Mechanical Breakdowns: Generator and Windlass

A portion of Captain Bob’s e-mail confirmation to guest-students reads in part as follows:

…you may board the Miami Mermaid sundeck trawler anytime after 3:00 PM for your stowaway night. We will embark from Ft Lauderdale and cruise to a
mysterious cove and anchor for the night. Dinner will be served by the Captain.

We were at the Dania Beach dock at 3:00 p.m. After Captain Brian introduced himself, he asked why we were there so early. My husband answered honestly, saying that he couldn’t wait to begin learning how to buy a trawler and how to captain one. Brian said that those lessons do not begin on the first night and suggested that most guests go across the street to lie on the beach or swim until time to start the engines. He said he planned to get underway about 6:00. He also suggested that we bring aboard wine or beer, whatever we would like, and directed us to a liquor store. Finally, he told us to meet him at Billy’s where we could chat about the school before actually beginning the cruise aboard.

We are by no means undergrown people so lying on the beach was not in our plans. Thus, we drove off to find beer and wine, then locate Billy’s. We were successful with both tasks, but Captain Brian was not at Billy’s. We ordered oysters and margaritas, then called Brian. He admitted that he had said Billy’s when, in fact, he meant Jimbo’s so he left Jimbo’s bar and grill, where we assume he was imbibing, to join us at Billy’s where he ordered a martini.

After enjoying a brief get-acquainted period, we returned to the dock and prepared to get underway. I was given a duty with one starboard aft rope; my husband was up front at the bow. Our departure was smooth and drama-free, but we were quite surprised to discover that the mysterious cove is actually very public and directly across from a row of night-life restaurants and bars, including Le Tub Saloon and Capone’s Pizza. Loud music of different types rang across the water as we cruised along in the no-wake zone and attempted to anchor.

Captain Brian quizzed my husband about how to position the trawler when anchoring; e.g., 1) bow into the wind and 2) safe positioning for a change in weather and other boats nearby. My husband did very well on this quiz, by the way. He had been reading everything he could find before our trip.

Alas, the Windlass failed to release the anchor. Brian hurried up and down the boat, trying to locate the problem and repair it. In doing so, he observed that the generator was also malfunctioning. It had just been worked on, we were assured, but it was shutting itself off as if it were overheating. (Bob's generator was the focus of another complaint that can be found on www.livingaboard.com/forum.)

Finally, when repair proved impossible, we motored the short distance to the public tie-ups outside a row of restaurants in Hollywood, FL, Dania Beach’s next-door neighbor. Brian recommended that we choose one of the restaurants for our dinner (thus, our first night’s dinner—for which we had presumably paid—was voided) while he tried to contact Captain Bob and resolve the problem.

Later he joined us, ate some of our pizza, ordered a Pinot for which we paid, drank it, and told us we would be spending the night right where we were. Without a generator or much of a breeze so close to buildings plus the poor condition of the aft stateroom windows, the night loomed as a sweaty, restless one—certainly not the one we had envisioned. We asked to be taken back to the original dock so we could return to a hotel for a good night’s sleep. We also asked that Bob contact us directly.

Late at night, worried about Captain Brian’s apparent habit of having a drink before taking the helm, disappointed by the condition of the trawler, and afraid that the boat was in very poor mechanical condition (based upon two mechanical failures in less than one hour), we asked for a refund or a change in contractual terms. My husband was eager to salvage something, however. We had built our trawler shopping around Trawler School Charters and had already spent money on round-trip plane tickets. We had also contacted several brokers along the Atlantic coast between Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville so that we could “shop” for a broker as well as a style of boat. None of this money would have been expended if the location and dates of Captain Bob’s school had not been Florida in May. In other words, we did not travel to the Texas coast, closer and within driving distance, because we valued what we could gain from Trawler School Charters and could not find a comparable opportunity closer to home. But we were fooled by Bob's web site, the photos, and glowing testimonials--only to discover much too late that there is little value in Bob's Trawler School Charters.

As I indicated in yesterday’s blog, Captain Bob was reluctant and brusque, but he agreed to day educational trips, no food served on board or provided to us, and a refund equal to approximately one-third the total cost.  This was not fair compensation, in our opinion, but we were willing to risk at least another day to see if the boat could be made ready, and we were assured that a Marine Engineer would be on the Miami Mermaid first thing in the morning.

We should have fought for a full refund at this point as you will see. Although the generator was an easy fix and completed by 9:00 a.m., the Windlass could not be repaired until the end of the second day—the day when we should have been in the Keys. Indeed none of the promised destinations was now possible because of late starts, the failure of the Windlass, and the time required to move slowly up or down the Intercoastal Waterway. The advertised Education Vacation became Education only, and we paid dearly for it. Caveat Emptor! Let the buyer beware.

Tomorrow: More False Advertising. Dinghy, dinghy? Who’s got the dinghy?