Bad workmanship

Revelations was fitted out by Wayne Robertson and a team of workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Not only did they fit out the interior of the yacht, they also fitted all the hardware and deck fittings. Wayne Robertson was the Project Manager in charge of all the workers and the numerous subcontractors who worked on the yacht. When drilling holes in a balsa core yacht, one has to take great care that the balsa is not exposed to any water due to leakages or seepage. Several years later, I started getting concerned that due care was not taken, that the holes drilled into the yacht was never sealed as there were a couple of places where the balsa core started getting soft. This happens when water penetrates the balsa core and effectively destroy the cellular structure of the wood, weakening it in the process and the balsa then get soggy from saturating water.

Now concerned about this problem, Jacque Basson, Cape Town, South Africa who worked on the yacht from 2012 to end of 2014 was instructed to remove all skin fittings and and seal the holes to prevent water getting to the balsa core. There were numerous discussions in this regard and Jacque assured me again and again that he took care of the problem. It now proves that he was lying and did not do the work any of this work.

This is what happens when you trust people and when you are not around on a daily basis to check on them! It says a lot about who they are, their character and  credibility. Quite willing to take their monthly salary but not deliver what they are suppose to do. SAD!

Arriving in Trinidad several months after leaving Cape Town, the problem became more apparent and a couple of spongy areas (wet balsa core) was discovered around the yacht. Garth Walker in Chaguaramas, Trinidad was appointed to open up these areas and do the required repairs. At first, it seemed a simple and a quick job for a couple of weeks - but the problem soon escalated. Many more (small and large areas) of wet balsa was found all over the yacht and it became a formidable job costing many hundreds of thousands of Rands to repair. The repair work is now almost done and the bill exceeds R600,000 to date. After this, the entire yacht must be resprayed with expensive Awlgrip marine paint.