Three Weeks to get The Job done !!?? And what do you think the result was?
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We'd been told, before we even booked our appointment with
Spice Island Marine, that it would be imperative, as we itemized and discussed with the Marina Manager, the List of Tasks that
Banyan needed doing, that the list be in the ORDER that we wanted the items completed.
Banyan wasn't getting a lot of work done. Basically we were getting some dings and scratches in the hull "fixed", THEN the hull needed washing and waxing, THEN the keel joint needed a new coat of 4200, and the Grounding Plate scraped free of coral, THEN the bottom needed painting with the 2 cans of paint we supplied, along with the understanding that if more paint was needed, they would supply it, as long as there were two full coats on the bottom. Simple, right? And bonus, they had THREE ENTIRE WEEKS to get it done.
So when we arrived at the Yard bright and early in the morning, all eager beaver to see our
Banyan this is what we found. She'd been moved, ready to Splash, that's a good sign right? Then we got closer. And we noticed that the dings and scratches, that we had identified by green masking tape, had been very nicely fixed. And the boat bottom had been painted.
And then we noticed as we inspected some more that, THAT, was it !!
The keel joint had not been re-glued. The hull had not been washed, waxed or polished. The ground plate had not been de-coralized.
When we found the yard manager, he remembered the task list, and apologized, blaming lack of resources, time, energy, and perhaps even money, who knows? The Capt'N frowned and complained. The Yard Manager apologized some more. The Capt'N grimaced some more. And so on, a stalemate had been reached.
It all really came down to what was done, was done, and according to the Yard Manager, we had two choices. Take her as she was, and splash at our pre-appointed time of 14:00.
"But..." said the Capt'N.
"My apologies..." said the Yard Manager.
And I smiled sweetly, and said, "I understand!"
And the Yard Manager said "You I can deal with, the Capt'N not so much".
And so, prompted on, I said,
"So, if wanted to have the job completed, as we requested" I asked shooing the Capt'N, with his frowns and grimaces away, "when could you splash us? Because if you can't do it today, we have to take our bags back to the hotel, and make new reservations, and what kind of timeline are we looking at?"
He sent two workers over to finish the job of caulking the keel joint (on already painted keel), and grinding the coral off the ground plate, and dinging some fresh bottom paint off, and while the Capt'N greased the Prop some more, and all of us standing around in the heat and trying to figure out what would be what, and what time would be when.
The Manger sent another guy over to wax and polish Banyan's sides, being very careful to try and not get any wax on the freshly painted bottom.
Two hours, with a break for lunch in between, and we were finally slated for Splash by 15:00, with the tasks we had wanted done, done... not necessarily in perfect Order.
When Banyan was in the Sling, the undersides of the Keel were painted, the bare spots re-painted, the area by the ground plate touched up, the keel joint repainted, and pretty soon we heard a SPLASH...
Engine on and vroom-vroom, no leaks in the bilges, all systems GO. The Capt'N happily motored our way out of the Marina, through the Channel in Prickly Bay, out and around the corner, back into Mt Hartman Bay, where many, many friends came out on deck and waved a warm and wonderful Welcome Back to us !! How extra-specail to be welcomed back like this !!
And finally, Banyan came alongside Secret Harbour Marina, to her home away from home for the next few days,
where Life for the next few days will be spent getting things back on and in and feeling like HOME.
And oh, that super last minute waxing and polishing job that was done? Well, as we tied Banyan alongside, guess what we noticed? Three quite long, and quite deep dings from the Polisher they used, on Banyan's newly fixed hull. Our phone call to them, has yet to be returned. Any bets??