Island Packet’s Own Surveyor Told Us Our Boat ‘Wasn’t Seaworthy’

But He Wasn’t Allowed To Share His Report

Peter Swanson Sep 26

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In preparation for yesterday’s story about a man who believes he was poisoned by his boat’s water tank, Loose Cannon contacted 35 Island Packet owners, whose emails had been obtained during research.¹ The idea was to get a sense of the room.

Only seven replied. Six loved their boats and were supportive of the factory, though it’s not clear whether all were referring to the “new Island Packet” or the Bob Johnson era. Nor could it be ascertained whether these six were sincere or indulging in the entirely natural impulse to protect the dollar value of their purchase against negative publicity.

The seventh email came from Murray and Caroline Atkinson, which you can read below, followed by criticism of the couple by Island Packet President Darrell Allen. Their account is relevant to yesterday’s story in that it speaks to the state of quality control at today’s Island Packet.

We bought Salamander in February 2023, which was the original planned delivery date. However, after paying our initial deposit (Island Packet President) Darrell Allen informed us two 349s had put theirs back (they’d actually cancelled due to price rises) and asked if we could come forward.

We agreed on December and paid the first payment. The build was supposed to start in May. They started in July.

So we took delivery in February 2023. Opening a cupboard, all the shelves fell down. The initial punch list was around 100 items. Getting all these dealt with cost us the sailing trial period.

Eventually, we left for Guatemala via Dry Tortugas. While there we discovered we had no anodes, so we went back to Florida and IP had a diver fit new ones. That was a problem with the marina electrics, it might be worth asking other owners about their early anode use.

Then we went to Guatemala and discovered we had no prop anode. The propeller also needed greasing so we hauled out.

We found patches of anti-foul had fallen off. We decided then to re-antifoul with coppercoat so got hauled out at the next yard which can do that. A third of the gel coat, not just antifoul, fell off. IP paid for the remedial work and assessed that they had done the coats with insufficient time between.

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On relaunch, the bowthruster failed to work.

I found the main negative cable carrying 100 amps hadn’t been crimped into the lug. IP paid for a hydraulic crimper so I could do it myself.

A couple of other minor electrical connections also came apart.

We left Guatemala for Panama. After 300 miles, I was on deck while Caroline was sleeping in the storm bunk, which is next to the solar charging MPPT controller.

She woke and wondered why her vision was off and went to the loo. When she came back, she had woken and realised there was a fire.

I came down and we dealt with the fire. It transpired the fuse had been fitted with a stainless washer between the lug and the fuse, and this had got hot enough to ignite a cardboard box. The wrong covers had also been fitted, the correct one is designed to prevent contact between the connections and anything else while allowing airflow. The covers fitted were rubber sleeves, which added insulation.

So, we fixed that and requested IP perform a full electrical survey.

IP agreed to send both of their warranty repair guys to Panama to address several other issues and check the electrics.

In the event, only one came, and he did all the other issues but didn’t look at the electrics. We gave feedback, including that we still needed the electrics to be checked.

Then, we went through the Panama canal. Twice during this the engine went to derate mode but reset.² The process is that engines have to be on the whole time even when stationary or being towed by a partner boat as we were, so we reconciled that that had caused the derate mode, probably erroneously.

Next sail was to Hawaii, 5,000 miles from Panama.

By the time we arrived in Hawaii it was apparent the batteries were failing at 2.5 years old. We replaced them, and IP paid for the new ones. I checked all the Victron settings, and it transpired IP had left them on the default AGM settings but had fitted Lifeline top quality batteries, which have their own recommended settings. I changed the settings and the new batteries are still fine.

We again asked for an electrical survey.

From Hawaii, we went to Alaska. Alaska to California saw very little wind, and we motored most of the way with no problems, hauled out at Napa where we discovered the throttle handle had cold welded itself onto the splines and I had to cut it off. IP sent a replacement. I had to drill out the new fitting as the holes didn’t match the studs.

It might be worth asking other owners if they’ve taken this lever off.

Then we motored 40 miles towards a friend near Lodi, California. With seven miles to go the engine went to derate and shut down. We were in a main shipping channel in the river. We drifted to the edge and anchored. Port control radioed and required that we move out of the channel so we arranged a tow at around $2,000.

At the dock we contacted the local Yanmar dealer who attended and diagnosed a defective turbo. Due to circumstances, we had to be towed to a local marina for another $400 or so.

The new turbo was fitted and made no difference. The dealer ran diagnostics and diagnosed high fuel pressure. They then proceeded to change all the fuel system one part at a time. Each time the engine was fine initially then failed again. After replacing the fuel pump it seemed fine for a while, so I tested the bow thruster and the engine failed again.

The Yanmar dealer agreed it now seemed electrical. I followed advice to reduce EMI³ in the engine circuits, and the dealer provided new alternator and ECU to test. Neither made any difference, but during testing it became apparent that the problem occurred only when the batteries were at 13.5 volts. With ferrite clips everywhere this went up to 13.9 volts, confirming the EMI diagnosis.

Then Darrell arranged for a marine electrical surveyor in Long Beach to conduct a survey.

Obviously, we had to get to Long Beach and needed the engine to work, so had to prevent the batteries reaching the trigger voltage. I fitted a switch to turn the alternator off.

During this journey the engine went to derate again. I realised this was due to solar charging and thought about how to prevent the starter battery reaching the trigger voltage.

We arrived at Long Beach, and the surveyor came and examined the boat. The only thing he spotted and told me about was the defective exhaust elbow. He refused to discuss his electrical findings since IP was his client.

While arranging the survey he stated he thought the boat wasn’t seaworthy.

I asked whether the boat was still unseaworthy, and both he and IP refused to answer. Darrell stated that it was clear from the report that the changes I had made had caused the problem.

The surveyor said he had no idea how Darrell could come to that conclusion but still refused to let me see the report. Darrell also refused to send me the report and subsequent emails have gone unanswered.

I realized I didn’t need to prevent the battery reaching the trigger voltage, only control the output voltage. So after spending several thousand dollars on a turbo, etc. and $1,300 getting to the survey, a $67 part has cured the symptoms. IP still refused to discuss or contribute.

Footnote: The exhaust elbow is made locally to IP and isn’t the Yanmar part. I only found that out by sending photos to Yanmar since their part drawings didn’t match what I was seeing. We had it repaired in Long Beach, and the welder described in detail why it had failed and what the design fault is. IP sent a replacement to our home in U.K.

Allen Responds

In an audio-recorded interview, Darrell Allen first accepted and then declined an invitation to address the Atkinson email point by point. Instead, he blamed them entirely for everything that happened, saying:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.​ A couple from the U.K. who literally have no clue what they’re doing as well. And I just recently had a guy out of Newport beach, one of the most respected electricians in Southern California, go out and try to fix the issues that they said were wrong with the boat. And he sent me pictures of the wiring that they had modified and done to that boat.

And he said that it would take him probably 40 to 80 hours to correct all the problems that they had made on that boat. Okay? So, we’ve got plenty of proof on our side.

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