How do I begin? It’s been a tough week. Really tough. I will not mince words; We’ve been scammed. Scammed for many of thousands of dollars. We feel humbled. Defeated. Everything is so clear when you look back. Our mistakes are so obvious. We trusted. We took someones word. We believed in the good of a human. We’ve paid for our mistake. We’ve bought a small car except it was never delivered.
Before we left Deltaville Virginia, we had hired a reputable local company to build us a hard top. Our previous top was cloth and had worn out. We met multiple times. We discussed in detail the new design. There were many details. Maximum height due to the boom. The fact we needed to walk on it. Rain catchment. Slope. Angle. Cutouts. Angles of ropes running into the cockpit. We were assured everything would be perfect. The best of the best. The finest quality. We were told that we would be sent drawings and pictures as the top progressed. Little did we know the fleece was being pulled over our eyes. Our ears were being filled with exactly what we wanted to hear. Lies
Fast forward a few months. We arrive back in Deltaville and find the fibreglass top mounted to our boat. Great! Wasn’t the prettiest thing but it was done. It needed some modifications but Ernie was amiable to having them fixed. Then things started to unravel. The centre of the fibreglass became a sponge – Water had penetrated the fibreglass top. We found several cracked welds. We found burn marks in our deck from them welding on the boat. The nightmare had begun.
Fast forward again. Many arguments. Stress. Worry. A yelling match that ended with a crane coming in to remove this faulty top & frame off our boat.
We have now walked away from our deposit. $7,500 gone. Poof! We’re reeling. But in the end this construction was not fit for the high seas. Cracked welds, spongy fibreglass is not something we will risk having come down on our heads while on an offshore passage. Our timeline to leave is likely shot. We will probably miss the Salty Dawg Rally to the British Virgin Islands. We’re gutted.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and mentioned our scenario and the consequences to our timeline. I explained that we may not be able to do a direct passage and instead (have to) pick our way down thru the Intracoastal waterway into Florida. Across to the Bahamas. Down thru the Exuma island chain. Quick stop at Turks and Caicos and finally to the Virgin Islands. Now if you look at it that way, our life is pretty awesome! This too will pass.
