Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either!

[supersizeme]

Last month I brought my boat for a out of winter storage check up. I have an '87 Four Winns Liberator 211. I don't know what exactly they did but I was told that everything was good except for my batteries which they had to charge up.

They also charged me $120 for an oil change....I argued with them but they would not budge at all about it. I wasn't told it would be that high until they gave me the bill so I am not in the best of terms with them.

I noticed a bunch of wood shavings in my bilge just a couple weeks ago. I only take my boat out maybe 2 or 3 times a month. I went to tighten an accessory v-belt today and knew where all the shavings came from: they drilled a hole in my bilge to check the foam and stringers. Its pretty deep too...I stuck my middle finger in and still can reach the end. Thank god its dry though. They didn't patch it back up though.

I also didn't give them consent to drill into my hull nor was I told about it. I am positive these people drilled into my hull since they are the only ones that have touched my boat in the past year. I'm going to bring it back to them and complain about it tomorrow so what should I tell them? If they charge me for labor or they refuse to do, I'm going to bring them to small claims court.


I've included some photos. I know nothing about fiberglass.

 

[westexasrepublic]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

maybe they did you a favor and pointed out all that rot?

but seriously your drawing looks like whitey titeys with a red dot

 

[RobbyA]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

but seriously your drawing looks like whitey titeys with a red dot

That is exactly what I thought when I first saw it, I was laughing so hard I couldn't even click to see the next pic. I was gonna say that MOST (don't want to offend the ladies) of us on here are guys and know where the hole is in our undies. lol So are they spiderman or hulk underroos?

I would be PI$$ED if someone drilled a hole in my boat without permission no matter the size or how deep it was.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

Maybe its just the pic, but that hole dosent look too fresh or dry....

Oil is a b$$ch to change on a inboard, you cant just drain it out the bottom of the pan....


If you have access to fiberglass supplies and want to patch it I would whip up a batch of PB (equal parts carbosol and resin + some chop strand and a little microbubbles).

If this is not handy, grap a small tube of 3M 5200 from Home Depot, squirt it in and smooth it out with a cheap putty knife.

I would go the PB rout, easier than going after those that did it to you...and you know its done right.

 

[HopeSheFloats]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

I agree with MountaineerMiner, doesn't look very fresh. Your stringers are attached flush with the hull, the hole is probably intentional as a drain hole, to allow water from the other/outer side of the stringer to flow to the bilge.

This doesn't explain the sawdust/woodchips, those may have been there previously and just washed down, could be rot that is starting to break apart, IDK but worth exploring more IMO

 

[supersizeme]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

How can I further analyze if its fresh or rotting or somewhere in between....?

If it was used as a drain hole, wouldn't all the water soak up in the foam and stringers before it was drained out through the hole?


I think I'm going to 5200 it up....I have a tube of it at home so I just need to go out and get a putty knife. Do I fill the entire hole or do I just seal it up?

 

[oops!]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

just fill the hole and be done with it....
(that means done run a skin over it.....fill it completely)

you will never proove that they drilled it.

and quite frankly i cant see why they did, unless the mechanic was really a jerk and really mad at you......but even if he was....i still cant see them doing it

 

[HopeSheFloats]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

First off, I'm no professional so understand these are just my thoughts and take what you may or may not want from them.

The photo does not show enough to collaborate what you've written, granted you may have already cleaned up the area and the saw dust might be history. But from just looking at that hole, I see what I believe is original or older looking glass, still inside of the hole. Unless there was a smaller hole drilled in the middle which doesn't show in that photo. The hole, if it was freshly drilled as you believe, would be fairly clean and smooth like.

It could be possible they did drill into the center of that hole under the assumption it was or could of been plugged up with debris, again hard to say from that photo alone.

As to your further questions, eyeballing the sawdust should let you know how fresh it was/is. Keep in mind that the saw dust could of simply been introduced from work boots or transferred from the bottom of any used equipment during the inspection/work performed process. As to if it were a drain hole{IMO it is} as long as the boat is/was stored properly, along with uninhibited drainage routes {so to speak} any water that did find it's way in/under the deck, it wouldn't sit long enough for any major 'soaking in', it should flow into the bilge and be either pumped or drained out...again, this is all just guesstimating on my part.

As to if they did drill the hole, did you give them the go-ahead to look her over for any possible problems, sometimes the way we word things can leave a lot to be desired and a lot left to interpretation.

 

[orbitz]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

Oil is a b$$ch to change on a inboard, you cant just drain it out the bottom of the pan....

Not really, they have a pump with an attachment you place in the oil dipstick hole, once you start pumping it creates a siphon, and out comes the oil.

 

[Wingedwheel]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

I'm sorry, but I was laughing so hard at the whitey-tighty's my wife came in to see what was so funny and when I showed her the picture she asked why someone would draw underwear. THATS when I fell over...

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

If you are confident that they drilled the hole, then I would be a little pissed. They may have had a good reason and forgot to tell you, but that still is pretty crappy on their part. If they were checking for rot, which would be in your best intrest, then they should tell you that they did that and tell you what they found, whether it was good news or bad. It's possible that one of the guys that works there drilled an exploratory hole and just forgot to patch it up. If that's the case then I think they should knock a few bucks off your bill and kiss some *** for the booboo. Anywho, I think I would at least ask them about it. I don't often find wood shavings in my bilge and then happen upon a hole in my transom that I've never noticed, but that's just me.

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was laughing about the undies too.

 

[supersizeme]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

I'm going to call them up tommorow, ****h at them. If they deny, I guess I got ripped off, and just 3m 5200 it up. Damage has already been done.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Boat service drilled a hole in my stringer w/o consent. Didn't patch it up either

You're making a fool of yourself, reconsider that you might very well be 100% wrong on everything. I'm positive you are.
That hole is quite old.