After the “strike”…
Boatyard after the Lightning Strike November 2019
It is 01/09/19 and we are settled into our slip in Key West, Florida at Stock Island Marina. The past few months feel surreal. There is a small "club" of people who have been underway who have been hit by lightning. Frankly, not a club I ever aspired to join. After the initial incident and the tow to the marina, the real work began. Insurance company called, surveyor scheduled, boatyard scheduled, and contractors recommended. Contractor 1 - electronics referral, Raymarine reseller/installer, arrived at the boat and proceeded to explain how busy he was and that there would be no way he could even consider an install until sometime after Christmas. Did I mention that this is approximately November 12th? Oh, then he let my husband know that if he would like to write him a big fat check he would be willing to put us at the top of the list! Well, we decided not to use him, (Duh). Jumped in the rental car and went to West Marine to look at electronics. The Navico Regional Account Manager was in the store, and proceeded to demo the B&G product line. Interestingly, there was not a Raymarine product in the store. We also looked at Garmin. We left with a quote and a referral for another reseller/installer. He was a nice guy just took 5 days to get a quote. We decided that being a sailboat it made most sense to get B&G. Charleston Yachting had been a secondary referral and we made an appointment with Randy Draftz. We decided to work with Randy, as he was able to fit us in within 3 days and got the equipment with a few minor hiccups. Installation of the electronics went smoothly and was done early. The yard provided the diesel tech who had to replace the Alternator, and fuel pump. In addition, he did all the internal lighting replacements of all LED lights throughout the inside of the boat. Great job! Next, the gelcoat guy from the yard, was lucky to remember what job he was working on, because if someone interrupted him, he would forget to come back and finish his work, and he always left a mess! We had a pretty bad cold spell so they wanted to re-step the mast and get the boat in the water so the workers could have heat. We were fine with that. The only time we were not at the boat was when they did the re-step. I had a doctors appointment. The boat is in the water upon our return and work continued. By Friday, the final work was completed on the electronics. We came out to clean the boat. We noticed some sizable scrapes on the port side of the boat. Notice no scrapes or gouges below. See photo above.
The yard has taken the position that we had previous damage to the boat and that we were trying to get them to repair it. Really? In fact the son running the yard wrote us a nasty email. It is clear to us that at the time of re-stepping the mast their crane operator and workers let the mast hit Simplicity and gouge/scrape the port side. Oh, yes we have documented the photo from our Sony A58 high resolution photos, which are also date-stamped.
These photos were taken by their surveyor, who indicated that he was unable to substantiate that these scratches were not already on the boat. We also find this interesting because this was the same Surveyor who Surveyed our boat at the time of the lightning strike, a month earlier. I walked the boat with him when she was hauled, there is absolutely no way on earth if those were there he would not have seen them.
So at the end of the day, there are always lessons to be learned:
1. Understand who the surveyor is working for -
a. The insurance company
b. The boatyard. The same surveyor was paid by the boatyard to take photos of the
scrapes and gouges that occurred in the boatyard. Yes, you can easily see how this is a
conflict of interest.
2. Photograph your boat with a digital camera since this provides you with timestamps so you can easily prove the condition before and after.
3. Be at your boat, while work is being done, be visible and if you see something wrong handle it in the moment.
4. Do not expect the yard to Project Manage your boat.
5. Once your boat is out of the water you are not leaving until you are paid in full.
6. Dirt, will be everywhere, so plan on a major cleaning project
7. Check and double check all work done. Beware of the yard!
8. Work closely with the insurance company, and remember that the surveyor is being paid by them with the noted exclusion above.
9. If you still have a note on your boat, you will need to have your bank sign your insurance check before you can cash it.
10. Don't leave any valuables on your boat as there are all kinds of people on your boat, especially jewelry, passports and cash.
11. Be grateful that it wasn't worse, you will have state of the art electronics.
At the end of the day, I would never go back to this yard (Ross Marine - James Island) in Charleston, South Carolina nor would I work with that surveyor. They were both caught in a big fat lie. This was a shame as they did do many things right, but there is no honor and accountability here.