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What is it with some people?

9K views 76 replies 31 participants last post by  T37Chef 
#1 ·
I went down to check on my boat today, kept in the water of the winter. Anyway, not the point. So of course while I am there I check on others around me for anything, as I normally do anytime I visit the boat.

There is a nice Tartan 3500 just adjacent to me, very nice owners and seem to have been sailors for along time. I noticed today that there was some damage to the toe rail in the bow area, what appears to be a result of the boat hitting the piling due to the lines being to lose. After further investigation I see that there is some damage, very minor, but still unnecessary if the lines were shorter.

A few months ago his bow line had completely come off the pier, so I tied it back on and mentioned to the owner the next time I saw him. Previous to that I had tighten the lines up at least 2 or 3 times before because the boat was rubbing pilings/pier, once during Tropical Storm in fall 07 (name escapes me)

There are markings on the lines, with tape wrapped around the line, to mark the spot, but of course the spot is wrong.

So what gives...he has been told of the issue several times but seems not to give a ____...how can people ignore such a thing!!!!!!, this is a about a mid 90's boat, but just these 2 repairs would probably cost over $1000 to repair.

I just don't get it! Sorry for the rant.
 
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#3 ·
YOU SEE IT ALL THE TIME.
Cute little Com-pac in our Marina, launched and tied up (Poorly) in the spring.
Bumping pillings all over the place, no fenders, no dock cushions , no nothing. Saw the owners one time all year. Never retied it, left it bumping into stuff all season long. Never left the slip.
 
#5 ·
T37Chef-

If he's too dumb to take measures to protect his own boat, even after being told several times to do so... stop doing it for him... The wallet is often the only way some of these people are going to learn. Don't fix the problems with his boat, unless they're going to endanger someone else's boat.

Just remember, if you are the last one to tie the docklines, you're likely to be the one with the legal responsibility if the boat breaks free and damages anything.

Let's face it...Jeff Foxworthy is right... some people should just be holding or wearing a sign.
 
#16 ·
T37Chef-

Let's face it...Jeff Foxworthy is right... some people should just be holding or wearing a sign.
That's Bill Engvall's schtick: "Here's your sign."
 
#8 ·
Really a shame that they've got that much money and no common sense.
 
#7 ·
I sometimes wonder if people realize just how rough the weather can get. During boating season the few times they get down to their boat the situation may appear to be very calm and non-threatening so they may very well assume that is the norm and go on their merry way. Little do they realize that when the winter winds kick up the boats get jostled around quite violently, but they are rarely if at all witness to this. They have no idea what is happening during their absense but may return come spring and wonder who did all that damage to their boat...????
 
#9 ·
There seem to be two kinds of sailboat owners:
  1. Those who scrape together anything they can save to buy the first boats, spend whatever they can afford (or sometimes not afford) to get things working right, live for their time on the boat on and off the water, then sell and move up to another bigger or nicer boat and repeat.
  2. Those who buy a big, nice, often fancy (but interestingly sometimes not very seaworthy) boat and park it at the marina for entertaining friends or bragging rights.
Being of the first type, I can sympathize with T37Chef. Just look at all the boats with slime at the waterline growing longer each week because there is never any flow past the hull.

On the other hand, there is one advantage to the second kind of sailboat owner, as beautifully demonstrated by an acquaintance from around the yard . He befriended a guy like the Tartan 3500 guy, encouraged him to buy and add lots of nice extras and electronics to the boat, which sat in the marina the entire summer, then after two seasons, when the owner was tired of paying marina/haul out-in, and storage fees, my friend bought the boat from him knowing that everything was in great shape and little used, including the nearly new sails. I guess you'd call that revenge of the boatyard rat....
 
#11 ·
That's funny Padean,
I see several boats that I admire on a regular basis dying of neglect. It's sad.
there should be a organization called petob. (people for the ethical treatment of boats).
the later type person that padean mentions is a status oriented person.
chances are letting him get hit in the wallet wont make any difference at all. It's the people that really can't afford their boats that take care of them the best.
Chef just go on keep adjusting it, it makes you the bigger better person.
If the owner doesn't get it by now he never will.
Scratch her behind the ear enough and she will bite her owner on the ass one day.
We can only Hope.
 
#12 ·
where i come from, they call it 'boat abuse'

i spent all of last week up in Va. re-commissioning/de-winterizing my boat. i slept in all the berths, and worked on all the systems (replacing burnt element in hot water heater..etc)..learned how much load my shore power will carry before kicking out (i have an oil filled radiator style heater), i came back one evening from dinner, and it was a balmy 26 in the boat.uh huh..1500w and a circulating fan was too much).
as i was alone most of the time, i had the opportunity to walk the yard, and shook my head at all the neglected boats in and out of the water. the powerboat across the dock from me has about a 1/4 in bow line, the rest were a collection of mismatched, undersized lines. i saw this anomaly on several boats.
i frankly don't understand owning a boat, paying to keep it somewhere, then ignoring it.
 
#29 ·
i frankly don't understand owning a boat, paying to keep it somewhere, then ignoring it.
I retie boats all the time. Having two of three chafe-protected bow dock lines wear through after just six hours of 40 knot winds will do that to a man.

I believe in sufficient ground tackle and sufficient docking/mooring lines. I don't believe in defining what is sufficient the hard way.
 
#14 ·
T37 ?
"There is a nice Tartan 3500 just adjacent to me,...I had tighten the lines up "

I don't understand. Why did you "had" to do anything, unless his boat was going to damage your boat? Yeah, morales, ethics, all that--but that doesn't make "had" to anything, no one was holding a gun to your head. Personally I think you should thank the Tartan owners for their lack of concern, since it will eventually result in fuller employment for someone in the boat repair business, and that's a Very Good Thing for the Economy.

In the meantime, you've helped create ad views on this forum (another good thing for the economy) and--nothing personal here--if you were to consider sleeping pills and several years of twice-weekly psychotherapy to help you get this compulsion resolved--your Tartan neighbors will have REALLY helped the economy.

Or, you can just shrug it off to karma, maybe the boat was very very cruel in its last incarnation, and now the universe is having it beaten up to even things out. (Still good for the economy, and way cheaper than therapy.<G>)
 
#28 ·
T37 ?
I don't understand. Why did you "had" to do anything, unless his boat was going to damage your boat?
Today I walked away doing nothing but shaking my head.

Interesting though, as I got in my truck, I chatted with Frank, our marina paint & gel coat guy about skiing, and all the while thinking, you'll have a nice repair job coming your way soon ;)
 
#17 ·
This seems to a global or at least a western civilization phenomena. A new social group of people is buying boats. They seem to believe that they are driving cars on the sea. They do not slip (as I was told in some other tread it is called), but they park the boat. They are a major threat to other people in kayaks and dinghies and seem to be immensely entertained by making waves that rock even my ship.

Fortunately they often sail (too) close to the coast so hopefully this phenomena will strangle itself.
 
#18 ·
I stand corrected.. you're right... I usually get them confused. :)

 
#19 ·
Sad to say this is common in my harbor

My boat is moored at Monroe Harbor downtown Chicago. I commented once to the tender pilot (we have a tender service out to our boats) about all the boats I see moored on the weekends with no one aboard. We're talking anywhere from $200K+ yachts (both power and sail).
He said you wouldn't believe how many of these boats sit there all season and the owners never visit except for 4th of July and Venetian night, rest of the time they just sit empty. Unfreaking believeable.:confused:
 
#20 ·
Giu, You are exceptional,
I see boats with hired crews getting neglected. the people in my area that are always on their boats and always trying to improve their boats are the ones that seem to have a bigger percentage of their worth tied up in the boat. the other side of this is people with no visible means of support living in derelict boats to find shelter.
That's just my observation From where I sit. I'm sure It depends a lot on where your at.
One thing that doesn't change is that some people own boats because they truly love boats and love being on the water and some people own them because they think it gives them more stature.
 
#22 ·
Rennisaint-

That boat has been pretty badly mauled and I doubt that it would be safe to sail or even move at this point.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I did a survey this past weekend.
1982 31 ft sea-ray express cruiser, twin 7.4l 454, 330 hp each. 400 hrs on the motors.
He paid 45,000 for it 8 years ago.

The owner has had it for 8 years. it sat in the water for 5 years, on the hard the last 2. Thats 60 months @ 500.00 per month, and 24 months @ 350.00 per month dock and yard fees.

He said the 5kw generator was stolen about 5 yrs ago.

Anyway, heres what it "needs".
2 motors, these haven't been run in 5 yrs (seized),
2 rudders, the ones on the boat are nothing more than rudder posts. 2 props & shafts cutlass bearings and carriers, the ones on the tub are stubs. All thru hulls are unrecognisable.

Both trim tabs are covered with various forms of petrified sea-life.

The a/c, ice maker, and fridge all have had most of the lines chewed thru by rodents. Same thing with most of the electrical circuits.

oh, yea, the little thing... theres a hole in the hull where it sat on one of the wooden blocks. This kind of p.o.'d the owner because "he had it repaired 2 yrs ago".

Uh huh, well sparky it might have been a little better for ya if you'd replaced the leaking hatch like the marina told you to 2 years ago. Yes it was repaired, but the boat filled up with rain water again and the drains were plugged by said rodents. So, theres another gaping hole.

He's also a bit P.O'd that I put "salvage only" for the value.

Oh well.
 
#31 ·
The owner is PO'd that you wrote "Salvage Only" on the survey... what did he expect. The thing is a power boat with no engines, props, rudders and has a big stinking hole in the bottom and the top leaks... and most of the electrical systems are shot....

At least with a sailboat, you might have a decent rig and some good sails... and if you patched the hole, you could sail it away...this is just a hunk of neglected fiberglass, metal and plastic... and is probably worth less as scrap than it would cost to haul it away.

I did a survey this past weekend.
1982 31 ft sea-ray express cruiser, twin 7.4l 454, 330 hp each. 400 hrs on the motors.
He paid 45,000 for it 8 years ago.

The owner has had it for 8 years. it sat in the water for 5 years, on the hard the last 2. Thats 60 months @ 500.00 per month, and 24 months @ 350.00 per month dock and yard fees.

He said the 5kw generator was stolen about 5 yrs ago.

Anyway, heres what it "needs".
2 motors, these haven't been run in 5 yrs (seized),
2 rudders, the ones on the boat are nothing more than rudder posts. 2 props & shafts cutlass bearings and carriers, the ones on the tub are stubs.

All thru hulls, the a/c, ice maker, and fridge all have had the lines chewed thru by rodents. Same thing with most of the electrical circuits.

oh, yea, the little thing... theres a hole in the hull where it sat on one of the wooden blocks. This kind of p.o.'d the owner because "he had it repaired 2 yrs ago".
Uh huh, well sparky it might have been a little better for ya if you'd replaced the leaking hatch like the marina told you to 2 years ago. Yes it was repaired, but the boat filled up with rain water again and the drains were plugged by said rodents. So, theres another gaping hole.

He's also a bit P.O'd that I put "salvage only" for the value.

Oh well.
 
#32 ·
what he "expected" was a huge tax-deductible donation to a 501C-3 that he's not going to get.
 
#33 ·
The IRS has been cracking down on tax deductions for donated vehicles... The best you can get is book value...and what is book value on a a holed, powerboat with no engines, rudder, props, leaking hatches and chewed up electrical wiring... NADA is my guess, if it isn't actually a negative number.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Of course, if the boat had been used regularly, the engines would probably be working, it'd probably still have props and rudders, it'd probably have had the hatch leak fixed and the electrical system would probably not be a rats nest, and it wouldn't have a hole through the bottom. And it would have been worth something as a donation to the 501 (C) 3 charity. As it is now, I hope the charity refuses to take it. It'll probably cost them money if they do...and I think it really sucks for this guy to try palming off his wreck on a charity to dispose of it. I am guessing the owner let the insurance lapse on the boat, or he probably would have torched it for the insurance settlement.
 
#39 ·
my 'pilot' friends have always told me an airplane lasts twice as long in the air as on the ground. guess it applies to boats too.
 
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