A consistent message we have been hearing is that boat building is never on time. A suggestion was made as we got behind schedule to put a penalty in the contract for delays – water under the bridge at this point. However, we began to understand that the contract (contrary to contracts in the US) was more of a suggestion, unless it was time to make a payment. We will create a post focused on the contract, but for now the process.
Our current state of affairs was that we had a boat with strong bones. The hulls were amazing, decks strong, bulk heads beefy, and through hulls below the water line no longer leaking. However, it seemed like everything else LEAKED or just didn’t work. Both electric heads (toilets) leaked and the wiring harness had already been rebuilt as it kept burning up, no hot water (unless we run the engine and lose coolant the whole time), the hatches leaked both on deck and the portlights. It was amazing how much water accumulated inside the boat when it rained. Celtic Yachts did not address these at ALL or attempt to reimburse us for resources and time we spent making these warranty repairs. We asked and put a number to it, and NO response.
This is the engine compartment on the Starboard side.
While the one dedicated employee that worked at Celtic Yachts, toiled tirelessly to repair leaks and complete installs, there were just not enough hours in the day. Outside vendors pushed to complete the items they were contracted to do: North Sails installed sails, sail pack, enclosure and panels. Sparcraft, the mast manufacturer, manufactured it, installed and completed the rigging when the boat was launched. No thanks to Tim’s poor management. It appears that our mast had not been ordered. I am so glad we toured the factory which seemed to have prompted that oversight to be resolved.
So not all vendors buy into the ‘timing be dammed’ philosophy. While Celtic Yachts ‘fly by the seat of their pants’ lackadaisical style contributed to the many problems they created for themselves, Royal Cape Yacht Club Marina kept a schedule the military would be proud of. The marina manager, Elliot, and Jakes (operations) was friendly, out-going, and worked hard, and the same could be said for the Robertson & Caine launch crews that arrived promptly at 7 AM 6 days a week. Leopard catamarans launched continuously, sometimes 4 or 5 a day and the crews worked like clockwork to launch, step the mast, install standing rigging and move the vessel to another part of the marina. They made it look easy – which only further tarnished Celtic Yachts launch of our vessel when it held up the schedule for several hours to immediately replace thru hulls that were leaking. The embarrassment was real and palpable.
We had volunteered to help complete the vessel to reach the deadline, it was not really accepted or appreciated. I am sure that Tim was concerned we would ask for a discount or perhaps he was concerned about the quality of the work we would do – either way, we had started to step in and help – wiring that needed to be completed (we completed all of the Alternating Current wiring), LP lines need to be attached to the tanks, instrumentation needed to be configured. The list was long and focus on priority items was required. For instance, wiring had to be complete, while hinges for locker doors were put on a back burner. Cabinets over the hulls were completely canceled.
Part of what made this so exasperating, is that when Tim came to us to make decisions we promptly responsed (still abiding by the contract we knew there would be trouble if we caused delays) and even made sacrifices regarding things we wanted. For example, early December Tim asked us to make a decision on the flooring for the boat. We pondered the selection, and though we were not really excited about the options, we selected a darker color to provide a more traditional color scheme. However, a few days later Tim indicated the color we had chosen was no longer available. We selected again. Tim came back again and said it was not available again. We asked him to provide a list of only the available colors and he did. We were not happy with the options, but did not want to delay by waiting for the color we wanted to be available. Tim left the country, the order was placed and arrived by mid-December. Fast forward to mid-March – the flooring is STILL not installed. We made the sacrifice of what we wanted for nothing!
With all that needed to be done and Tim unable to say how long it would take to complete, we took matters into our own hands. Tim left the country, we told the workers not to come back and brought the Captain onto the vessel to prepare for crossing the South Atlantic Ocean.
We still owed Tim a final payment. The delays had cost us a significant amount of hard out of pocket costs as well as the finishes that we will need to be completed in the future. In our efforts to be fair, let’s recap what had happened:
The original launch date: December 1, 2022 (confirmed late September, before shipping the crate to South Africa)
The call about the delay in launch came Nov 8 (24 hrs before we were to board our flight to Cape Town.
Tim could not say how long the delay would be
We could no longer get our payment back for the Air B&B if we canceled (1 month stay)
Rent furnished apartment Dec., Jan., Feb., March
Electricity for apartment
Bonded storage for crate
Visa extension
Miscellaneous: Uber rides to/from the shop, Uber to pick up parts for Celtic Yachts, Internet, etc.
These expenses were just over US $5,000.
As we reviewed the final invoice from Tim and reviewed our expenses from the delay we made Tim a discount proposal. We laid out the items we paid, and frustration over the lack of appropriate management. Our total discount request (including our hard costs) was less than 1% of the total purchase price. From the UK, Tim replied with details about delayed items (written documentation of which was required according to the contract - we did not receive ANY written notification) and a complete lack of accountability for the delays. The message reeked of whining, “it’s not my fault”. As the owner of Celtic Yachts, if it isn’t his fault, who’s responsibility is it? In our opinion, managing the work and keeping the schedule was his responsibility. Not to mention the number of times the workers could not find the materials purchased for the project. This is a great example of the work we have been fixing.
One missing screw, two matched screws, third not the right size or fit, but stuck in the hole anyway. We have spent a large part of our time and money putting the correct parts in place.
The Captain arrived April 14th, disgusted with the status of the boat he had choice words for the builder and chastised us for allowing the vessel to be launched. We convinced him they were done and we needed to go, our visa was expired and the longer we stayed past our expiration date the more risky our departure would be. He began his thorough checks and got hung up on the Morse controlls for the engines, after insisting they be replaced – Celtic Yachts would not do it – we worked with the Captain to replace the controls. They did not work any differently once replaced, but seemed to satisfy his desire to delay departure – as we discovered his brother was coming in from out of the country and Captain wanted to see him.
Winter continued to set in around us. The boat had no heat and no hot water, it was the 40 degree mornings - it all began to take its toll on our disposition. Captain delayed a week to spend several drunken nights with family. We pressured him to get back to the boat and check out of the country as the end of the month drew close (we had wanted to avoid hitting the 30 day mark past our visa expiration). He said he would return Saturday at Noon. Then Saturday at noon came and went. Sunday around Noon he arrived, we promptly went to the Customs and Immigration office. We were nervous about how that would go. We stepped to the window and when asked about our visa expiration, we explained we filed for an extension, but didn’t hear back. The agent said, “But you filed an appeal right?” all the while stamping our paperwork, smiling and sending us on our way. We stepped outside into the cold rain and let out a sigh of relief.
Our Captain made several remarks about not being able to be on a schedule when sailing. Those words came back to sting him when (28 days later) we landed in Fortelaza, Brazil, and he had visa issues for his next delivery and was getting anxious to get back for his next trip. His stress was palpable. I could not resist telling him “you just can’t sail on a schedule.” The look on his face was priceless. But it didn’t make up for the very real situation we were in – a boat to finish and dangerously close to the start of hurricane season while still 3,300 miles from where our insurance company said we could be by July 1.
More detail about the South Atlantic Sail - some real boredom punctuated by real adventure. A couple of previews for the journey ahead.
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