Non-diving problem - need to vent

[tk trekers]

So my wife had a couple of days off and we decided to head up to our boathouse (small house built on the dock for clarification) at Eisenhower Yacht Club today to spend the night and the day tomorrow before heading back home. We arrive and see that they have disconnected all of our electrical power to our boathouse and have installed a new panel providing power to our boat and have run an extension cord into the house to provide power to our refrigerator from the one courtesy outlet they installed. The old circuit breaker box has been removed and all of the wires to our boathouse, deck and exterior lights have been cut off.

Now we had seen that they were doing some updates and we received a letter last week that said they were doing some updates and that we would be provided with an estimate for updates to our boathouse that were our responsibility as the Corp. of Engineers required all electrical service to be updated to NEC 2008.

So here is the problem, aside from no notice being given as to the WHEN this was going to take place. They have known about the updates since the start of the year. Would it have been such a hassle to provide people with an estimate BEFORE they rip out all of your electric power? On top of that they do this the week before a holiday weekend that my wife had to schedule vacation time for 4 months ago.

So we head straight to the office and they say, we mailed a letter out saying that this was going to be done but no mention as to WHEN it was going to be done. After much discussion ending with they agree that this was a poor business practice, we drive back home (a little over an hour each way). They call while we are driving back home to let us know that they got the estimate from the electrician and it will be almost $1,900 to update "our" portion of the electrical service but they guarantee that it will be done before next weekend.

With this short notice I have no option to get another electrician up there to get a comparative estimate at the very least before our planned holiday weekend there with guests.

The other aspect of this, back to diving, is that my planned trip to Cozumel in October is now hosed because I have to spend the $1,900 for electrical updates that I had planned to spend on diving.

All-in-all, I'm pretty pissed and needed to vent!

Thanks for the opportunity to rant!

[Coastie6]

Welcome to life on a Corp of Engineers lake. They can decide whenever they want to change requirements and you have to comply.

Here on Table Rock they decided that all the foam on dock must be of an encapsulated type to save the environment. Now, I'm all for saving the environment, but oddly enough, the commercial docks were not currently required to comply, only private docks.

Worst of all, when your dock permit was up for renewal, the upgrade had to be made, or you dock had to be pulled from the Lake. Unfortunately our dock was in the first batch to be hit (permits expiring December 2008). So there was about six months to get estimates and then collect almost $1,600 from each of the 20 slip owners on the dock, an interesting exercise to say the least.

So, while the yacht club may hold some responsibility for the short notice, the issue may be more symptomatic of the amount of notice they were given by the Corp.

[tk trekers]

Originally Posted by Coastie6

So, while the yacht club may hold some responsibility for the short notice, the issue may be more symptomatic of the amount of notice they were given by the Corp.

They told us in the office today that they were aware of this when they signed their new agreement which actually took place last December. I have absolutely no problem with the requirement to upgrade, just the manner in which the ownership passed it along. A simple letter at the beginning of the year stating that you would be required to upgrade all of the electrical service in your slip by a certain date would have been sufficient and would have provided ample time to everyone to prepare financially and get alternate estimates if desired. You should not get a letter saying that you are going to get an estimate for an upgrade then show up to find all of your stuff (lights, electrical outlets, hot water heater, AC unit, ceiling fans, etc.) disconnected and the wires cut. Realistically, I own the wiring that they cut out and they did not have my permission to do it. I can say for sure that of the two marinas we have had our boat at in the last 5 years, mine was definitely not anywhere close to being in the worst shape, I did have GFCI units and all of the connections were sealed and I sure didn't have gaping holes in my circuit breaker box like some of my neighbors did.

[scubastud]

Curious.. I am an electrician.. what kind of updates are they demanding?

[mrmccoy]

I think I would be pretty mad too! hope everything gets finished before the 4th.

[tk trekers]

Originally Posted by scubastud

Curious.. I am an electrician.. what kind of updates are they demanding?

I think the biggest thing was no exposed romex anywhere, everything had to be in conduit. While every switch and junction box was sealed, there was romex running to everything. I honestly don't know when the electric was originally done but it all has to be updated to NEC 2008 and of course suitable for wet locations.

[Splitlip]

Originally Posted by tk trekers

I think the biggest thing was no exposed romex anywhere, everything had to be in conduit. While every switch and junction box was sealed, there was romex running to everything. I honestly don't know when the electric was originally done but it all has to be updated to NEC 2008 and of course suitable for wet locations.

Hmmm.
I am no expert on the 2008 NEC, as it has not been adopted here yet. Was supposed to be July 1st, but it won't happen. But we are talking about the Feds. I will look into in the morning if I have time, but I am tailgating in the PM for the Kid Rock concert. \m/ .

I am sure one of the "sparkies" (I know you guys hate that) will reply sooner.

[tk trekers]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

Hmmm.
I am no expert on the 2008 NEC, as it has not been adopted here yet. Was supposed to be July 1st, but it won't happen. But we are talking about the Feds. I will look into in the morning if I have time, but I am tailgating in the PM for the Kid Rock concert. \m/ .

I am sure one of the "sparkies" (I know you guys hate that) will reply sooner.

Yeah, last I knew was the NEC 2007 but they said on their letter NEC 2008. Regardless, it is the version in effect right now and I'm sure their agreement was for the current version to be the most up to date on the upgrades.

[Coastie6]

Originally Posted by tk trekers

They told us in the office today that they were aware of this when they signed their new agreement which actually took place last December. I have absolutely no problem with the requirement to upgrade, just the manner in which the ownership passed it along. A simple letter at the beginning of the year stating that you would be required to upgrade all of the electrical service in your slip by a certain date would have been sufficient and would have provided ample time to everyone to prepare financially and get alternate estimates if desired. You should not get a letter saying that you are going to get an estimate for an upgrade then show up to find all of your stuff (lights, electrical outlets, hot water heater, AC unit, ceiling fans, etc.) disconnected and the wires cut. Realistically, I own the wiring that they cut out and they did not have my permission to do it. I can say for sure that of the two marinas we have had our boat at in the last 5 years, mine was definitely not anywhere close to being in the worst shape, I did have GFCI units and all of the connections were sealed and I sure didn't have gaping holes in my circuit breaker box like some of my neighbors did.

Sounds about right, 6-months. I'd be upset too, As you said, technically, the wiring was yours. I hope you can get something worked out cheaper this week.

Best of luck.

[Splitlip]

You have seen our Marketing Promos. "The rules are different in Flori-DUH". LOL
I'll see what I can find out.

I have been dealing with associations my entire professional life. They always blame their actions on the "government".