This project took me by surprise. I assumed that replacing a section of sanitary hose would be a straight forward, simple task.

I also made the mistake of being in a hurry. We needed a functional head on the boat. I decided to hire a local shipyard (Svendsens) to take care of the first, and I would do the second. It cost $550+ in labor and parts to replace the Sanitary hose and vented loop, and both looked brand new when pulled out. In the process the nipple to the sump pump was sheared off (requiring the replacement of the pump), pipe identification tags were removed and not replaced, and the instructions for the Y valve settings given to my wife were exactly backwards.

But, I think the real kicker was when my wife was told that a through-hull fitting had broken its seal, and water was coming into the boat. They said the boat would need to be hauled out, and all of the through hulls replaced. We had had a full, out of the water survey done 3 weeks earlier, and the (very nit-picky) surveyor didn't mention the broken pump or the failing through-hulls. I left work early, but imagine my surprise when I found not a leaky through-hull, but a loose faucet clamp that was dripping water onto the through-hull. When said hose clamp was re-tightened, everything dried up, and my hull was magically fixed.

The moral to this story has several parts:

  1. If you're new to this game, don't let your vendors know. They may not be able to resist making a bit of extra income off of you.
  2. Supervise all work yourself, if you can. If I had seen the sump pump being broken, I may have had a chance of getting it repaired, or at least a credit.
  3. Even if you get the prices up front, things can change. At $105 and hour, this can add up fast. This is not unexpected, but you have no control if you cannot communicate clearly with the workers. Even though the supervisor spoke English, he was present for less than 20% of the time, and the workers seemed to be incapable of communicating with us once the supervisor had left.

I will talk to folks in the marina, and see if there are any alternatives for plumbing services. Until then I will do the work myself on the weekends, and eagerly await the longer days of summer.

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