Backstay damage

[BobM]

I didn't want to hijack the forestay woes thread.

At my yard they use a crane rather than a travel lift and typically detach the back stay after rigging the main halyard to serve as a temporary stay. They put a nice double bend in my 1 x 19 1/4 inch backstay somehow and left my back stay pretty slack to boot. I tightened the back stay to try to pull it straighter, but am thinking about contacting them regarding their obvious error. The damage is 30 feet off the deck of my S2 9.2A and the bends aren't quite 90 degrees, but uncomfortably close. Sorry, no photos but she is 30 miles east of my house.

They had a new yard manager this year. I'd appreciate your feed back. The back stay is not new and I don't know if I am justified in expecting them to replace it, but I wouldn't have replaced it this soon if they hadn't of damaged it. The yard is reasonably inexpensive at $57/ft for in/out wash and store and I have been there for four years.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[John]

It sounds to me like they should pay on a proratetd basis. What would be the life expectancy of your backstay? maybe 15 years? Then figure the age it was and they should pay based on that. If it was 10 years old, e.g., they should pay one third of the cost. At least that's what seems reasonable to me.

 

[Ross]

First! ask them what happened. Then proceed from there.

 

[JoeWhite]

I would have them pay for everything since you did not suffer this loss previously. It indicates and confirms that someone does not know how to manage. You may find that this is the case with some others aswell. Good luck.

 

[sailingdog]

IMHO, they should pay for a replacement backstay. It wasn't kinked in two places before they did work on the boat. Now it is kinked, fairly severely, in two places. A single kink of that degree would warrant replacing it...much less two of them.

I don't think whatever happened changes the fact that they made a mistake and should pay for it.

BTW, I don't think it should be pro-rated either. If they hadn't damaged, it, there is no telling how long it might have lasted.

And maybe, they'll be just a bit more careful the next time around.

 

[Rich (P303)]

You hijacked the fore-stay! It is one of those things that you are d*mned if you do and/or don't.

I agree with Ross, JW and SD. Very curious though.

At +/- $65 per man/hour, plus all those extra expenses that get figured in... depending your prevailing rates. They owe you at least an explanation.

I hope they were immediately aware of the damage after you noticed it. Do you store at the yard... might have some leverage there? If you aren't a regular... it will be he said... she said.

You need to find out what happened and go from there.

If they rig your boat in and out... you have them over a barrel. Taught standing rigging doesn't kink itself. Any reputable yard would have said something about the back-stay condition either in or out... and would have tried to get a work order!

Back-stay is toast.

Good luck and keep us posted.