Conference unifix::sailing

442.0. "Horror Story" by IKE::HASKELL () Mon Nov 24 1986 08:45

    Be advised:
    
    I have a small power boat that I keep at City Boat Works, Newburyport,
    Mass.  There are also many sail boats that are kept here also.
    
    Last Friday, my broker called (I am trying to sell my boat so that
    I
    can buy a Herrshoeff (sp) Eagle) to tell me that he would be showing
    my
    Squire Puffin on Monday.  As I was aware that the yard had not yet
    covered my boat, I went down Friday to check it out.  What I found
    made me sick.  Four inches of water in the cockpit.  I took the
    cover off the engine compartment to check the bilges and found them
    full to the floor timbers.  Using a 2000 gal/hour battery pump,
    I was able to run it for 17 minutes (566 gal), I then had to go
    forward to a cover plate in the deck and use my hand pume (1/2 gal
    per stroke), after 500 strokes, I had removed all the water possible
    (total 816 gal).
    
    My boat is only 21.5 feet on deck.  Hell of a lot of water.  I was
    able to get my engine winterized the day before the hard freeze
    hit a couple of weeks ago.
    
    However, be advised that this boat yard got caught with their pants
    down during the freeze.  They now have 27 boats sitting in the yard
    with split engine blocks or manifolds, one is a Chris Craft with
    twin 500 hp enginex, both cracked.  Some of the boats are sail boats.
    
    I guess I need to say no more. I covered my own boat as they didn,t
    know when they would be able to get around to it.  I hope you don't
    moore or store your boats there now or in the future.
    
    Paul