Maintenance schedules on liveaboards?

[CycleCat]

I just read my third trip report in the last few weeks about a liveaboard in the Sea of Cortez that still has not fixed the air conditioning on some decks and now has a plumbing problem. I'm curious what kind of schedules to do most operators have for leaving a boat offline for maintenance. I imagine it's tough to make repairs when a boat comes in from a week long tour one day and then heads right back out the next day with a new group of divers. If it's non vital, like propulsion or safety systems, do they only get time for repair once a year during the off season? I know it would cut into their profits but it seems to me that one week a month out of service for maintenance would not be unreasonable.

 

[Johnoly]

... for maintenance. I imagine it's tough to make repairs

Maintenance and repairs are 2 very different categories. And most L/A inspected ships don't fly the USA flag so they have a completely different set of requirements & don't have to do a haul-out every 2 yrs. I've seen boats having their hulls painted while loading passengers and seen state-rooms empty while carpet and cabinets are torn out while passengers are diving in the middle of the ocean. I'm sure @Wookie can relate his most unusual fix while doing 5knots underway.

The trip reviews are littered with complaints from $80/day weeklong liveaboards that have problems. In the end You usually get what you pay for.

 

[living4experiences]

@Johnoly makes a good point. If it's not flagged in the USA with USA standards, you never know what maintenance they're doing. Some companies will take their boat(s) out of service for one month a year in the off season to do a dry dock service and spruce it up, overhaul things, repaint, new cabinets, mattresses, carpets, etc. Others never take their boats out of service and do service on the fly. The guest turnover is done on the same day, so there's no time for a major repair. Guests leave in the a.m. on the last day of their trip and the new ones come on about 5 p.m. that day.

My recent experience in the Sea of Cortez has me soured even more about the liveaboard industry. I would think that now, post-COVID, these companies' boats would be in top shape, but that is certainly not the case. At $500-$700+ per day, I have certain expectations of comfort.

 

[Wookie]

How many times have I been covered in sh!t in the middle of a charter? Swung a head on a main engine while sitting on a mooring in the Dry Tortugas? Torn down a generator in Colombia thats spitting fireballs out the exhaust. Added 3 cylinders of freon to the AC over a weekend to keep folks sleeping at night.

The trick is keeping the passengers from knowing anything is awry.

these companies' boats would be in top shape

2 years of no income doesn't get a lot of maintenance done, when you're paying for the dock every night instead of one night a week, paying a crew to keep the looters off, and the payments and insurance ($40,000 a year) didn't let up a bit.