Hulls, Sail-drives, Keels and Electrical

A good week with fresh input from various owners around the US. The issues reported this week relate to keel alignment and other keel problems, a hull splitting underway (see previous post), swim ladder failures and of course the electrics & sail-drive related electrolysis that started all this.

In my own situation I am pleased that we have some positive progress, but alas Fairport Yachts remain silent.

Thanks to those that contacted me this week with your Tartan issues and frustrations. Keep them coming in and keep spreading the word. Clearly the word is starting to percolate that there is a site that allows our Tartan build issues to be heard and shared without a single owner feeling like they have to expose their boat (and hull#) as a 'problem' boat on the other sites. Given your input and positive feedback this blog will expand to include other serious non-sail-drive issues Tartan owners are having. I'll report back on key issues and will be happy to network and connect owners that have common issues. Already I have put together owners that have shared problems with rotting cabin soles, short zinc life and other issues that people are struggling with individually. Email Me Your Tartan Issues

Tartan 3700 Hull Split - I have seen the photos!

I have now seen the photos of the split and delamination of the Tartan 3700 hull I mentioned in my last post. It is truly shocking and as a result I urge every Tartan 3700 owner to have their hull checked forward of the through-hulls below the forward water tank.

In the case of the very young 3700 that failed, it is clear that there was no impact damage. The owner assures me that the boat has never been grounded. There are no signs of the hull, or keel hitting any objects. It looks like the 'two halves' of the hull just started separating along the centerline. The crack went straight through the hull. In addition, the separated hull started to delaminate. The surveyor says its material defect, the insurance company says it's a manufacturing process issue and of course the only one left in the middle is the owner!

I asked the owner about the conditions at sea when it happened and he told me the boat was in 5'-6' seas down the NJ coast. The captain (delivering the boat for the owner) and had just started bearing away after being close hauled. By the time the USCG appeared the crew had over 3' of water inside the boat.

What is interesting is that Fairport have told the owner that the hull splitting was not material failure, but was the direct result of the owner having the rig installed 'too tight'. So does this mean that with a Novis epoxy mast Tim Jackett's design has now placed the hull as the weakest point of the Novis/Fairport design?

So how many of the other boats in the 3700 fleet are too tight? Is your Tartan 3700 hull in danger while making way at sea? How many of us are sitting on a passage time-bomb waiting for the hull to split along the centerline?

Why haven't we heard a thing from Fairport Yachts about this? I sure would have been on my boat with my rigger to check tensions if Bill Ross would have sent me an advisory letter stating that if I didn't tension the rig correctly that my hull would split in just 5'-6' seas! What happened to the concept of a 'duty to inform' over such a potentially life threatening issue as hull failure and rig tensions?

Finally, take a look at this article from Sail Magazine and see why I mention above the 'two halves' of the hull. The hull us laid up in two swings of the female mold. This is standard practice across the industry, but is there a problem with the epoxy layup? Along with their "traditional building methods" did Fairport also throw out quality control on something as basic as hull layup?

Come on Fairport, what's the science behind the hull failure and if it happened to one of the new 3700's what's to stop it happening again - and next time resulting in loss of life at sea?

What a Week for Tartan Fleet News

This week has been another solid week for discussions and interviews with other Tartan owners.

I was shocked to discover that the hull on a 3700 had split under the forward bulkhead while under way. The event occurred last December. The owner seems to be in a terrible position and is still without his boat. The parallel universes that so many owners seem to be in with these boats is amazing. To hear about the boat splitting wide open, the salvage vs towed legal issues, the repair nightmare and his ongoing horror story trying to get his boat back is gut-wrenching.

The data gathered to date by very generous, frustrated and concerned Tartan and C&C owners has helped me get a very clear picture of both random build issues and some that have patterns.

Here is one section of an email I received this week from an ex-Tartan dealer:

"Your problems with the Tartan product are alarming but not unusual. I certainly don't know the law, but I know that many owners have been driven to distraction by some of the manufacturing practices, many of the business practices, and all of the service practices of the company."

So I am left this Saturday asking myself this question: When will Yanmar USA and Bill Ross acknowledge the build issues in their product(s) and make things right - for this owner and all the Tartan/C&C owners on a pro active basis?

So here is what is puzzling to me as a businessman: I am discovering potentially life threatening build issues within the Tartan 3700 fleet that Fairport Yachts surely knows about. I have no doubt some of these issues may even run across the 3400, 3500, 4100, 4400 fleets and all the boats manufactured in OH. Yet to find out this week that a boat manufactured around the same time as MAKO had split open while at sea is surely news the 3700 owners should know about. If a hull splitting 30 inches long below the forward bulkhead (as reported to me by the owner) would have occurred on an aircraft in flight the FAA would be involved and the fleet would be grounded until such time as all the airframes have been inspected. The manufacturer certainly would be all over the defect. The FAA would issue an Airworthiness Directive (AD) and inspections and repairs would be paid for by the manufacturer. Now I don't know whether the boat involved was affected by a previous grounding, or if there are other such issues, but surely with the manufacturer knowing that at least one of their hulls has split below the waterline, surely an advisory notice to customers would be the least Bill Ross could pro actively send out. Surely as an attorney he knows the inherent liability Fairport Yachts has by failing to disclose issues with the hulls splitting and cracking, faulty hull-deck joints, faulty wiring, faulty sail drives, faulty stainless steel used with life-lines and other [significant] issues that are now being well documented.

Still No Response from Bill Ross in OH

It is now Friday 6/22/07 and Bill Ross has still not responded as he said he would. There has been no progress from Fairport Yachts or Yanmar and repeated calls to Bill Ross and Yanmar to discuss this matter have not been returned.

In my opinion, I think Bill Ross is simply attempting to play a rather obvious legal chess game by ignoring us and thinking that my wife and I were bluffing when we communicated in our Demand Letter that we will sue all the parties involved under the DTPA. We have provided Bill Ross and all the parties a very elegant way to settle matters and yet Fairport (part of Bill Ross' Challenger Co's) and even Yanmar USA ignore calls this past week. We're trying to do the right thing and give the responsible parties an easy and fair way out of this mess. After all, the pictures here show what boats look like after a hurricane rolls through from the Gulf of Mexico.

The record will show that we have given all the parties the best and most economic way to have this matter go away and yet it has been rejected, or at best is being ignored. MAKO remains on the hard at $75/day and we progress day-by-day through hurricane season. Fairport Yachts, Yanmar and the dealer continue to gamble with the liability as they hold up resolution of the sail drive and provable build issues on MAKO.

Removed All Personal Property

Today was a very sad day for the family. We spent the last few hours taking every personal effect off our MAKO. Through monsoon-like storms we managed to get every item off the boat that we could.

Our intention was to (1) make the boat ready for immediate pickup by the parties as quickly as they could after they accepted our reasonable demands and (2) removal of the the items that might get looted after a hurricane swept through the yard and if (as it seems) the parties continued to delay matters.

Bill Ross' commit comes and goes

The owner of Fairport Yachts, Bill Ross, had committed on 6/12/07 to have a response for us to our Demand Letter by 6/15/07. No response was received.

Dealer Walks on All Responsibilities

The dealer finally sent a response to the demand letter today.

The dealer rejects that there was any breach any express or implied warranties, nor was there any fraud, negligence, negligence representation, violation of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) or breach of contact [sic] by the dealership. Thus, the dealership is not prepared to entertain or accept the owner's demand.

Oh well, at least we understand the dealers position and thankfully he took the time to write a letter detailing his final position on the matter.

The Response Deadline Comes and Goes

Here is what we got back from the parties:

The Tartan Dealer: nothing, no response!

Fairport Yachts: Bill Ross sends a quick email and states he needs a report report from his customer service department on the matters listed in our demand letter later that week when his customer service manager [Andy Drumm] returns to the factory. Bill Ross commits to respond at that time. Self imposed deadline for committing to respond is now 6/16/07

Yanmar USA: Looking in to the claims and will get back to us. Request for additional data*.


*It is known that the dealer has reported on the state of the sail drive after seeing the boat in the yard and that the parties are all fully aware of the state of the sail drive.

Hurricane Season Starts!

Yep, MAKO is on the hard and is just 12 miles from the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Yep, it's hurricane season and all eyes will be on the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

I hope those parties involved in the MAKO saildrive and build issues don't feel too disconnected from the weather events in TX!