Marina Operator International, Summer 1998

Take Over has its Special Problems
by Damian E. Buckley

“Electrical inspectors cutting off power to the whole marina, contaminated fuel, irate customers and floating docks that simply did not float were amongst the challenges we recently faced when we took on a new management contract”, says Damian Buckley.

Within days of taking over the property, somebody called the local electrical inspector. The situation went from bad to worse when he arrived and threatened to close down the marina because of the abominable condition of the electrical system. It was obvious that the previous owners had done things ‘on the cheap.’

One of the slip holders, in return for free dockage, had organized repair work at the property. There were customers who did maintenance work for a free berth and customers who pumped fuel in return for free something or other. We had an immediate management nightmare on our hands.

The electrical inspector was amazed. “Nothing here resembles anything like the guidelines in the Electrical Code—not for this county, for this country”, he stated. We had to agree—and ask him for his help. He closed down one dock that was the worst of the lot, pointing out that he was not concerned about sinking boats or the fact that we had to move boats to other slips, but about life-threatening situations.  

He gave us a couple of weeks to have emergency repairs made to other parts of the property and to carry out a thorough inspection of the remaining docks in order to bring them up to Code. So far, so good. However, delays were inevitable. Rain stopped play for a week, the electrical engineer needed non-existent plans and the customers were still complaining.

Eventually, the contractor finished the emergency work and the electrical engineer completed his plans. We sat down together, discussed the plans and forwarded them to the local electrical inspector. He took one look at our efforts and disagreed with the type of electrical cable that had been specified. Both contractor and engineer insisted that their individual choice of cabling met Code Requirements but interpretation of the code itself was evidently the major issue. Realizing that the electrical inspector had other weapons he could use against the property, we felt it would be prudent to acquiesce with his suggestions. The engineer redrew the plans to indicate the changes and the electrical contractors applied for a permit. Finally, the electrical inspector signed off the plans and issued a permit for the work. Continue »