TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Boat Problems?

Has anyone ever experienced a charter where the problems with the boat were so bad, that it cast a shadow over the entire vacation? If so, what did the charter company do about it?

Thanks, RW

About 4 years ago we had a Bali 43 from Dream Yacht Charters that was brand new. During our week of charter, the door lock broke on the garage door that lowers. We had to use the window to enter and exit. Luckily you only close that at night but still. Also there were problems with the heads clogging, (already clogged when we got it but they didn't check) Stove broke and fridge didn't get cold enough. Ha, it was a real lemon. DYC tried to fix everything first and then offered to bring a Lagoon out to us. Unfortunately, we didn't get that message until the 5 th night. or we would have said yes. DYC and we tried to make it work. In the end, we ended our trip a day early because we were tired of the crap happening. We still had a blast as always down there. DYC refuded us the last night and we went to a hotel. That's why you always go with a reputable company. TMM Charters is our go to company right now! BTW, Yann told me that boat was taken out of their fleet pretty quick. And yes, we have had a few things happen on TMM boats and they always, always stand behind their reputation. Good luck!!

Several years ago we chartered a monohull from Horizon and left for Coopers Island around mid-day. Later that afternoon (when we got on the mooring) we were surprised to hear water sloshing around in the bilge. We quickly realized (to our relief) that the fresh water had drained into the bilge (a mystery since it was working the night before), and for some reason the automatic bilge pump wasn't working (we did discover a bit later the manual switch did work). We immediately contacted the charter company and after a brief discussion they said they would come out the next day with another boat. When he <finally> arrived the next day (it was very windy and rough) we rafted up and transferred baggage and provisions over to the new (and bigger) boat - and then enjoyed the rest of the week with no further problems.

It always a drag to have issues, but we appreciated Horizon's response. I agree with Lcrich for sure - always choose a reputable company who stands behind their product and service!

In October (2019) we chartered a cat from BVIYC. We chose the boat specifically because we wanted to try a boat with a water maker. At the boat briefing, the briefer showed us how to use the water maker but failed to get it to work at the dock. His explanation was that the water was to dirty to make the machine work properly! He said it should work okay once we out at other locations we would be mooring at. We accepted this explanation and left for Benures Bay. Tried the water maker again, per instructions, with the same results-no water. Called the base and they reluctantly agreed to send someone to check it out “if” we moved to the Bight since they were going there to help another boat! Reluctantly, we moved from what should be Avery clean mooring spot to the Bight.
When the crew finally arrived, The same guy who briefed us at the base came aboard and went through the same procedures as before with the same results. Again blamed it on water quality! So, we had a10 day charter on a boat we paid extra for with no water maker. (The ice maker also was not working by this time and that’ wasn’t repaired either.
When we returned to base and wrote about the issue on the debriefing form, the base office worker said it was too bad but the fine print says they weren’t responsible for any extra equipment on the boat. When I said I chose the boat because it had a water maker, she argued that the watermaker was not list as equipment on the webpage. It clearly was at the time I reserved the boat because that is how I chose it. This incident not only colored our experience while sailing, still bothers me to this day. Sorry for the rant, but you asked 😜

About five or six years ago we did our first charter. It was in the BVIs and we were a bit concerned on whether we'd like sailing for our annual vacation. So, instead of putting out a lot of money, we decided to find the cheapest boat with AC. Naturally, this was an older boat (2005 I think). In general, everything worked well. But there were no water or fuel gauges working and one of the two AC units didn't work - which obviously defeated the purpose of getting a boat with AC. In any case, the charter company tried three times to get the unit working (meeting us in three different locations) and in the end we went back to the base and they changed out the unit (on our second to last day). I won't mention the company because they were very accommodating and adjust our charter fee to make up for our lost days of sailing and not having AC for most of the trip.

It did nearly cause us to decide that we didn't want to sail for our vacation anymore. But when we thought about it, we realized we had put the whole affair on us because we had gone with the least expensive boat. We decided to continue to charter every other year for our annual vacation and to not get the cheapest boat, and it's worked out fine ever since. (although we didn't get to charter in 2017 after Irma)

I will also add that we have chartered 8 times in the BVI with 3 different companies. We usually try to get boats that are new or a few years old and pay the premium. And every single trip, at least something happens that we have a problem. Sometimes just small things. Point is, just expect it and not be surprised!

Things breaking down is irritating, but probably unavoidable. Expecting you to pay for something you didn’t get is inexcusable.

We did a sleep aboard this past trip on a Marinemax 443. It was our first time skippering a catamaran, let alone a power boat, so we planned to do a friendly skipper in the morning at 8 am.

The AC was not blowing cool enough to keep the boat under 75F. We hemmed and hawed about just dealing with it for a week while they worked all morning to fix it. Eventually it was Marinemax that suggested we push off with the friendly skipper as they were currently cleaning another 443 that had just come in that morning and they'd bring it out to Cooper for us and we'd swap while the boats were rafted up. Was it a pain to move everything over - our unpacked luggage, food, dive gear, ect ect? Yes. Did they send 3 guys on the new boat to help us? Yes! Was it totally worth it? YES!

That's the most significant issue we've had. It's always been the generator or AC but they've always been able to fix it without returning to the charter base or swapping boats.

We once chartered a Footloose monohull that we were told had dockside air conditioning. I didn't want to rely on that verbal assurance from the U.S. office, so I even called the base in Road Town to confirm.

Well, both offices were wrong, and that model had no air conditioning. This made for a very frustrating first day, as I was worried about one of our crew who HATES being hot.

The end results were:

• We took the boat without air.
• Everyone had a great time.
• Footloose gave us a credit toward a future charter. I think it was $400, and we did make use of it.

Dan

Thanks everyone for the responses! We just returned from our first bareboat vacation on a power cat. I won't name the company, but it is one of the more reputable ones. We had problems even before we left the dock, and continued to have issues (including no AC) all the way up until the last full day of our charter! The worst day was when they asked us to cross from Anegada down to Leverick with a dead starboard/house battery....No starboard engine, no way to dump the tanks or even flush the toilets, and no chart plotter (thank goodness I had a backup).
The company did offer a discount for a future charter, but instead I bargained for a (much) smaller refund.
Having said all that...we still managed to make the best of it, but I'm not sure how I feel about another experience like that!

Companies that get a reputation for poor maintainence don't last long. I chartered with North/South a couple of years before they folded. It was a near disaster except for myself and another crew member being half way mechanically minded. From winches with broken pawls to a burned out anchor windlass relay to missing silverware and utensiles (which they tried to charge us for).

We chartered a Bali 45 from Dream Yacht Charters, worse boat we have ever had. Not only did we have problems, it was the worse sailing boat we have chartered.

Here is the list of problems.

1) Boat stunk really bad. Smelled like a cross between diesel fuel and sewer gas. I talked to them about this before we left, said there was nothing they could do. This seemed to get worse everytime we fueled up or ran the engine. It honestly made me sick to my stomach, some times it would be so bad we would go sleep on deck. It was the whole boat too.

2) Generator would run for 30 minutes to an hour and then cut off. It would usually restart, but this meant we couldn’t run it at night because someone would have to keep getting up and re-staring it.

3) Port aft AC unit did not work

4) Starboard forward cabin had no lights at all and the toilet leaked.

5) The sliding door stopper was broken. This could have taken a hand or foot off the way it would slam. When we were sailing we would have to tie it open with a piece of line.

Despite the issues, we still had a good time, but I would never charter with them again.

I have had great experiences with:
TMM
Horizon
Sunsail

and terrible experiences with:
Bimini Yacht Charters
Moorings

Bimini is out of business. Moorings was Belize, so perhaps that’s isolated?

Had a '48 sailing cat from Sunsail a month ago that had lots of issues. Mainsail wouldn't raise/lower, mildew throughout the boat, port AC rarely worked, and the bilge smelled of sewage. When they came out to fix the AC, they broke one of the bathroom deck hatchs... said they'd come back to replace it and never did. Not much for customer service this time, but I've had better experiences in the past. I'll be looking at other charter companies next time I go to BVI.

Orange_Burst, I am not sure if this is pertinent to your issue, but we had a boat last year that had a smell like sewer gas. After the first night we reported it to BYIYC. They said if was the batteries off-gassing. They sent a crew out to Cooper to change out the battery bank. Solved the problem, and we were extremely happy with the service and response team. I had never heard of this issue, so thought I would mention it here for others.

Chartered from a well respected St. Thomas company. We wanted AC and could only get it on a larger then we needed boat. Because that was a priority for the wife we went ahead and chartered the larger boat. The generator never worked although they sent someone to try and repair. When we returned there was no offer of any rebate or credit. I felt that was poor business practice but would still charter from them based on the overall service.

We always referred to North/South as 'Rent-a-wreck'

I don’t want to jinx myself but we have never had a major systems failure on 25 plus trips with the Moorings. Plenty of small issues. Once lost two days with an outboard motor issue while in North Sound. They gave us a two day credit. Last year the cable on the dinghy davit snapped. No big deal we just towed the dinghy. Most of the small stuff we fix ourselves or just deal with. That’s boating.

8 charters so far with BVIYC. 8 years of great boats with only one issue involving a generator, which was fixed immediately.

2 charters booked with them for this year - just the two of us in May on a brand new Oceanis 38 and a Lagoon 42 for 8 of us in November.

I first rented from Moorings 12 years ago. It was a fantastic experience from the quality of the boat to the customer service. We didn't have one issue. We rented again in July 2018. It was a disaster. The customer service booking the reservation was great. No issues and very helpful. We rented a 4800 Exclusive and stayed on it at the base the night before. We did the captain's briefing that night. The next morning it was hectic on the docks as usual. We were ready to go and but it took a long time to get items on the boat (cooler, paddle boards)...I had to go to the front desk numerous times. Finally the lady from the front desk just left her post and helped me because she was frustrated that they were not bringing me the items. Eventually we we off. Unfortunately, we had numerous boat issues.

- Winch had some mechanical issue (took apart and saw some metal pieces that were loose). I seemed to get it working again.
- Generator wouldn't stay on. It would crank but not stay on.

I called customer service and they walked me through taking apart the generator houses and washing them out as well as taking out the filter and cleaning it. Once I did that it solved the genset problem. The next morning we were off to Anegada Unfortunately, when we came off the mooring I realized that we didn't have propulsion starboard side. We must have lost it coming into Leverick Bay. The engine would rev but prop wouldn't turn. I called customer service again. We tried some things but they said they needed to send diver. Diver came with a new prop. He said he didn't think that was the issues but he changed the prop and we tried it again. No luck. I called customer service again. They said they would need to bring us a new boat and it would be the next day. We were not happy. To their credit, they hurried the boat delivery. When we got back from dinner at 8:30 another boat was tied up to ours. We preceded to move all of our gear from one boat to the new one. Not exactly what we wanted to do at 9:00 at night. The next morning we said goodbye to the Moorings guy and the bad boat. He actually took it offshore to fish even though he had one engine. We were again off to Anegada! We dropped off the mooring ball and I looked at the chart plotter...no data and the boat looked like it was on land. I scurried to get back on the mooring ball. I called customer service again. It seems they delivered a boat with no chip in the plotter. They then called the guy who went fishing in our old boat and had him come back to give us the chip. We waited a few hours. Eventually we got the chip and were off to Anegada.

The new boat seemed pretty good. One day the bilge light at the bridge seemed to be staying on longer than I anticipated so I called customer service and left a message for someone to call me...they never did. On the 2nd to last day, the autopilot went out and quit working. By this time I had had it with customer service and I just dealt with it and went without auto pilot.

Returning to base was a bit frustrating. We radioed ahead and told them we were approaching. I called 3-4 times and talked to them to tell them that I'm holding at the end of Pier A waiting for docking assignment. I waited and waited while other boats were passing in both directions. If you've been there you know this is an awkward spot to keep a 48 ft boat stationary. We waited about 30 minutes. I called numerous times. Eventually it got resolved. Only other issues is that the dry bag had holes in it so we couldn't use it.

During my debrief I explained the numerous boat issues to the guy who checked us in. He was great (Captain Morgan). He suggested that I speak to the manager about my experience. I went to the desk 5 times...apparently the manager was nowhere to be found. I left a note with the issues we had and asked him to contact me. I left phone and email. I never heard from him.

Later in the pool and on the ferry back to STT I heard numerous other boat issues from several other groups. It seemed everyone had problems. Some where significant like the generator not working for the entire week, others were more minor like they were supposed to have a TV onboard and they didn't.

This experience was disappointing to say the least. We still had a good time but it was a bit frustrating as well. We heard that Moorings pulled boats in from all over the world to bet them to the BVIs and they likely pulled the boats in and put them in service without doing proper inspections or verifying that they were ready.

While that was a tough experience we rented again from SunSail last year and the boat was great. The only issue was that the shower faucet on the transom broke. Interestingly there no shut off valve anywhere. We eventually figured out a solution. It was a minor issue and the only one we had all week.

We went out May '18 and Moorings certainly wasn't back in shape post Irma. We had clogged heads (boat stored for months pre our trip), battery issues, generator issue (constant resets), GPS issues. Anyone with a boat understands there are always issues and we chocked these up to post Irma and made the best of it. 2nd funniest thing was going to tie up in Leverick and realized they hadn't reinstalled the cleats on the stern. 1st was a crew member who thought he could use the plunger to clear the head holding tank from the top opening creating a "volcano"....

IMHO I always look to see how base responds and they always have been good at Moorings for me. To Warrens point I had a buddy and frequent BVI captain go to Moorings St Martin and it was a total and complete disaster to include their response so I do think it is base specific.

I guess to OP it would be good to know if there is a battery crossover switch like many of us have on our boats...i need to see if it is in the 514PC manual.

I also bring all my own navigation and communication gear as it is all I trust and use the GPS on the 514pc bridge in rear view camera mode.

It seems like every trip I learn more about boat mechanics and how to fix....but do try and not let any issue cloud the trip which is hard for a Type A like myself

Happy Holidays to my TTOL friends

The question is not IF you will have issues, because if you charter enough, you will have issues, with small or large.

A good charter company addresses them to the (reasonable) customer's satisfaction.

Many/Most charter companies list AC/Gen as "non-essential". I would alter contract to state if what you consider "essential" (Gen/AC/chartplotter) perhaps making a notation of Refund in amount if equipment (specified) is inoperable.

I have used CYOA without issues. Very satisfied with how TMM responds to issues. Some of the bigger companies seem to have more issues that are not resolved, perhaps due to squawks not being addressed upon return?

Also customers need to be reasonable and not try to expect perfection. Be happy with good customer service and seek those companies who earn a reputation for good customer service.

I have chartered 15 times in the BVI, each time through the Moorings. On three of those occasions, we did not pay to insure the vessel was not older than two years. On the other 12 occasions, we paid extra to insure a relatively new boat. On four of those charters, we needed to have a chase boat come out from the Moorings and help with a problem. One of those times involved a new boat but the problem involved our stupidity, not the boat! The other three times involved the older boats. The Moorings was there very quickly and got things fixed. That's why we keep going back to the Moorings, and keep getting newer boats.

2forBVI:

If all of your trips have been thru Moorings, then you have no comparisons.

Spread your wings and try TMM as their reputation of top maintenance of boats is well known here on TTOL.

You can pick your specific boat, new or up to 5 years... and all are maintained to high standards. No wonder many repeat charters, returning to favorite boat.

I definitely like the looks of the TMM fleet, and will definitely consider them (as well as others) if we decide to bareboat again!

ps...I saw Sea Tiger in the mooring field at Anegada! Go Tigers!!!

RacerRon
We try our best to keep Sea Tiger off the docks and at sea. Many repeat charterers help us do that.

Number 1 feature appreciated by allis the water maker by Spectra. Easy to use, automatic backflush and shut down.

Would love to have you on Sea Tiger 1 (Lagoon 42) which will be replaced soon by Sea Tiger 2, a Lagoon 46, with most if not all the same features, and likely even more.

Oh the stories we have after chartering for many years...

Our first major issue was through BVI Yacht Charters. A thru hull fitting was corroded and basically fell apart in my hands when I was trying to figure out why it was leaking. We basically had a hole in the hull that was spewing water into the boat. None of the wooden plugs would fit but I eventually found a wine cork that worked to stop the flow of water. It was around 8pm but we called the base thinking they would want to send someone out right away. They didn't and actually wanted us to sail back to the base the next day with a wine cork plugging the hole! Needless to say we now always sail with a bottle of wine with a cork in it!

Next issue was in the Spanish Virgins at Culebrita on Christmas Day. We had anchored and I had taken my bearings to make sure we weren't dragging. Everything seemed fine and we were opening up presents when I noticed that we seemed to be really drifting. Low and behold we were! I started up the engine and my husband went up to the windlass to pick up the anchor so we could re-anchor. Come to find out that we had no anchor attached! The line had come unspliced from the anchor chain. Luckily there were some mooring balls and we picked one up. We then got in the dinghy to go look for our lost anchor. We found it but couldn't pull it up as it was too heavy to pull up from the dinghy. We tied a fender to it and brought the boat back to it and my husband and sons were able to lug it back onto the boat. The charter company, Sail Caribe, was super thankful for us recovering the anchor. Lesson learned here was that I would always check the anchor rode before using the anchor. At the time it was only my husband's 2nd charter so he was a bit of a newbie and possibly didn't notice that the splice looked a little frayed.

In the Grenadines we had outboard engine and boat engine issues with the Lagoon we had chartered through Barefoot Yacht Charters out of St. Vincent. We were in Bequia and they sent a new outboard motor to us via ferry which made us have to stay an extra day to wait for the outboard. Once we got the outboard we went to leave and the port engine wouldn't start. We again called the base and they gave us a number of a guy to call. We did and he came and got the engine started but then it would overheat quickly. He finally solved the problem but it caused us to stay in Bequia for a third night which isn't the worst place to be stuck. We had a blast getting to know the locals and celebrating the Christmas season with them. Lesson learned is that Kerry (engine repair guy) is an amazing guy and we have used him again on return trips to Bequia (outboard engine issues on or next trip) and he now owns the floating bar, Bar One, in the bay.

This past trip we were in the BVI's on our family owned Sunsail boat at the same time you were. Even before getting off the dock we had troubles with the port engine showing the RPMs. They sent someone out to fix it which delayed us leaving the dock. When we finally were able to get off the dock I was surprised that the boat was not handling as well as it usually does. It seemed like I was being pushed to the port but there wasn't much wind. I usually steer using the engines in tight spots as I feel like I have more control but the boat didn't seem to respond well and I had to switch to the wheel. We got out of the marina and I looked down at the RPM's for the port engine and even though I had sped up the engines the port RPMs were in the same spot as when the engine was at a lower speed. Came to realize that the port engine had cut out but the RPM indicator was stuck. No wonder I had such trouble using the engines to steer, I was maneuvering off of one engine the whole time! I restarted the engine and it seemed to be working fine but then cut out halfway across to Cooper and I couldn't get it restarted. We had reserved a Boaty Ball since we were so late coming off the dock and once we got to Cooper, of course, there was another boat on our mooring ball. Since I was having to pick up a ball with one engine in the fluky Cooper wind tunnel we took another Boaty Ball just to get us settled. Ended up finding out that the boat that was on our ball had "Just gone in for lunch." UGH! Luckily the boat that was supposed to be on the ball we took was very accommodating and took our originally reserved ball understanding that it was just a little bit trickier to grab a ball with one engine in the wind. Lesson learned was that I can steer a Catamaran only using one engine, it just takes a bit of a different skill set. Sunsail was great and sent a guy within a couple hours to fix the engine.

So basically my philosophy is [censored] happens but I do expect that the charter company deals with it quickly. I learned a long time ago that if something can break on a boat it will. I just try to enjoy the spot we are "stuck" in because it is usually in a beautiful place. Our stop in Bequia allowed us to do so much more on that island than we would have originally been able to do. And we met some great people who we now consider friends!

If you have any desire for an interesting read about how to adapt to things breaking you can read the article below that Chris Doyle wrote about our experience losing our rudder when bringing my childhood home (I grew up living on a boat in the Caribbean) from Florida to St. Thomas to Grenada.

http://www.doyleguides.com/the-traumerei-delivery-sailing-without-a-rudder/

Caribbean girl --- Growing up on a boat you know that boats have a problem no matter what.
Great story and connection with Chris Doyle. Thanks!

About 10 years ago- STT CYOA FP Cat Aeolia or something close- worst charter experience ever, from dead cat floating at the docks (kids loved that- not) to a crummy, worn out, smelly boat. Never went back. What I remember most about CYOA back then (might have changed completely by now) was their total, lackadaisical "F.U." attitude- a real bummer.

CATCO- as an owner, charged $5000 for a bottom paint job back in early 2000's- took the boat out of their fleet moved to TMM. A bottom coat of paint here in Annapolis today is under $2500 including haul and re-launch. Never been back to CATCO.

DYC- out of Martinique 2016- roaches on the Catana 40 something out of Le Marin base- robbed twice in three days in St. Lucia at Marigot Bay- the same season a Moorings cat was boarded and crew robbed at gunpoint. The chart briefing said watch your dingy- nothing about getting boarded and robbed- which is what happened, reported to Caribbean Crime Tracker.

So out of 40ish- charters since 2000- even the not great ones were enjoyable! Whatever problems we might of had- they are what I call first world problems!

FWIW- all the charter companies (except CYOA back then) made an effort to fix the issues. Sometimes you gotta roll with the punches and crack another Carib....

A crappy day on a charter boat (as long as no one gets hurt or killed) is still a top ten day!

Peace- Fair Winds to all!

After reading everyone’s comments here, I guess our week wasn’t so bad after all! I don’t think we ever came close to sinking! Just like Caribbeangirl, I also learned that I can maneuver a cat through a crowded mooring field on a single engine! I got to practice this twice!
Thanks everyone for the responses. We definitely didn’t let the numerous issues ruin our time, and we all agreed it was the best vacation any of us ever experienced!

I do a lot of my charters "Direct from owner" and thus get close feedback regarding issues and how TMM deals with them.
Fortunately problems noted above have been minor and dealt with promptly and efficiently.(Otherwise I would not be going for 2nd round of ownership with TMM).
For instance, a guest reports that Genset had issue Christmas Evening. TMM met them at Soper's hole and replaced impeller... problem solved. Guests were very satisfied with TMM response.
Not all boats are maintained as well as TMMs. Thus the reason BVIiCatter (Post page 1?) chose to move his boat from CATCO to TMM.