What You Can’t See Can Hurt You!

As my wife and I returned home to our marina from a day at the office yesterday, we saw the upset on the face of a fellow live aboard. She stated that a diver was called to check the zincs on the bottom of the boat that shares the slip with hers. The boat owner lives in a different state and hadn’t been up to visit his vessel for over two years.

When the diver took a look below, he was in shock not only by the amount of growth on the bottom but at the total loss of all of the boats zincs. The twin props became the new sacrificial lambs and were in the advanced stages of disintegrating as well.

The reason my neighbor was so upset, is that she and her husband were only back in the water 10 days from a new bottom paint job, new zincs, and serviced props. The diver told her that he noticed her new paint was bleeding copper and her new zincs were already corroding. It was obvious from her neighbor’s boat condition that he was sitting hot.

The dock master was called and contacted the boat owner to notify him of the condition, that was causing a problem for him and his neighbors. The out of town owner asked the dock master to board and check things out for him. When the dock master and president of our docks condo association boarded the vessel, they noticed a water leak from one of the through hulls. When they touched it, the through hull popped off and the vessel began to take on water. An emergency tow and haul out saved a boat that was doomed for a trip to the bottom, if it wasn’t discovered by this chain of events.

Upon returning home today we saw the boat in the slings and a crowd of people stood around in awe at the horrific conditions that were now visible on this beautiful boat. In just two years the bottom was becoming it’s own reef and the running gear was all pitted and now useless.

My wife and I no longer feel bad about spending money to have our boat dove on every three to four months for cleaning, inspection and zinc replacement as needed. As with everything else in our beloved boating world it’s “Pay Me Now” or “Pay Me Much More Later”

Let’s take notice of the parts of our boats that we can’t see and remember that our neglect can also cause hardship for our neighbors.