First night on new (old) boat.... LOW BATTERY!

[Bigfish]

Thanks again for all your thoughts.. As a big fan of "forensic" reality shows, famous blood "spaa'er" (spatter) expert Dr. Henry Lee helped me determine that the spatter on the walls and ceiling did NOT come from the ports as I previously surmised. In the master head it's on the inside of the ceiling light and ceiling and not on the outside. It's also heaviest right on the sink counter and not much in the shower closest to the port. Same in the forward head.

I don't know how the plumbing is routed but if the sinks drain directly down, then make one turn to the outside of the hull and there's nothing in between them, my guess is they were sand (or soda?) blasting the hull before painting and they shot it directly into the drain holes.. Maybe they cleaned them out for me! I haven't cleaned anything up yet. I've got a highly recommended (but so was this yard...) marine airco and boat electric guy coming over in the morning and I'm going to get his opinion before I do anything. I still haven't even looked in the engine room yet as these engine covers are very heavy and cumbersome. I'll do that with the guy in the morning. I did forward the photos to the broker who had no idea what it could be either. He hasn't responded with an opinion. he was the guy who recommended the yard too.. He's been great through the whole process and I'm sure he's not thrilled with the yard either. What I want to know is this, "Where was the President while all this was happening?"
The plot thickens.....

 

[Marin]

Never say never, but I would be quite surprised if the mess came up through the sink drains. The connecting hoses and through hulls for these are quite small and with the bends typically in the hoses one would have to put the nozzle directly into the through-hull to have any hope of stuff coming up through the drains.

We have the lower hull of our boat pressure washed every time it's hauled. The drain through-hulls for the galley and aft head sinks are just above the waterline in the boot stripe and they always get the full force of the pressure washer played over them. We had seacocks put on the drain through-hulls because they are so close to the waterline but we open them when we're on the boat. Nothing ever comes up into the sink.

If you have not already done so I would contact the yard and ask them if they knew what happened or might have happened. If it occurred while the boat was under their care then they should be responsible for cleaning it up. It's hard to imagine the delivery skipper not noticing this as he brought the boat over and secured it for you.

I also doubt the boat was "dropped" into the water hard enough to do this. I don't know the configuration of your boat but our sink drains are in the sides of the boat so a hard splashdown would not force water up through them. If a Travelift sling broke while they were relaunching your boat-- not very likely-- the yard should have said so because the boat may have much greater problems now than some spatter in the cabins.

If the spatter was vandalism after the boat was delivered and left in your slip, then as others have said it's probably a matter for the police. Not that they can do anything about it but a police report may be a requirement of your insurance policy for a cleanup claim like this.

 

[Bigfish]

Never say never, but I would be quite surprised if the mess came up through the sink drains. The connecting hoses and through hulls for these are quite small and with the bends typically in the hoses one would have to put the nozzle directly into the through-hull to have any hope of stuff coming up through the drains.

We have the lower hull of our boat pressure washed every time it's hauled. The drain through-hulls for the galley and aft head sinks are just above the waterline in the boot stripe and they always get the full force of the pressure washer played over them. We had seacocks put on the drain through-hulls because they are so close to the waterline but we open them when we're on the boat. Nothing ever comes up into the sink.

If you have not already done so I would contact the yard and ask them if they knew what happened or might have happened. If it occurred while the boat was under their care then they should be responsible for cleaning it up. It's hard to imagine the delivery skipper not noticing this as he brought the boat over and secured it for you.

I also doubt the boat was "dropped" into the water hard enough to do this. I don't know the configuration of your boat but our sink drains are in the sides of the boat so a hard splashdown would not force water up through them. If a Travelift sling broke while they were relaunching your boat-- not very likely-- the yard should have said so because the boat may have much greater problems now than some spatter in the cabins.

If the spatter was vandalism after the boat was delivered and left in your slip, then as others have said it's probably a matter for the police. Not that they can do anything about it but a police report may be a requirement of your insurance policy for a cleanup claim like this.

I've pretty much dismissed the vandalism theory as this marina is very secure and there are lots of liveaboards and people here at all hours. I can't imagine any way vandals could or would cause the mess I see.

When the yard owner called me to let me know the boat was back int the slip and that he and one of his employees brought it over, I was an hour away and he said this, "I'm not sure how you like to tie up your boat but we secured it." then he added.. ".... I think you should come directly here first before you go anywhere else." After I hung up I thought that odd, was he that unsure of his and his employees ability to secure a boat in it's slip?? Or was there something else? He sounded like there was something he wasn't telling me. When I got here they had all gone home for the weekend so I didn't leave any voicemail messages.. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.

 

[Bigfish]

BigFish, we're very close to the same stage as you with our boat; finding and fixing things.

Garmin has discounted the 740s chartplotter/MFD. Matched with their 18HD radome the whole package comes out under $2 BU. Apparently they're poised to release a new model and want these off the shelves. It's a good middle-of-the-road MFD, easy to use, and I think with a few extra components it should be portable between upper and lower helm. It'll work as a nice fish finder with the right transducer too, if you need that.

(BU, or Boating Unit, comes from the acronym BOAT: Break Out Another Thousand.)

The mess from the open port lights (or whatever) is the yard's responsibility. If nothing else, I'd get an estimate for the clean-up and send them a bill, preferably on your attorney's letterhead. And I'd never let the boat near that yard again.

Hey Capt Tom! Thanks for the heads up. Where did you find that package deal price??

 

[CaptTom]

Hey Capt Tom! Thanks for the heads up. Where did you find that package deal price??

West Marine's ad. Then I looked on line and found that was the same price other places had. The guy at WM told me they're coming out with a new model, that's why the price reduction. Very helpful guy, so I bought from them. Was supposed to be in Friday, but I still haven't heard yet.

 

[Bigfish]

Boat Yard Owner Just Left!

He said that my thru-hull fittings were badly encrusted and they sand blasted them but that doesn't answer how it came up through the sinks. He point out that the sinks should be draining out above the waterline and I'm pretty sure they do, but he also pointed out that had they blasted those outlets I'd have a major fiberglass re-do job in that area. Nothing there.. He said he's never seen it before. He said it's definitely his sand but he's as baffled as the rest of us as to how it came up through the sinks.

He and his wife are coming over to clean up the mess.. I'm sure things will be clearer once I get down into the bilge and tracing where things go. I'm almost afraid to look. My airco guy was supposed to come this morning and I was going to let him help me get these floorboards up but he re-scheduled for this afternoon.

Apparently the broker forwarded my pictures to the yard owner as he just showed up at the boat.

I was real nice and didn't ream him but a bill for whatever damage down below will surely follow if they broke anything.

Anybody have a clue how blasting any of my through hulls would end up coming out of my sinks?? I'm sure there is an explanation somewhere...

Aren't boats fun!

I'm off to pick up my order of butyl rubber tape at the UPS office. I hear its good stuff....

Thanks again to all of you for your educated guesses!

 

[sunchaser]

Bigfish

What did you ask the yard to do in regards to bottom cleaning? "Soda" spills can be very difficult to clean up and repair, hoping you don't have too many issues with the other work this yard did.

 

[Larry M]

He said that my thru-hull fittings were badly encrusted and they sand blasted them ...

....Anybody have a clue how blasting any of my through hulls would end up coming out of my sinks?? I'm sure there is an explanation somewhere...

Maybe I'm missing something here but if the thru-hulls were opened and they sandblasted them, what prevents the media from going up the thru-hull, up into the hose and out the sink? It is not that uncommon for sink drains to have thru-hulls located at or below the water line.

 

[Carolena]

Maybe I'm missing something here but if the thru-hulls were opened and they sandblasted them, what prevents the media from going up the thru-hull, up into the hose and out the sink? It is not that uncommon for sink drains to have thru-hulls located at or below the water line.

I had the same thought - both galley and head sink drains are below the waterline on our sailboat.

 

[dwhatty]

In the master head it's on the inside of the ceiling light

 

[Ebaugh]

My master head ceiling light is also the access to galley sink drain and plumbing. Maybe his is too?

 

[THD]

Since the yard owner said they blasted your through hulls I am wondering if you have any crap blown up your engine water/AC/watermaker intakes? If so, how much of an issue might that be?

 

[Budds Outlet]

Originally Posted by Nimble1
Did they use a pressure cleaner to clean the bottom?



Then they shoved the pressure washer's wand into sink drain scuppers... well above boot strap??

That's my guess. They shoved the wand into the sink drains before pulling the trigger and that's why there is no damage to the exterior gel coat above the waterline.

I'm guessing the yard had a rookie on the sand blasting pressure washer.

My forensic evidence is the splatter pattern associated with the high shelf. Above the shelf there is very little deposit. The shelf seems to be blocking an upward stream of spray.

 

[CaptTom]

Hey Capt Tom! Thanks for the heads up. Where did you find that package deal price??

The GPSMap 740s and Radome came in yesterday (I forgot this West Marine always gets deliveries on Tuesday, not Friday like I'd hoped.)

Today I called Garmin and after pressing a few menu options the phone was answered on the first ring by a native English speaker. After consulting with someone else, he confirmed that I can run a regular Cat 5 cable with RJ45 plugs from a connector on the flybridge down to the lower helm so I can plug the unit in at either location. Only thing I'll have to buy is another power connector.

In case you're wondering, no, it's not "regular" Ethernet from the radome to the MFD, so I can't network it with other devices. Still, using off-the-shelf cables and plugs is sooooo much better than the old radomes that used a 3/4" cable bundle with 10 different sizes and types of wires in it. I had to splice one of those once, what a pain!