StormJib said:
All normal operating issues for boats. All those issues are compounded by the BVI charter environment. The BVI boats and electronics are exposed to salt and heat 24/7/365 in some cases for years with limited fresh water to clear the salts daily. Many of the boats are used far more than any were ever designed to be used. Some boats are designed, built, and outfitted more to be sold to the inexperienced budget buyers at the boat shows. Not all boats in the charter boats are created equal not even close. Same with the operators. Age of the weak boats and weakly outfitted boats will make a big difference. Even when everything is done well. Small critters even a single squid can stop the AC cooling pumps in their tracks. In your case previous salt water intrusion corroding inferior wiring terminals could have caused all of this along with many more options. None of those issues have anything to do with the core equipment of standing rigging, sails, or steering. Reality those are all normal nuisance issues on many boats. Understanding the fresh water system and some basic troubleshooting ability are good life skills to have. If you are going to rent a boat with AC. Make sure you understand where the cooling pump water is supposed to exit and understand how to clear those lines yourself when it does not. Never be in a rush to get away from the dock, always run all those systems yourself at the dock before you leave, never be in a rush to get away from the dock. In this case none of these issues have anything to do with the vessel itself. All these issues are bolt on nice to have features that are not a part of the design or vessel engineering. The better operators and better boats have redundant fresh water pumps.
Despite some of the noise in this thread there is a lot of good information. The paragraph or so above is some of the best advice I have seen here in a while.
You have invested thousands of dollars in your vacation. The time to travel here and get to the boat. Investing a few hours at the dock getting to know your home for the next week to ten days can be invaluable to the quality of your trip. Know where the equipment is and have at least a fundamental knowledge of how that equipment works or if it works. Most of the issues in this thread while typical by themselves on a five year old charter boat could likely have been handled by the companies staff prior to departure if the time where allowed to do that.
Yes in a perfect world you would show up to a Bristol boat everything working perfect and sail on in perfect harmony. A lot of us in the industry try to to preform to that level but even the good companies have a bad charter from time to time.
As a company we (CYOA) have always believed in a thorough briefing and check out sail with each client tailored to the boat that the client is on. Knowing how to clear a sea water strainer or change an impeller are fairly important skills for every charter guest. No we don't expect the guests to be full blown marine technicians and all of the companies have systems set up to handle chase calls when necessary but sometimes a little self help goes a long way.
