Every season, I find it—the innocent little screw that opened the floodgates.  A cleat, a rod holder, or a deck fitting installed with good intentions but no understanding of what lies beneath.  Most yacht decks aren’t solid fiberglass; they’re sandwiches of fiberglass skins and a lightweight core that gives stiffness without weight.  Drive a screw straight into that core and you’ve just created a hidden pathway for water, rot, and structural failure.  What looks secure today can quietly destroy a boat from the inside out.

When the owner of a brand-new Parker boat discovered water collecting inside his hull, he did what any responsible boater would do — he called the dealer. What followed, however, wasn’t reassurance or resolution, but a pattern of avoidance. The dealership claimed to have found and fixed the source, yet weeks later, the problem persisted. Instead of standing behind their product, management deflected, leaving the owner to navigate the issue alone. By the time I was brought in to investigate, what appeared to be a simple warranty concern had become a deeper story of neglect — one that revealed how easily a small leak can expose a much larger failure in accountability.