angus99
Guru
Apologies for the length of this; I think I’m still in shock and it’s helpful to get this in print.
We’re doing the northern part of the loop. This time, it’s mostly a delivery run to get the boat back to our home in Tennessee before winter where we can finish upgrading her. I hope we’ll do it a second time one day and take our time.
Yesterday afternoon, we made an overnight reservation at a marina in upstate NY. After giving the dimensions of our boat (44’ long; 14’ 10” wide and about 5’ draft fully loaded), the woman at the marina told me to “take the first slip on the right” and “tie up on either side.” We elected a port tie since we’d been locking through on that side and the fenders were already deployed.
The slip is a 20’ wide single with a concrete seawall on one side. As we entered in strong, gusting winds, our stern was blown toward the wall. I heard the unmistakable sound of a prop grinding—and then the starboard engine shut down. I measured the depth on the right side of the slip and there is a ledge of gravel and concrete sticking out from the concrete wall at least 8 feet into the slip. Four feet from the wall the depth is about 36 inches. At eight feet, it is just over 50 inches. As I told the marina person, we draw almost 60 inches fully loaded. There are no warning signs or anything to indicate this obstruction. I dove on it to inspect (shore power was not connected and no boats in adjacent slips) and cut my fingers on the jagged edges of the prop.
The girl in the marina office was utterly clueless. I asked her why she put a boat with our draft in a slip that was obstructed along one entire side. She said “other boats” had occupied the slip with no problems. I then asked why the marina map on the wall behind her said in bold, red, underlined letters “BOW IN ONLY. NO SAILBOATS.” She said, “Well, you’re bow-in and you’re not a sailboat.” I asked for a manager; she said he’d left for the day, it was impossible to reach him and she had no idea what to do. I told her I wanted to talk to him asap, left my number and as of this morning have not received a callback.
This morning I’m faced with being towed back through eight locks to have the boat hauled, inspected and the prop trued—again. Oh, yeah; all of this after signing a large check two days ago to have the props trued and shafts aligned. I’m beyond pissed and also wondering what would have happened to our stabilizer if I’d elected a starboard tie.
I want the marina to cover any expense and I’m prepared to sue if they don’t. I filmed the entire area to show the absence of warnings and videoed a witness—who’s willing to testify—taking depth soundings off my swim platform. Also got a photo of the marina map with the warning to employees.
Obviously, I’ll give the manager a chance to make this right, but I’d appreciate any thoughts of how y’all would handle this going forward short of violence.
We’re doing the northern part of the loop. This time, it’s mostly a delivery run to get the boat back to our home in Tennessee before winter where we can finish upgrading her. I hope we’ll do it a second time one day and take our time.
Yesterday afternoon, we made an overnight reservation at a marina in upstate NY. After giving the dimensions of our boat (44’ long; 14’ 10” wide and about 5’ draft fully loaded), the woman at the marina told me to “take the first slip on the right” and “tie up on either side.” We elected a port tie since we’d been locking through on that side and the fenders were already deployed.
The slip is a 20’ wide single with a concrete seawall on one side. As we entered in strong, gusting winds, our stern was blown toward the wall. I heard the unmistakable sound of a prop grinding—and then the starboard engine shut down. I measured the depth on the right side of the slip and there is a ledge of gravel and concrete sticking out from the concrete wall at least 8 feet into the slip. Four feet from the wall the depth is about 36 inches. At eight feet, it is just over 50 inches. As I told the marina person, we draw almost 60 inches fully loaded. There are no warning signs or anything to indicate this obstruction. I dove on it to inspect (shore power was not connected and no boats in adjacent slips) and cut my fingers on the jagged edges of the prop.
The girl in the marina office was utterly clueless. I asked her why she put a boat with our draft in a slip that was obstructed along one entire side. She said “other boats” had occupied the slip with no problems. I then asked why the marina map on the wall behind her said in bold, red, underlined letters “BOW IN ONLY. NO SAILBOATS.” She said, “Well, you’re bow-in and you’re not a sailboat.” I asked for a manager; she said he’d left for the day, it was impossible to reach him and she had no idea what to do. I told her I wanted to talk to him asap, left my number and as of this morning have not received a callback.
This morning I’m faced with being towed back through eight locks to have the boat hauled, inspected and the prop trued—again. Oh, yeah; all of this after signing a large check two days ago to have the props trued and shafts aligned. I’m beyond pissed and also wondering what would have happened to our stabilizer if I’d elected a starboard tie.
I want the marina to cover any expense and I’m prepared to sue if they don’t. I filmed the entire area to show the absence of warnings and videoed a witness—who’s willing to testify—taking depth soundings off my swim platform. Also got a photo of the marina map with the warning to employees.
Obviously, I’ll give the manager a chance to make this right, but I’d appreciate any thoughts of how y’all would handle this going forward short of violence.
