What caused a Lake Stevens woman's boat to sink, taking her down with it?
While authorities continue to investigate, the KING 5 Investigators have been taking a closer look at the Kent manufacturer that built that boat.
At a Seattle shipyard, Captain David Holdsworth tapped on the hull of a Tiger Trax boat with a hammer, part of his inspection of the custom ski boat. Holdsworth is a retired ship builder and accredited marine inspector with 50 years of experience.
"I would rate it very, very dangerous. The condition is poor. It's unsafe," said Holdsworth, who noted serious defects in the boat from stem to stern.
The boat is a Tiger Trax brand that was built by a manufacturer that's now being investigated after a drowning this summer on Lake Stevens.
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The boat capsized in July with 10 people on board.
Witnesses say it sank so quickly no one could save the boat's owner, Cindy Tate. She wasn't wearing a lifejacket, which was a fatal mistake. But authorities are also investigating, and haven't yet concluded, if her boat failed her as well.
"They're supposed to float, right? boats?" asked Andrew "Curly" Page of Tumwater. He owns a Tiger Trax that was built around the same time and at the same Kent plant as Cindy Tate's. He loaned it to KING 5 for Captain Holdsworth's inspection.
Holdsworth found serious flotation problems with the boat. For instance, compartments in the hull that are supposed to be airtight had water inside, which adds weight and instability.
"What you're doing is like putting rocks back in that compartment," said Holdsworth. "I would rate it as being very unsafe," answered Holdsworth when asked how he would rate the manufacturing of the compartments.
Holdsworth said there's a lesson for all boat owners here: that a vessel that looks sleek and shipshape outside could be a shipwreck on the inside.
"The big problem is that there is no real inspection by the Coast Guard of builders," he said.
Even though most boats have a Coast Guard capacity plate, it's unlikely they were inspected. The Coast Guard mainly relies on an honor system that boats are built to spec. That's why Holdsworth says boat owners should pay for their own inspection using a qualified marine surveyor, for boats new and used.
Federal law has strict flotation requirements for boats under 20 feet, those that are statistically more likely to capsize. So Capt. Holdsworth took out a laser to measure Page's Tiger Trax. He says it measures just less than 20 feet, so it's required to float even when capsized to give boaters like Cindy Tate an "island" in the event of a water emergency.
Holdsworth says it's not unusual for an inspection to turn up unintended defects, but Page's Tiger Trax was clearly manufactured in violation of numerous federal safety standards.
Tiger Trax founder Phil Warnock , who lives near Kent, did not respond to our requests for a comment on this story.
He's built many brands of boats in the last 30 years and served a prison sentence for defrauding customers and suppliers.
We've learned Warnock is now building small "sidewinder" speedboats and shipping them to Canada.
His distributor tells KING 5 he can't sell the boats yet because they've flunked the Canadian government's flotation tests.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office has hired a marine surveyor to inspect Cindy Tate's boat.
Detectives are also investigating whether the ski boat was overloaded and whether alcohol could have been a factor. Those familiar with the investigation say it could take several months before it's concluded.
