Another leak broke out on Blue Moon this past fall, once again caused by sloppy and inattentive work done by Hinckley Yacht Services up in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Under Blue Moon‘s prior ownership, all of the portholes and hatches on the boat were replaced a few years ago. Despite the recency of these installations, so far one porthole frame and the small deck hatch above the nav station have sprung leaks around the frame, in both cases due to inadequate preparation of the mating surfaces between the deck and the hardware. Operating on the assumption that the same (poor) process was followed for all of the deck hatches and portholes, I fully expect to have to re do all of the work Hinckley charged the prior owners many, many thousands of dollars to complete just a handful of years ago (we have the receipts!). The prior owners are wonderful people and had no reason to distrust Hinckley’s methods, particularly given the rates Hinckley charge. For the benefit of other Sabre owners, let’s walk through the right way to re bed portholes and hatches on a fiberglass boat and see where Hinckley cut corners and has thereby generated a ton of unnecessary work for us.
Rover's Blog 