Here we are, sitting in the Royal Cape Yacht Club Marina. We have moved onto the boat because we no longer had a place to live in Cape Town. Our apartment rental had been extended month after month, until the landlord informed us he had another tenant that would move in on April 1st. We informed the builder that we no longer had a place to live. Without any real discussion, we moved onto the boat while the construction continued. The builder did not offer any other options and was unwilling to pay for any other accommodation.
The boat is in shambles as the workers continue to slowly attempt to complete the work. We are frustrated that there is so much to do, BUT our visas are officially expired. The arrival of the crate we had shipped to Cape Town means there is another clock ticking - if we the items we shipped in do not leave the country in 90 days, we will need to pay tax on the items received in the crate (currently they are considered 'yacht in transit'). One more item ticking on the schedule pushing us to leave the country.
THEN, the owner / builder of Celtic Yachts, Tim Duncan says, he needs to leave the country to remain compliant with his visa process to become a UK citizen. Which rings a bit ironic since he completely disregarded the fact that our visa was expiring. . . . . now expired.
A little more about who Tim Duncan really is . . . The owner of Message Mate, electronic sign business, woodworking / cabinet maker, boat builder, electrical engineer, Entreupreuer Extrodinaire! Building boats is really a hobby. Something that he plays at and does not really take very seriously. Had we known we would have asked ourselves: Do we really want to build a boat with someone who is not really dedicated to boat building? For us the answer would have been a resounding "no".
Our research into Celtic Yachts and Tim Duncan took us back to the boat we had planned to purchase more than a year ago. A great couple that had built and sailed their Admiral 40 for more than 6 years. When they had their boat built, Tim Duncan was the woodworking / cabinet maker for their vessel and they indicated that they had worked with him in detail for their vessel. If they knew of Tim's lack of focus on boat building they did not say, nor did could they understand why Tim did not step in and help finish the woodworking on our vessel when the current worker (which was the same worker that had been a problem for their build more than 10 years earlier) was unable to complete the work. They spoke highly of his expertise in cabinet making and wondered aloud why he didn't do the work instead of telling us that it would not be finished - even returned the US $1,200 we paid for the additional cabinets we had commissioned.
We were straight with Tim when we explained that work stalled when he was not there to oversee it. He disagreed, claiming that he could see what was going on from cameras and that our comment was 'conjecture'. It took all my self controll to keep from laughing out loud when he said it. Afterall, while he had been back to the UK twice (for 6 weeks each time) we had physicially been at the plant watching some workers sleep on the job, some would not show up for days on end, and no progress would be made for days at a time. We have the photos to prove it. There was a single staff member that truly cared about trying to get the vessel completed - his work was truly evident and appreciated.
So we told him that if he left the country again we would kick the workers off the boat and leave the country. Tim stayed in Cape Town for a week and then left for the UK.
We were diligent about doing what we said we would do - we kicked the workers off the vessel and had our captain begin his checks so we could leave the country. While the hull was solid, and no longer leaking below the waterline, we held little hope that Celtic Yachts would accomplish any more meaningful work. We had a final payment to make to Celtic Yachts and began to compose a request for restitution. It was not what we preferred. We would have loved a fully completed boat, but Celtic Yachts had not kept up their end of the contract. Stay tuned to see what we proposed.
It makes my stomach hurt to hear about your experience. What a derelict owner. I hope that your boat is the last one commissioned. He owes you thousands for all of your expenses in staying past the original "finish" date.