An Unpleasant Occurrance (or...... S _ _ T Happens)

This is a nasty little story involving rotten scoundrels, dirty deeds and other disagreeable matters.  There's nothing funny or cute or nice here.  I'll try to say something nice in my next entry but for now I gotta tell it like it is.

In the previous entry about our cruise to the Little Choptank River (click here) I mentioned that we had some trouble with the holding tank overflowing into the hanging lockers.  At the time we thought this was caused by a blockage in one of the lines.  Since then we've discovered the real cause of the problem.

Last Summer we were deeply entrenched in our search for a new boat that would take us around the world.  We found one that fit our requirements to a T but it was located down in Bradenton, Florida and had been in the charter fleet down in the British Virgin Islands.  Our broker convinced us to go down and check it out because the price was low, close to the limit for what we could afford, and this was probably going to be the only way we would ever be able to get an Island Packet 420, the boat of our dreams.  We flew down and spent a miserably hot day going over her with a fine tooth comb.  She showed some wear and tear which was to be expected from charter life but we also found some serious signs of neglect.  All the teak woodwork down below was water stained, as if all the ports and hatches had been left open constantly, rain or shine.  We also found raw sewage beneath the cabin sole (floor) under the valves for the holding tank.  We were told this was from a leaky valve and would be taken care of.  Another area of concern was in the two hanging lockers which are located back to back on the bulkhead between the main salon and the forward stateroom.  Both lockers are lined with cedar which had water stains and smelled like 10 day old fish.  We were told this odor was probably caused by storing away wet foul weather gear.  We presented a list of concerns to our brokers and were told that everything could be repaired over the winter at a reasonable expense and when combined with the low purchase price we would still be way under the market value of the boat.  We had her surveyed, the results of which basically mirrored our list, and went ahead and made the purchase.

 After having the boat trucked up to Rock Hall we spent 8 months and over $40,000 having everything on our list repaired.  One of our biggest concerns was the smell down below and this was addressed by replacing all the hoses for the two heads and the holding tank.  We also replaced the cedar lining in the two hanging lockers.

 We sold our house in Silver Spring along with everything that attached us to life on shore and on May 15th of this year we moved on board, confident that we had prepared the boat to be our new home.  In order to reduce the possibility of mildew and other unpleasant things, we decided to use the marina's facilities while the boat was in the slip and only use the boat's toilets and showers when on the hook.

 After living aboard for three weeks we planned a 5 day sail and pumped out the holding tank prior to leaving.  This was a new experience for us.  Herrington Harbour has 2 pumping stations set up on a dock near the entrance to the marina.  You just motor over and tie up alongside.  The marina supplies tokens which are used to run the pump.  There's a long, corrugated hose that's at least 3" in diameter with a control valve on the end and a fitting with a rubber seal around the end.  The holding tank on the boat has a line that goes to a deck fitting (I should point out here that this line runs up through the hanging locker in the forward stateroom).  The hose from the dock forms a vacuum tight seal against the deck fitting and sucks the gunk out of the tank.  There's a clear plastic section near the valve so you can see when it's done pumping too.  Lovely.  When you first put in the token you're supposed to wait about a minute because the pump is located on shore and has to pump down this 3" hose that's the length of the dock.  If you open the valve too soon you loose suction.  We waited until we felt the hose jump a few times which indicates that everything is ready to go and then placed the rubber seal against the deck fitting and opened the valve.  It pumped just fine for about 10 or 15 seconds, then slowed to just a drizzle.  We checked the suction by dipping the pumpout hose into the creek and it sucked just fine.  OK, must be working, right?  I mean, after all, we hadn't been using the on-board heads much so how full could it be?  Two days later, while on our trip to The Little Choptank River the pumpout line overflowed into the hanging lockers.  This was written off as a line being plugged and we continued on.  After getting back to the marina we pumped out again.  Same thing, worked fine for 10 or 15 seconds, then nothing.  I ran a water hose into the pumpout line to flush out the tank and let it run for quite a while.  When I went to pump it out I got clear water but only for about 10 or 15 seconds, then nothing.  ???

 Later that night we were getting ready for bed when we got this terrible odor in the forward cabin.  Bella, you bad dog!  We looked all around but couldn't find any surprises she might have left.  Only after looking in the compartments below the cabin sole (floor) did I find the source of the smell.  Our holding tank wasn't holding.  There was raw sewage  flowing out from under the tank in exactly the same spot where we had seen the problem with the leaky valve last September.  While cleaning up this mess ( I'm still gagging) it became clear to me what was going on.  The tank wouldn't pump out because it had a hole in the bottom and couldn't form suction.  Nothing was coming out until now because the contents of the tank had been sitting in there for at least a year while the boat was for sale and had baked into a solid mass.  When I ran all that water into the tank it re-hydrated everything and opened up the leak.  This is a great subject for a blog, huh?

 Here's how I picture the history of this little event.  I believe it all started while the boat was in charter down in the British Virgin Islands, probably over two years ago.  Some unfortunate Yuppie couple had rented this boat for their annual vacation, paid thousands of dollars.  While sailing around Paradise the holding tank backed up into the hanging lockers because it couldn't be pumped out and then the tank leaked out into the bilge.  The stink musta been so bad they opened all the ports and hatches for fresh air until they got back to the Charter company's docks.  Their vacation was ruined.  The boat probably sat at the dock with everything open, rain or shine, and this is how all the woodwork down below was ruined.  When the owners finally saw the condition of their beautiful Island Packet they decided to just sell it instead of dumping money into repairs.  The boat then sat in Florida for a year because no one wanted to buy a stinky boat.  Over that time the price was dropped $110,00 to the point where we finally got suckered in.  No one involved in this sale was up front about the actual problem.  We were mislead about "leaky valves" and "stinky wet clothes".  The gentleman who did the survey for us was recommended by the broker representing the sellers.  The surveyor never mentioned any problem with the holding tank even though we had pointed out the "leak" at the valves.  As it turns out, this is a fairly common problem on Island Packets.  The tanks are all made from aluminum and there have been quite a few reports of failed tanks.  Seems to me that a good surveyor would have been familiar with this.  It was his job to be completely thorough in his inspection and yet he missed the biggest, most obvious problem on the boat.  I hate being taken for a sucker.

 We probably would have bought the boat anyway, even had we known about this problem.  Island Packets in good condition sell for about twice what we had set for a ceiling price when we were looking at boats.  Having to do some repairs was really the only way we would be able to get "the perfect boat" and the cost of those repairs could be rolled into the loan.  No problem.  My problem is with being lied to and let me tell you, a lie by omission is still a lie.  Grrrrr.

So on Saturday, 7-3, we sailed the boat back up to Gratitude to have the tank replaced.  It's located under the floor and bunk in the forward stateroom.  To take it out in one piece would require that half the cabin be disassembled.  Big job.  To reduce the destruction, Gratitude is going to remove the inside of the bunk, two layers of storage cabinetry, and cut out the flooring underneath to get at the tank.  Then they'll cut the tank into pieces to get it out.  The new tank will have to be smaller to get back in the same hole so we're going with a 35 gallon tank made out of some kind of poly plastic with 3/8" walls.  It looks like the cause of these tank failures is uric acid attacking the aluminum, causing corrosion and, after about 8 or 10 years, eating it's way through.  Hopefully the poly tank will last longer.

Here's the kicker.  We hafta be outa the boat for the next 3 weeks and it's gonna cost us $8000 out of pocket.  Grrrr.  If only they had been more up-front about this before we bought the boat.  Now I'm gonna hafta spend all my afternoons on the streetcorner begging for spare change.  On the upside, our dear friends, Peter and Gina Judd have offered us their home while they're on vacation down in Virginia.  Once again, friends and family are there when you need them.  And I can always count on rush hour traffic to choke up some coin.