fun, yes? The first think I noticed when opening the box with the marine grade 5/8s tubing purchased for this job was that there is no tubing anywhere on the boat that looks like this stuff. Nothing on the boat is marine grade. That is a bit disturbing. How did all of the plumbing on the boat get replaced with sub-standard stuff?

And some of it is seriously sub-standard; simple clear plastic hose. The main pressure pump has 1/2 inch fittings so the 5/8s clear plastic was just clamped on. Ugly, ugly installation. Most of the plumbing is held in place with screwed in zip-tie clamps. (Where it IS held it place and not just lying free.) I am going to replace them with adel clamps. Also, the tubing runs are chaotic, hoses running every which way, crossed over each other, kinked around sharp corners...stupid stuff. It would be best to just start from scratch but that isn't really an option. I'm just going to make is as professional as I can while getting the boat back in service.

Chicago Boat Show boat thoughts

This year's Chicago Strictly Sail show was the first one Deb and I attended were we weren't looking for "The Boat". We found Kintala last year while at the show (hard to believe it has been a year) so, this year, we were looking at stuff we think we need (want) to put on "The Boat" before casting off our shore lines. Reading cruising blogs and books and gazing at pictures of cruising boats, our Tartan would appear to be far from ready for big water. Things she lacks include: dink & motor, autopilot, dodger, chart plotter, AIS, RADAR, solar panels, wind generator, stone-reliable furler, (the one we have appears too small for the task) proper anchor chain, (what we have is mis-matched to the windlass) water-maker, AC inverter, sea anchor / drogue, storm trisail & jib, and some kind of stern anchor. That seems like an impossibly long, and expensive, list.

But here is my current list of things I think we must have before going: dink & motor, autopilot, storm trisail & jib, drogue / sea anchor, AIS, and a stone-reliable furler. (Okay, I know there is no such a thing but ours appears undersized and is stone-cold unreliable.)

High on the list of things I would really like to have is a chart plotter, RADAR and dodger. As a long time airplane driver I loves me some GPS moving map. I am also an expert at RADAR and can imagine 100 different scenarios where having one would be a damned good idea. As for a dodger, the companionway on our 1982 Tartan 42 is simply a hatch in the cabin roof. Without a dodger the only two choices are close the the boat up tight or let the rain and spray fall inside.

But I'm pretty sure I can find the Bahamas with a hand held GPS and a paper chart. If hanging out on a limb I am absoluty sure I can find North America from just about anywhere in the Atlantic by looking at the sun, the North Star, and anything even close to being a compass. (One could probably follow the contrails and even hit a major city.) Just sitting at our little lake we have an old Garman chart plotter, two smart phones (complete with GPS and compass aps) an iPad, and two laptops. How much navigation stuff does one boat really need?

As for the other stuff, we can leave home without it...and probably will.