SY Hattie Lee (2017)

Dear Emre:

Mary Beth and I would like to let you know how much we appreciate all the work you and the rest of the team at TMS did on our sailboat last year. People often compliment us about HATTIE LEE’s appearance and are amazed to learn the boat is more than 30-years old. The teak deck looks wonderful and the Sikafex adhesive, absence of screws or bungs, and flawlessly applied calking give us confidence the new decking is likely to outlast the original (or at least last a lot longer than we will). The design is attractive and the details on the hatch tops and in the cockpit area were executed perfectly. Your carpenters really did a first-rate job.

Likewise, the new paint around the cockpit, bulwark, and bowsprit was a big improvement. Your painter was correct that the spayed-on Awlgrip looks much better than the brush application we originally requested (it was also a relief to learn you wouldn’t charge more for the Awlgrip than for the cheaper paint in the original estimate). The only problem is that the rest of the cabin area which we previously thought looked fine now seems a bit tatty by comparison. Maybe we can arrange to get it painted this Summer.

We know from personal experience how much work it is each Spring to paint the bottom, reapply varnish, wash and wax the hull, and so on. Your TMS staff did a great job at a very reasonable price (no charge for polishing all the stainless!) and our only regret is that we probably won’t be in the Marmaris area next winter and may have do this work ourselves or pay someone else who is likely to charge more and not do as good a job.

We also greatly appreciated all the other things you did for us that made boat work easy (or easier anyway) such as providing advice, coordination, translation services and followup with other businesses in Marmaris such as the sailmaker and refrigerator technician. Your expertise, experience with local boat services and fluency with English were invaluable. It also helped that you stored so much of our gear that we needed to unload from lockers for the deck work. Plus, it was an extremely pleasant surprise to find the boat so clean and tidy when we returned. Given our past experiences with boat workers and the fact that installing new teak deck inherently involves producing volumes of sawdust, we anticipated the boat interior to be at least a little dirty or dusty upon our return this Spring. Not true! Your crew carefully covered vents and small openings with masking tape and then scrupulously cleaned and dusted after finishing the carpentry work.

But most of all we wanted to thank you for being so pleasant, thoughtful and accommodating. As you know we can be a little particular and micromanaging about our boat. (Just remember Mary Beth’s lectures about paint colors and the various shades of white.) But you were always patient and helpful in finding solutions. It is difficult to coordinate boat work, especially when one party is overseas, but you were always responsive to our e-mails and the updates and photos were very reassuring. Most memorable for us, however, will be the lengthy in-person conversations and tea breaks with had with you discussing boat work, boats, and many other topics. Thank you very, very much.

Kind regards,

Karl and Mary Beth Gleaves

SY HATTIE LEE

April 10, 2017