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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210547
12/04/2019 08:52 PM
12/04/2019 08:52 PM
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 643 Ft. Worth, TX
Lcrich
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 643
Ft. Worth, TX
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About 4 years ago we had a Bali 43 from Dream Yacht Charters that was brand new. During our week of charter, the door lock broke on the garage door that lowers. We had to use the window to enter and exit. Luckily you only close that at night but still. Also there were problems with the heads clogging, (already clogged when we got it but they didn't check) Stove broke and fridge didn't get cold enough. Ha, it was a real lemon. DYC tried to fix everything first and then offered to bring a Lagoon out to us. Unfortunately, we didn't get that message until the 5 th night. or we would have said yes. DYC and we tried to make it work. In the end, we ended our trip a day early because we were tired of the crap happening. We still had a blast as always down there. DYC refuded us the last night and we went to a hotel. That's why you always go with a reputable company. TMM Charters is our go to company right now! BTW, Yann told me that boat was taken out of their fleet pretty quick. And yes, we have had a few things happen on TMM boats and they always, always stand behind their reputation. Good luck!!
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210550
12/04/2019 09:09 PM
12/04/2019 09:09 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 27 USA-Connecticut
rwy36
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 27
USA-Connecticut
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Several years ago we chartered a monohull from Horizon and left for Coopers Island around mid-day. Later that afternoon (when we got on the mooring) we were surprised to hear water sloshing around in the bilge. We quickly realized (to our relief) that the fresh water had drained into the bilge (a mystery since it was working the night before), and for some reason the automatic bilge pump wasn't working (we did discover a bit later the manual switch did work). We immediately contacted the charter company and after a brief discussion they said they would come out the next day with another boat. When he <finally> arrived the next day (it was very windy and rough) we rafted up and transferred baggage and provisions over to the new (and bigger) boat - and then enjoyed the rest of the week with no further problems.
It always a drag to have issues, but we appreciated Horizon's response. I agree with Lcrich for sure - always choose a reputable company who stands behind their product and service!
Last edited by rwy36; 12/04/2019 09:12 PM.
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210567
12/05/2019 09:27 AM
12/05/2019 09:27 AM
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 329 Staunton, VA
socamon
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 329
Staunton, VA
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In October (2019) we chartered a cat from BVIYC. We chose the boat specifically because we wanted to try a boat with a water maker. At the boat briefing, the briefer showed us how to use the water maker but failed to get it to work at the dock. His explanation was that the water was to dirty to make the machine work properly! He said it should work okay once we out at other locations we would be mooring at. We accepted this explanation and left for Benures Bay. Tried the water maker again, per instructions, with the same results-no water. Called the base and they reluctantly agreed to send someone to check it out “if” we moved to the Bight since they were going there to help another boat! Reluctantly, we moved from what should be Avery clean mooring spot to the Bight. When the crew finally arrived, The same guy who briefed us at the base came aboard and went through the same procedures as before with the same results. Again blamed it on water quality! So, we had a10 day charter on a boat we paid extra for with no water maker. (The ice maker also was not working by this time and that’ wasn’t repaired either. When we returned to base and wrote about the issue on the debriefing form, the base office worker said it was too bad but the fine print says they weren’t responsible for any extra equipment on the boat. When I said I chose the boat because it had a water maker, she argued that the watermaker was not list as equipment on the webpage. It clearly was at the time I reserved the boat because that is how I chose it. This incident not only colored our experience while sailing, still bothers me to this day. Sorry for the rant, but you asked 😜
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210634
12/05/2019 10:58 PM
12/05/2019 10:58 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,423 New Jersey, USA
DanS
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,423
New Jersey, USA
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Has anyone ever experienced a charter where the problems with the boat were so bad, that it cast a shadow over the entire vacation? If so, what did the charter company do about it? We once chartered a Footloose monohull that we were told had dockside air conditioning. I didn't want to rely on that verbal assurance from the U.S. office, so I even called the base in Road Town to confirm. Well, both offices were wrong, and that model had no air conditioning. This made for a very frustrating first day, as I was worried about one of our crew who HATES being hot. The end results were: - We took the boat without air.
- Everyone had a great time.
- Footloose gave us a credit toward a future charter. I think it was $400, and we did make use of it.
Dan
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210645
12/06/2019 07:28 AM
12/06/2019 07:28 AM
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,999 Macon, Georgia
GlennA
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,999
Macon, Georgia
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Companies that get a reputation for poor maintainence don't last long. I chartered with North/South a couple of years before they folded. It was a near disaster except for myself and another crew member being half way mechanically minded. From winches with broken pawls to a burned out anchor windlass relay to missing silverware and utensiles (which they tried to charge us for).
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. - Mark Twain
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#210648
12/06/2019 08:10 AM
12/06/2019 08:10 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 4,214 Toledo, OH, USA
Orange_Burst
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 4,214
Toledo, OH, USA
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We chartered a Bali 45 from Dream Yacht Charters, worse boat we have ever had. Not only did we have problems, it was the worse sailing boat we have chartered.
Here is the list of problems.
1) Boat stunk really bad. Smelled like a cross between diesel fuel and sewer gas. I talked to them about this before we left, said there was nothing they could do. This seemed to get worse everytime we fueled up or ran the engine. It honestly made me sick to my stomach, some times it would be so bad we would go sleep on deck. It was the whole boat too.
2) Generator would run for 30 minutes to an hour and then cut off. It would usually restart, but this meant we couldn’t run it at night because someone would have to keep getting up and re-staring it.
3) Port aft AC unit did not work
4) Starboard forward cabin had no lights at all and the toilet leaked.
5) The sliding door stopper was broken. This could have taken a hand or foot off the way it would slam. When we were sailing we would have to tie it open with a piece of line.
Despite the issues, we still had a good time, but I would never charter with them again.
Colleen
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: Deepcut]
#211532
12/16/2019 02:47 PM
12/16/2019 02:47 PM
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 355 East Lansing, MI, USA
2forBVI
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 355
East Lansing, MI, USA
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I have chartered 15 times in the BVI, each time through the Moorings. On three of those occasions, we did not pay to insure the vessel was not older than two years. On the other 12 occasions, we paid extra to insure a relatively new boat. On four of those charters, we needed to have a chase boat come out from the Moorings and help with a problem. One of those times involved a new boat but the problem involved our stupidity, not the boat! The other three times involved the older boats. The Moorings was there very quickly and got things fixed. That's why we keep going back to the Moorings, and keep getting newer boats.
"If we weren't all crazy we would go insane!"
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Re: Boat Problems?
[Re: RacerRon]
#213080
01/05/2020 03:35 PM
01/05/2020 03:35 PM
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 672 Vail, CO/St. Thomas, USVI
caribbeangirl13
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 672
Vail, CO/St. Thomas, USVI
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Oh the stories we have after chartering for many years... Our first major issue was through BVI Yacht Charters. A thru hull fitting was corroded and basically fell apart in my hands when I was trying to figure out why it was leaking. We basically had a hole in the hull that was spewing water into the boat. None of the wooden plugs would fit but I eventually found a wine cork that worked to stop the flow of water. It was around 8pm but we called the base thinking they would want to send someone out right away. They didn't and actually wanted us to sail back to the base the next day with a wine cork plugging the hole! Needless to say we now always sail with a bottle of wine with a cork in it! Next issue was in the Spanish Virgins at Culebrita on Christmas Day. We had anchored and I had taken my bearings to make sure we weren't dragging. Everything seemed fine and we were opening up presents when I noticed that we seemed to be really drifting. Low and behold we were! I started up the engine and my husband went up to the windlass to pick up the anchor so we could re-anchor. Come to find out that we had no anchor attached! The line had come unspliced from the anchor chain. Luckily there were some mooring balls and we picked one up. We then got in the dinghy to go look for our lost anchor. We found it but couldn't pull it up as it was too heavy to pull up from the dinghy. We tied a fender to it and brought the boat back to it and my husband and sons were able to lug it back onto the boat. The charter company, Sail Caribe, was super thankful for us recovering the anchor. Lesson learned here was that I would always check the anchor rode before using the anchor. At the time it was only my husband's 2nd charter so he was a bit of a newbie and possibly didn't notice that the splice looked a little frayed. In the Grenadines we had outboard engine and boat engine issues with the Lagoon we had chartered through Barefoot Yacht Charters out of St. Vincent. We were in Bequia and they sent a new outboard motor to us via ferry which made us have to stay an extra day to wait for the outboard. Once we got the outboard we went to leave and the port engine wouldn't start. We again called the base and they gave us a number of a guy to call. We did and he came and got the engine started but then it would overheat quickly. He finally solved the problem but it caused us to stay in Bequia for a third night which isn't the worst place to be stuck. We had a blast getting to know the locals and celebrating the Christmas season with them. Lesson learned is that Kerry (engine repair guy) is an amazing guy and we have used him again on return trips to Bequia (outboard engine issues on or next trip) and he now owns the floating bar, Bar One, in the bay. This past trip we were in the BVI's on our family owned Sunsail boat at the same time you were. Even before getting off the dock we had troubles with the port engine showing the RPMs. They sent someone out to fix it which delayed us leaving the dock. When we finally were able to get off the dock I was surprised that the boat was not handling as well as it usually does. It seemed like I was being pushed to the port but there wasn't much wind. I usually steer using the engines in tight spots as I feel like I have more control but the boat didn't seem to respond well and I had to switch to the wheel. We got out of the marina and I looked down at the RPM's for the port engine and even though I had sped up the engines the port RPMs were in the same spot as when the engine was at a lower speed. Came to realize that the port engine had cut out but the RPM indicator was stuck. No wonder I had such trouble using the engines to steer, I was maneuvering off of one engine the whole time! I restarted the engine and it seemed to be working fine but then cut out halfway across to Cooper and I couldn't get it restarted. We had reserved a Boaty Ball since we were so late coming off the dock and once we got to Cooper, of course, there was another boat on our mooring ball. Since I was having to pick up a ball with one engine in the fluky Cooper wind tunnel we took another Boaty Ball just to get us settled. Ended up finding out that the boat that was on our ball had "Just gone in for lunch." UGH! Luckily the boat that was supposed to be on the ball we took was very accommodating and took our originally reserved ball understanding that it was just a little bit trickier to grab a ball with one engine in the wind. Lesson learned was that I can steer a Catamaran only using one engine, it just takes a bit of a different skill set. Sunsail was great and sent a guy within a couple hours to fix the engine. So basically my philosophy is [censored] happens but I do expect that the charter company deals with it quickly. I learned a long time ago that if something can break on a boat it will. I just try to enjoy the spot we are "stuck" in because it is usually in a beautiful place. Our stop in Bequia allowed us to do so much more on that island than we would have originally been able to do. And we met some great people who we now consider friends! If you have any desire for an interesting read about how to adapt to things breaking you can read the article below that Chris Doyle wrote about our experience losing our rudder when bringing my childhood home (I grew up living on a boat in the Caribbean) from Florida to St. Thomas to Grenada. http://www.doyleguides.com/the-traumerei-delivery-sailing-without-a-rudder/
Sue s/v Ripple Leopard 40
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