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T37Chef 03-04-2008 04:48 PM

What is it with some people?
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 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.

Giulietta 03-04-2008 04:51 PM least he's not cutting the boat into pieces....

sailortjk1 03-04-2008 04:56 PM

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.

PBzeer 03-04-2008 05:02 PM

If you have to ask, "What were they thinking?", then the answer is they weren't thinking.

sailingdog 03-04-2008 05:03 PM


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.

Giulietta 03-04-2008 05:04 PM

What about people that buy a boat like THIS ===> REALLY PRETTY BOAT

And sailed it twice in 3 years??

And the boat actually goes out because friends use it sometimes.

And this is not sorry ass Alerion thing

CaptKermie 03-04-2008 05:18 PM

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...????

sailingdog 03-04-2008 05:18 PM

Really a shame that they've got that much money and no common sense.


Originally Posted by Giulietta (Post 276532)

And sailed it twice in 3 years??

And the boat actually goes out because friends use it sometimes.

And this is not sorry ass Alerion thing

padean 03-04-2008 05:42 PM

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....

sailak 03-04-2008 06:17 PM

You see the exact same thing with airplanes. I owned a plane for 9 years...when a storm came I'd go to the airport - not to check on my airplane but to make sure the guys around me were tied down.


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