DRY Fiberglass on NEW Leopard Yacht
During our warranty repair rectifications scary issues have been exposed with our new Leopard 45 catamaran.
As I continue to reconstruct the entire picture of what we have had to go through, more recently 6 months so far rebuilding aspects of the hull on the hard stand in Trinidad, I start at the beginning of the deficient fiberglass construction we have encountered.
Previously I shared that ultra-sonic scans had detected anomalies in the hull fiberglass around the bridge deck and crossbeam mount points. These were conducted as the surveyor noticed the cracks and bubbles. When initially presented with this information in mid-2022 the boat builder, Robertson & Caine gave no approval for this to be investigated further in their warranty response at that time.
After arriving in Trinidad we engaged a local contractor, Newton from Newton Enterprises due to his great reputation, to open the anomalous areas so we could see what was inside.... it was dry fiberglass with little to no resin. Multiple sections of the bridge deck had not been resin infused during the build process in the Leopard 45 Factory, so the fiberglass inside was dry, making it non-structural.
Watch as we first see the issues, then as they're repaired by the highly skilled tradesman from JS Marine. JS Marine were sent by Travelopia, the broker for new Leopard Catamarans that are built by Robertson & Caine. This is yet another part of our overall new yacht warranty experience, a situation we don't want to see repeated.
Trent asked me to note that Travelopia and Robertson and Caine are now both involved in rectifying warranty issues and have paid for most of his out of pocket costs incurred until now. He has asked this be addressed in a video when it is actually wrapped up.
We are still waiting to see what they will offer us for the two years of lost time and opportunity as well as finish the extensive rebuild. Losing the best part of two years of our lives has many costs like food, transport and fuel as well as wear and tear. The story is a long way from over and we are already 6+ months into warranty rebuild work in Trinidad.