Thanksgiving Boating Ideas - Happy Holidays - Safe Boating

Used Boat Sales - Sell a Boat - Boating

After perusing the web for Thanksgiving boating topics, I was charmed to find many blogs written by every day boaters sharing their warm stories of boating on Thanksgiving Day. Some stayed in the marina and enjoyed a feast with members of the yacht club, others met fellow cruisers in secluded bays and shared a potluck style dinner aboard their boats. What about you ... will boating be a part of your Thanksgiving celebration? How do you intend to spend the day?

Here are a few ideas to bring boating to your holiday celebration (weather permitting of course):

Invite a few friends and family members and have a simple dinner aboard your boat.


Plan a potluck dinner for friends and other marina patrons.


Cruise to a favorite location and set up a picnic Thanksgiving dinner.


If you live in a cold climate and boating is impossible, bring the nautical into your home via decorations, pictures of your boating adventures and maybe a change from traditional cuisine to a coastal menu of fish or seafood.

Whatever you do, this Thanksgiving be thankful for the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and the simple pleasures that boating brings.

Used Boat Sales - Sell a Boat - Boating

Boaters oppose more ethanol in their tanks - Sell Boats

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Bill Griswold remembers fishing in Rehoboth Bay with his family when his boat's motor sputtered and quickly died.

Stranded on the water, the Griswolds were towed back to the marina. A mechanic showed them what was wrong with the boat's four-stroke engine.

"The fuel line and filter system were completely clogged with a gum that looked like mayonnaise," Griswold said.

Griswold is like many boaters who say that gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol has damaged their boat's engines and spurred them to spend thousands in replacement costs. The boating industry and many states aren't happy about an ethanol industry request now before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to start allowing gasoline to contain up to 15 percent ethanol by volume.

Ethanol is a corn-based alcohol that has won federal support because it lowers carbon emissions and reduces the nation's dependency on petroleum. However, critics say ethanol burns at a higher temperature and is disruptive to a multitude of small engines, including aircraft, chainsaws, weed whackers and snow blowers.

Robert Gaudette, director of boating services for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said he remembers the roll-out of E-10 gasoline causing havoc among boaters. By now, he said, many of the state's 200,000 registered boaters have adjusted to the new fuel.

"Boat manufacturers can handle E-10. They're not exactly sure what (a higher blend) will do," Gaudette said.

E-10 requirement

The federal government requires marinas in many parts of Maryland and throughout Delaware, including Sussex County, to sell E-10 gasoline. The EPA has identified the places as "nonattainment" areas, which means they have poor air quality and only ethanol blends emitting fewer greenhouse gases can be sold there.

Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield is proud to sell fuel without ethanol -- even if it means boaters must pay 20 cents more per gallon to get it, said Lloyd Tyler, the facility's executive director.

Somers Cove had sold the E-10 gasoline, but in August went back to an ethanol-free blend, he said. He said it is becoming more difficult to find ethanol-free gasoline, as fewer refineries are now producing it.

"We had so many complaints from our boaters, particular the outboards, the smaller ones," he said. "They said it caused excessive condensation in the fuel tanks, and on the fiberglass or plastic tanks, it causes them to peel, and that mess gets into the fuel lines."

The Wicomico Yacht Club also switched back to selling gasoline without ethanol in it, said Scott McCurdy, a member of the Allen-based club.

"Most people are willing to pay 10 or 15 cents more on a gallon because that cost pales in comparison to repairing or getting a carburetor replaced," McCurdy said.

McCurdy, the owner of North Bay Marine in Fenwick Island, said while adding certain additives to the fuel can help, ethanol can cause water to build up in the gasoline and can damage a boat's fuel line. Furthermore, boaters who wait extended periods of time between using their boat tend to experience more problems, he said.

"In the last two summers, we have done more carburetor work than in the past 10," McCurdy said.

Joe Morris, who owns the marine store at Lewes Harbor Marina, said ethanol will degrade parts of older engines that aren't resistant to alcohol. For example, it will destroy rubber fuel lines and plastic gaskets.

Morris said ethanol acts as a detergent, scrubbing off soot that ends up clogging up filters and carburetors. Unless boaters put special additives into their fuel, they run the risk of the ethanol causing "phase separation." It occurs when gasoline, water and alcohol separate into layers within the tank, and the result is that the engine stalls.

"The engine literally starves for gasoline," Morris said.

Rise in ethanol by volume

Last March, Growth Energy, a national pro-ethanol group, and 54 ethanol manufacturers petitioned the EPA to allow gasoline to contain up to 15 percent ethanol by volume.

The deadline for the EPA to decide whether to boost the ethanol amount is Dec. 1. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters last week that it may work past the deadline because it is still reviewing test results on the higher blend's effects on engines.

Meanwhile, a bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would try to ensure the new blend is sufficiently tested before entering the marketplace. Senate Bill 1666 would require EPA's Science Advisory Board to study the compatibility of the new fuel blend with current engines before any new standards are adopted. At this point, the bill has been referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Cardin released a statement in which he said that while he supports developing biofuels to help the U.S. decrease its dependency on foreign oil, the new products cannot harm boats, chainsaws, lawnmowers and other products.

"We need to let good science guide us in making sure that we are getting the clean air benefits and engine performance that boaters, lawn care companies and others who rely on smaller engines deserve," Cardin said.

Delaware's DNREC was among those who submitted materials to the EPA in which they opposed the E-15 request. DNREC submitted 17 pages of materials.

"Most cars are only equipped to handle ethanol at 10 percent. They'll experience performance issues, run hotter and see a drop in gasoline efficiency at E-15," said Majorie Crofts, acting director of DNREC's Division of Air and Waste Management.

Griswold is convinced that ethanol is to blame for the problems his boat had on the water. To counteract the effects of E-10, Griswold has spent thousands of dollars to modify his boat and use gasoline additives, he said.

"All of the sudden, an engine that had been flawless had two breakdowns while out on the water," he said.

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Can I Sue the Seller of a Boat with Hull Delamination for Fraud?

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Q: Earlier this year, I bought a sailing yacht that was advertised and rigged for offshore cruising. Six months after I bought it, some of the topside paint started to peel off, and it now appears that the boat has a serious fiberglass delamination problem that will cost thousands of dollars to repair. I have since learned that the previous owner had been under contract to sell the boat several months before I bought it, and the deal fell through because the buyer’s surveyor had identified the delamination problem. I also had the boat surveyed, but I believe that my surveyor missed the problem because it was concealed by the seller. The seller and the broker repeatedly stated that the boat was in seaworthy condition, but a delaminated hull is obviously not seaworthy for a bluewater cruising boat. Can I pursue legal action against the seller and broker for fraud?

A: The short answer to this question, as with most legal questions, is “it depends.” In this case, it depends mostly on whether the buyer can establish that the seller took substantial steps to conceal the problem for the sole purpose of selling the boat to an unsuspecting buyer, and whether the broker knew of the concealment.
We addressed the issue of seller disclosures in a previous installment of this column (“Ask a Maritime Attorney — Dealing with Disclosures,” The Log, Nov. 30, 2006). In that column, we pointed out that the law in California requiring various disclosures to be made in real estate transactions does not extend to boat sales. As such, it will be extremely difficult to hold a seller liable if he or she remains silent regarding any known faults with the vessel.

A broker may be held under a different standard. For example, the scenario described by our reader involved a prior transaction, where the prospective buyer rejected the vessel when the delamination problem was discovered. If our reader was represented by a broker who was involved in the prior transaction or who otherwise knew of the problem, that broker may be found liable for breaching the fiduciary duty owed by every broker to a client.

For several reasons, the representation by the broker and seller that the boat was “seaworthy” will probably not be deemed a fraudulent misrepresentation of the boat’s condition.

First, a person is liable for a fraudulent misrepresentation only if the victim of the fraud reasonably relied upon the false statement. Our reader indicated that the boat was inspected by his own surveyor, who apparently missed the delamination problem.

Leaving aside the question of why the surveyor failed to discover the problem, it is never reasonable for a buyer’s expert to rely upon the seller’s representations. The job of a buyer’s inspector is to perform an independent inspection, and any representations made by the seller should be disregarded during the inspection process.

Second, saying that a boat is “seaworthy” is like a used car salesman referring to a clunker as being “cherry” or saying it’s in “great condition.” In some contexts, such as a maritime personal injury claim, “seaworthiness” is a legal term that will be a significant factor in the case. However, in boat sales, it is a subjective term that has no particular legal significance. It’s known in the ad industry as “puffing.”

This is different than, for example, misrepresenting the length of the boat or the horsepower of the engine, which are objective facts. “Puffing” is subjective and it is not something you can hold someone liable for.

Finally, we should say something about our reader’s own surveyor. Our reader believes that his own surveyor missed the delamination because the problem was concealed by the seller. To prove this, the buyer would need to prove that work was performed on the boat after the problem was discovered by the previous buyer’s surveyor.

He would then need to establish that the work was not a legitimate repair, and that the only purpose for that work was to conceal the delamination problem. And, he would need to prove that the concealment was so effective that a qualified surveyor could not have discovered the underlying problem. A tall order indeed.

We have worked on a lot of “rotten boat” disputes over the years, and nobody ever wins these types of battles. The buyer generally wants to sue the seller, the broker or brokers and his own surveyor. These targets rarely have insurance, and in the end it is almost impossible for the buyer to be made whole.

The best approach is to avoid the dispute altogether by doing some homework before entering the market in the first place. Buying a used boat may be a complicated endeavor, but the process can be simplified enormously through a little preliminary research into the broker, the surveyor, and the make and model of the boat.

The broker and surveyor are the buyer’s best resources, and the success of the transaction may rely on the diligence, independence and integrity of these individuals.

David Weil is licensed to practice law in the state of California and as such, some of the information provided in this column may not be applicable in a jurisdiction outside of California. Please note also that no two legal situations are alike, and it is impossible to provide accurate legal advice without knowing all the facts of a particular situation. Therefore, the information provided in this column should not be regarded as individual legal advice, and readers should not act upon this information without seeking the opinion of an attorney in their home state.

David Weil is the managing attorney at Weil & Associates (www.weilmaritime.com) in Long Beach. He is an adjunct professor of Admiralty Law at Loyola University Law School, a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and is former legal counsel to the California Yacht Brokers Association. If you have a maritime law question for Weil, he can be contacted at (562) 438-8149 or at dweil@weilmaritime.com

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