Sabotaged!

Black Valkyrie

Black Valkyrie

Active Member
Jul 19, 2014
688
Canada
Boat Info
1993 Sundancer 270 DA
Engines
Twin 4.3
So the plot thickens... for years my wife and I have surmised that a previous disgruntled mechanic has sabotaged our boat. We have in past discovered various illogical problems - spark plug leads scrambled, transducer wire cut. Thought that was all in the past - haven't noticed anything out of the sorts for over a year and a half. Today one of our engines failed (dead ignition coil) and upon closer examination when my friend pulled off the cover he discovered (unrelated to the dead engine) that the negative of the mercathode system had been disconnected and left dangling, the nut screwed back in place. This definitely accounts for my rapid anode use over the last year.
 
Last edited:
SO now the question..Why take it off and sabotage?? Does he install the anodes and charge you a fortune? Of was he hoping that your drive got damaged in the salt and wanted to make money off you replacing it?
 
Occam’s Razor, select the solution which makes the fewest assumptions. My theory, A tech simply forgot to reconnect? This assumes you needed some work where someone actually needed to disconnect it, that might be where my theory falls apart. Are there repairs you have had done which required the mercathode to be disconnected?
 
Some people just can not let things go. Time to install a trail cam or full security camera near the boat if you think he'll be back.

-Kevin
 
I disconnect mine for winter storage so as not to drain the batteries. Maybe he did that and forgot to reconnect in the spring.
 
If you keep it somewhere that has reliable WiFi then something like a Blink camera setup might be worth considering.

https://blinkforhome.com/collections/blink-security-camera

The cameras operate only on detecting motion, so be sure to point it when it'll only trip for legit motion (not toward weeds, plants, trees, traffic, etc). Then the bridge needs USB power and a wifi connection. Use some 3M command strips to hang the camera somewhere, no need to drill holes. If it's covered then you don't "have to" use their more expensive outdoor-rated camera.

We've had several in use for over a year and they're pretty decent. Alerts from detected motion generally come through within 30 seconds, tops and often between 5-10 seconds.
 
Thank god I trust my mechanics. If you don't then it's time to change to someone you can trust.

Raymarine has some great WIFI cameras, even if you don't hook it up it will make someone stop and think
 
wkearney99 said:
If you keep it somewhere that has reliable WiFi then something like a Blink camera setup might be worth considering.

https://blinkforhome.com/collections/blink-security-camera

The cameras operate only on detecting motion, so be sure to point it when it'll only trip for legit motion (not toward weeds, plants, trees, traffic, etc). Then the bridge needs USB power and a wifi connection. Use some 3M command strips to hang the camera somewhere, no need to drill holes. If it's covered then you don't "have to" use their more expensive outdoor-rated camera.

We've had several in use for over a year and they're pretty decent. Alerts from detected motion generally come through within 30 seconds, tops and often between 5-10 seconds.
Click to expand...


Great thanks exactly what we need. Re: mechanic we have a good mechanic. Saboteurs are without a doubt the shady bunch that performed the "inspection" for us when we bought her and they broke the boat in the process - entered into a dispute with them. Outcome was that they didn't get paid as they broke the boat and our current mechanic was paid to fix their mess. Can only assume that out of spite they sabotaged the boat.
 
Are you saying they had come back after not getting paid for the original inspection to sabotage your boat and your current mechanic is still finding their work a year and a half later? This is a 27' boat isn't it?
I would consider looking for a new mechanic as well. After first suspicions of sabotage, a thorough inspection would be top priority for me before hitting the water again. Anything after that within reason, should to some degree be on the later inspection for not picking it up. How well did he inspect it and who is to blame for future issues?
 
I put a Wyze camera on our boat earlier this year. For $25 I wanted one to play around with. Surprisingly it has worked really great with the WiFi at the boat even with any glitches there, it reconnects. I just wanted it so I can look at the boat, feels like you are there. Not really for any security reasons.

It has a user setting to set the motion area that you can use to minimize false triggers. Unfortunately, motion of the aft curtain causes it to trigger and record. So I know when it's windy down at the boat.

The only down side is, it is very visible and obvious. If anyone wants to defeat it they can just unplug it and throw it into the water and it won't capture or upload anything after that!! I would imagine that would be a down side to any camera not permanently mounted on the boat...
 
They're great deterrents though.

Kicking my shore-power cord might disable the camera, but maybe only one of the cameras... ahem.

I just had a disagreement with a cleaning lady. She feels entitled to things she's not entitled to, and she's angry. I'm very glad that she's well-aware of the camera coverage inside and outside of the house!
 
Most folks who suspect sabotage, are just underestimating the available supply of incompetence.
 
Black Valkyrie said:
Great thanks exactly what we need. Re: mechanic we have a good mechanic. Saboteurs are without a doubt the shady bunch that performed the "inspection" for us when we bought her and they broke the boat in the process - entered into a dispute with them. Outcome was that they didn't get paid as they broke the boat and our current mechanic was paid to fix their mess. Can only assume that out of spite they sabotaged the boat.
Click to expand...

The upside to the Blink cameras is they're wireless. And their gateway bridge uses only USB power. So you can power the bridge using a USB power bank, or a small UPS plugged into shore power. The Blink system automatically uploads on detecting motion. So even if someone discovers and destroys the camera the video will already be on the cloud.

It's important not to point the cameras at areas with motion, otherwise you'll get lots of false triggers. That and lots of false triggers will drain the battery much faster. I've got one pointed at a doorway that's been on the same battery for well over a year. The downside is their motion detector is all or nothing, it has no feature for isolating only portions of the captured picture. But to do that there'd need to be something powered up constantly and that wouldn't work with battery power. If you want higher resolution and/or isolated portions of the picture for motion detecting then you'd have to use a camera with wired power.

Where the Blink setup comes in handy is detecting motion and capturing a clip where none should be happening. If you want constant monitoring or finer control over motion detecting then look to other makes/models.
 
wkearney99 said:
<snip>
Click to expand...

Seven years between posts. I can't recall the exact circumstances, think it was something to do with advice that would get people killed, and I'm guessing the ban hammer didn't survive the transition to the new site.

That said, your take on the Blink camera system is spot on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,123
Messages
1,426,623
Members
61,037
Latest member
wojozobl
Back
Top