Story from Mark

First off, all boats have issues. I am an experienced boater, owning many different vessels over my lifetime.

With that said, a charter boat, well-kept and serviced, shouldn’t have the BS issues that eat away at the charterer’s vacation time. We lost a day and a half in use, a few uncomfortable nights sleeping, and a few “WTF” moments due to poor maintenance of Moana, a 2019 Lagoon 42 (looks like a 15-year-old boat).

  • Starboard aft cabin compressor rattled. That’s low Freon. I was told it’s the battery not charged enough. (Nope.) Didn’t get better—got worse. Try sleeping with that noise.
  • Batteries are worn out. Domestic battery would last max 5 hours, then throw an alarm. Auxiliary battery got replaced at the dock as it was discovered not holding a charge. (2 hours delay.)
  • Blocked in at the dock. Another hour gone. Finally, 12:30, and we can leave the slip.

Dinghy got 100 feet off the boat, first splash in at Jost. Primer ball failed. Lost that afternoon getting a replacement so we could leave the boat.

  • HVAC non-functioning. Thrown breaker at main AC circuit at generator, hot electrical burning smell in port forward cabin. Breaker was white hot, wouldn’t reset. No response from tech support. Reached the office and was met with, “It’s 5 o’clock, I’m leaving. Will WhatsApp tech support.” Not much concern for a potential fire. No AC that night. Woke up to rain coming through the hatch. Another night of little sleep.

Next morning, Leonard arrived at BEYC. The fix? The breaker had cooled enough to reset. Turned off the forward cabin AC. Yay, that isolates the electrical fire hazard. My family freaked due to the electrical burning smell. I should have gone to the dock and slept on shore power. At least 3 hours of me chasing down the problem. I don’t mind fixing stuff—but on my boat, not on a charter.

  • Anchor chain corroded badly. Links were frozen together. Made retrieving the anchor fun, as it wouldn’t rotate around the windlass and load into the anchor locker. Very little use, apparently—certainly not checked or cleaned.
  • Port forward cabin head would flood. Floor was always wet, but we never used it.

Pics of the boat used to entice customers are dated. The boat is flat worn-out in comparison. I wouldn’t have rented it had the pics been honest. Cushions are worn out and decaying, leaving cushion rot everywhere, but worse—little to no cushion. No cabin top cushion as shown in pics. Treads on interior companionways are beat up and splintering. Tread on the helm station step to deck peeled off, splintering veneer.

  • Freezer makes a great fridge. Never functioned as a freezer. Four bags of water later—waste of money.

I walked the dock and boarded other boats at the Navigare base. Most are beat up just as badly. All of the boats could use this stuff called wax. It’s amazing—makes a boat shine instead of looking chalky and dull.

So, I got a good rate for a reason, it appears. Perhaps the owner doesn’t know of the maintenance, or perhaps doesn’t care. I wouldn’t place a boat in service with Navigare. The residual value would be far less due to the maintenance. Sea whores: sweep ‘em out, hose it down, change the linens, send it back out.

On a positive note: The staff at Navigare is very nice. Avril and the office ladies, Cliff the tech, and Jason, to name a few. They were responsive. I get it—that 5 p.m. is the end of the day.

In the big picture, these are small things. But for a non-boater or one with less experience, these would have been worse. Just know, if chartering from Navigare:

  • The boat won’t look like the pics.
  • It will be used well.
  • Expect some issues.

Run the HVAC on the generator before leaving the dock. Run the dinghy. Check the anchor rode and windlass.