Three Brits Chartering out of Sarasota

[FSMike]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to charter hereabouts in the future with a better company/vessel.

[aussie riv 47]

Well I am glad you named and shamed. I am also looking at chartering for 3 weeks. Will definitely not be using Chitwood Charters. The condition of the boat must have been dreadful to forgo your deposit.


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[Scout 30]

Is there more to this story? They have 2 GB 42's. One cost $2,595 for a week & the other is $2,995. They both look great in the pictures although I learned a long time ago how misleading pics can be. Wouldn't they let you change your charter to 1 week since you'd already paid for more than that? Also, how did you pay the deposit. If you used a credit card & the boat was actually unsafe to charter you should be able to get your money back.

[rtimmorris]

We were due to charter a GB 42 MY. They only have one. I am still on vacation in Jamaica, and had hoped to wait until I return home before clarifying things.

Chitwood will only accept bankers draft, cashiers cheque or cash. Wonder why?

The boat is 1985 and shows its age. I have no idea if it's unsafe. Although the anchor chain was in dreadful condition, and the radar has not "worked for years", we did not get any further. For us it was also the conditions inside. We were aiming to live on the hook for 2 weeks. The cooker was in a disgusting state, the refrigerator and freezer was the same. Rusty racks. I had also (subsequently) read another feedback saying that items were in poor order. I was shown a large cool box on deck that we could use for ice! It was suggested we could be complaining about boat smells next, which made me wonder if he wasn't letting me know all the heads were smelly. (Poorly maintained). In the stateroom lockers were bags of bedding and huge fans. This caused me concern about the aircon which was mentioned in another feedback I read on Chitwood.

The boat is listed for sale on Yachtworld, and included washer dryer (not working we were told), new teak decks, (really? Decks definitely NOT new). A look at the wiring inside the flybridge console was very worrying. This was not going to be our 'home' for 2 weeks.

In fairness they did try to remedy some items before the charter was due to begin, but painting inside the fridge wasn't what we had in mind. They also cleaned the cooker. "Most charterers stay in marinas and use restaurants" he said. Also dropping in the "10hr daily limit on Gennie use". First I had heard of that! The boat was priced at $2995 (plus tax we didn't know about). It is not that expensive, but to us was poor value, and unacceptable.

I just didn't trust the situation and became concerned about how much of the deposit we would get back. I explained our preferred option was to cancel and have the deposit returned; "Well that's not gonna happen". Otherwise could we take just one week and use it as a day boat? "I'll lose $3000 if I did that". Lastly I suggested we could continue with the charter as planned, but at a reduce figure, and again we would use it as a day boat? "Nope". We were offered a 53' Selene at around $6500-6995 (not sure) which was dirty, but nice. The master bed had a 3' circular stain on the mattress. Even had that been dealt with, the boat was too big and too expensive for what we wanted really. The $10k cash security really worried me in this guy's hands.

That was pretty much it. I decided that I was uncomfortable dealing with this person, and gave up on the $3000.

Make your own mind up. Have a look at the Chitwood boats yourself. You may think they're fine. We didn't. Someone else went off in the 36GB so maybe they were happy.

In Florida, Jung Charters have ceased trading and SWF YACHTS in Cape Coral was the only other I know of.

[Scout 30]

Thanks for the clarification. I've been fooled by pictures before & this is another example of how you can't trust them. Looking at their website I can see why you went with them. I wish there was something we could do to stop companies like this from giving Florida a worse reputation than it already has. I hope you give them a bad review on every website you can find.