Anybody here know much about travel hoists?

I'm loosely following the progress of another Moody 39 who came to grief when he dragged on to rocks. The boat was very badly damaged, and holed below the waterline. The owner had it recovered by barge and is now working on the repairs.
It gives me faith that these old boats are quite easily repaired 🙂
 

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Any boat can be repaired - its down to thinking through the process .... setting a sequence that allows sensible work program. Not to rush into, but to cover all aspects.

It can be immensely frustrating, but also hugely rewarding once completed.

Many will look at the financial value of a boat in pre accident condition vs the costs of repairs. This I feel is unfair on the boat as in my case - I have spent over 3000 euros repairing a fractured hull / keel on my 25ft 1975 Motor Sailer ... boat value before hitting the blocks ? Probably 3000 euros UK ... 6000 euros here in Baltic. She is still not finished having new woodwork installed in main cabin.
I expect final bill to be in region of 5000 euros. Admittedly I am not doing the work as I do not have the time or patience .. but the boat holds so many find memories and has performed her duties brilliantly through the many years of my ownership.
 
We were in Grenada after hurricane Ivan in 2004. We were cruising in company with a good friend who is a boat builder and designer. He had repaired dozens of hurricane damaged boats over the years. We walked around all the boat yards in Grenada looking at damaged boats, mainly because he was interested to see them. I would ask him, " how would you repair this one Chris?" He would then go on to explain in great detail, the process. Some of the boats had 2m2 holes in their side but that didn't phase him. He knew how to fix it. A few year later we were in Antigua and Chris go a job repairing a Mumm race boat that had been dropped onto its side when the crane cable snapped. Chris cut back all the crushed grp which left a 2m2 hole in the port side. He had taken a mold of the damagedd side first to get the basic shape before cutting out the damaged grp. A week later, the hull was fully repaired and ready for paint. Chris did this stuff professionally but it did show what could be done.
Rob, you are a resourceful chap. I am certain you are up to dealing with whatever it takes to get the boat seaworthy again.
 
I'm loosely following the progress of another Moody 39 who came to grief when he dragged on to rocks. The boat was very badly damaged, and holed below the waterline. The owner had it recovered by barge and is now working on the repairs.
It gives me faith that these old boats are quite easily repaired 🙂

This is good news in a sea of troubles. A reason to postpone walking away for as long as possible.

One thing is for sure, unless the yard owner has a Damascene moment very soon the worldwide cruising community will spread the word and ensure no-one uses this yard again.

Thanks again for your recent hospitality - your ability to remain relatively sanguine in the face of this nonsense is remarkable.
 
So I'm now hearing that the salvage company are packing up and heading back to BVI.
The yard owner has threatened that this means a new crane will need to be brought in at great cost, and we're all fools for not taking the offer of the salvage company's services.

Perhaps he isn't aware that we've already been in touch with the owner of the current crane, who is quite happy to deal directly with us once his hire to the salvage company comes to an end. And he has indicated prices of around a tenth that of the salvage company.

The yard could, of course, still try to insert themselves in to this arrangement and demand a cut. I don't know if they legally can do that, it sounds like corruption and profiteering to me, but as yacht owners we are both poor and patient and we are willing to play chicken a while longer.
 
Thanks again for your recent hospitality - your ability to remain relatively sanguine in the face of this nonsense is remarkable.
It was our pleasure, and following your progress on this summer's west coast cruise merely hardens my resolve to get back to the Caribbean 😂
 
So I'm now hearing that the salvage company are packing up and heading back to BVI.
The yard owner has threatened that this means a new crane will need to be brought in at great cost, and we're all fools for not taking the offer of the salvage company's services.

Perhaps he isn't aware that we've already been in touch with the owner of the current crane, who is quite happy to deal directly with us once his hire to the salvage company comes to an end. And he has indicated prices of around a tenth that of the salvage company.

The yard could, of course, still try to insert themselves in to this arrangement and demand a cut. I don't know if they legally can do that, it sounds like corruption and profiteering to me, but as yacht owners we are both poor and patient and we are willing to play chicken a while longer.

Sounds like progress . . .
 
So I'm now hearing that the salvage company are packing up and heading back to BVI.
The yard owner has threatened that this means a new crane will need to be brought in at great cost, and we're all fools for not taking the offer of the salvage company's services.

Perhaps he isn't aware that we've already been in touch with the owner of the current crane, who is quite happy to deal directly with us once his hire to the salvage company comes to an end. And he has indicated prices of around a tenth that of the salvage company.

The yard could, of course, still try to insert themselves in to this arrangement and demand a cut. I don't know if they legally can do that, it sounds like corruption and profiteering to me, but as yacht owners we are both poor and patient and we are willing to play chicken a while longer.
Corruption ? Profiteering ? In the Caribbean ?? Surely Not ?
 
From the post here I am fairly sure I know which salvage company from the BVI is involved. They are very well regarded in terms of competence but my own experience is that they are seriously over priced and ignore any liability if they do something wrong. With my own boat, after Irma, she needed a tow out of the the hurricane hole down to a marina - 12 miles IIRC as the useless mechanic who was paid to sort out water in the fuel tanks , as it turned out afterwards, had not turned the fuel tap back on and the guy moving it originally could not get it to start, the mechanic refused to go back and fix his fix (I was out of visa so had had to go back to the UK) so it had to be towed. In towing it the salvage company ran it over a sunken boat and put a hole in the hull resulting in it later taking on water. They had tole me they were fully insured to tow. Then said this wasn't covered. I said I'd deduct the repair cost from their quite big fee. A while of days later a "heavy" turned up to "suggest" I pay up in full - this was with me in the UK. We had words and he never came back but it became quite clear these people , whilst capable at their jobs, even expert, were very dodgy in their business dealings and I would never recommend anyone use them. I think the OP made a wise choice.
 
I'm in the somewhat fortunate position of having an old, cheap boat, with very little in the way of readily removable valuables. So I can afford to play chicken. The yard want my money, not my broken boat.

I do feel really sorry for the guys who have higher value boats caught up in all this. I can see how it might be tempting to pay the $16k.
 
Update:
The boat has been put upright. I don't know who did this (yard or salvage company) and I've not been told what they're expecting me to pay. It actually happened a few days ago but the yard manager emailed me from his own account which went in to my spam folder.

I would love to get pictures of the full extent of the damage, which will now be visible, but the yard have banned people from taking videos or pictures of anything other than their own boats.
 
Update:
The boat has been put upright. I don't know who did this (yard or salvage company) and I've not been told what they're expecting me to pay. It actually happened a few days ago but the yard manager emailed me from his own account which went in to my spam folder.

I would love to get pictures of the full extent of the damage, which will now be visible, but the yard have banned people from taking videos or pictures of anything other than their own boats.

So this has been done against your clearly expressed wishes?

Has this happened to any other boats?
 
So this has been done against your clearly expressed wishes?

Has this happened to any other boats?
Yes, although I understand those boats were blocking access to others. I don't think that was the case with us.
The yard have also urged me too get my mast re-stepped before the crane leaves. I've explained that the main reason I removed the mast was to fix the deck compression, so there's no point putting it back on until I've done that.
They have a 37m, 226kg rated cherry picker, so I've asked if that could be used instead.
And failing that, the other yard across the bay has a crane on their travel hoist, so I could just motor over there.
 
If you never authorized the work, you are not obliged to pay.

It called unsolicited goods or services
I'm willing to pay a reasonable sum, i.e. the hourly rate for use of the travel hoist as advertised on their website. And I think that's pretty generous of me. The other yard a few hundred yards away is righting the boats at no cost.
 
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