Dream Yacht Charter DYC $26000 Disaster - Our yacht rental was very poorly maintained. After several failures of critical systems we no longer felt safe and left the boat. We were refused a reasonable refund. Annapolis MD

Your DYC contract means nothing.  Despite several DYC failures to uphold our contract, they refused to compensate us for a trip that went nowhere. The boat they provided was in terrible mechanical condition.  When we arrived at the boat the batteries were dead.  We found 24 unacceptable issues with the boat during our walk through on board.  We lost the first 2 days of our trip due to the need of repairs. On our first day out, we tried to raise the main sail.  That was impossible as the lines for reefing were misled and in a jumble. They did not lead back to the cockpit as advertised.  We spent the next day working with the sail until we could get it hoisted.  Upon arriving at our first anchorage, we were horrified to discover that the long rope in the anchor locker was not attached to the anchor!  We had only 110 feet of chain with no rope, which would not allow the anchor to set in the 34-foot anchorage.   We were forced to move perilously close to the beach.

 The next day we motored 18 miles to a DYC facility as per our instructions from DYC.  The "mechanic" was a local yacht skipper with no parts and no specialty training. He made the sails usable, called the anchoring gear "a load of crap" and sent us on our way to another DYC facility 20 miles further for possible help with the anchoring gear. In route our steering failed - a steering cable parted.  We called the coast guard who came to our aid.  The coast guard escorted us to a mooring where two local yacht service companies helped us with our lines.  The mechanic came on board, had to source parts, but had a family death which would be taking all his time for the next 3 days.  He returned as promised and repaired the steering but warned us that there were problems with the steering system that needed specialty care and we needed to proceed to the next island to the DYC facility there

The steering failed again in the open seas between islands.  We called the coast guard which provided us with a mooring and the captain of the port to assist us. (In both instances of failure of the steering system, we were unable to use the emergency tiller as the heat from the engine was dangerous.). We insisted DYC send a mechanic for the repair, and he arrived with a repair - plastic cable ties!  He moved the vessel to the DYC facility where the staff refused to repair the boat to our satisfaction. 

Bottom line, we paid for one month of sailing and got a faulty craft that needed daily repair.  We lost our vacation but when we requested a refund, we were offered 25% of the total amount paid.  We paid nearly $26,000 and were offered $6200.