Federal judge rules that repairs made to his boat by Nathan Carman contributed to sinking of vessel

A federal court judge Monday ruled that faulty repairs made by Nathan Carman likely caused his boat to sink, rejecting an $85,000 insurance claim.

Carman’s mother disappeared after his boat sank off Long Island on a fishing trip and Carman was later rescued.

“The Court finds that the Policy does not cover Mr. Carman’s loss. Because the facts show that Mr. Carman made improper and faulty repairs to his boat that contributed to its sinking,” Judge John J. McConnell ruled in a 16-page decision released Monday morning.

McConnell pointed specifically to Carman’s attempt to repair holes in the boat’s hull.

“The evidence shows that Mr. Carman’s transom hole repairs were incomplete, improper, and faulty because he filled the holes with epoxy and did not use fiberglass as an exterior seal. The removal of the trim tabs and the faulty repairs rendered the boat unseaworthy and in poor condition. Having four holes in the back of a boat lends itself to taking water on,” McConnell wrote. “It is more likely than not that this improper repair at least indirectly caused water to fill up the bilge, causing the boat to sink.”

The Chicken Pox sank in September 2016 while Nathan Carman was tuna fishing off Long Island with his mother, Linda Carman, on board. She is missing and presumed dead. Carman was rescued eight days later by a freighter off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard while floating in a raft

National Liability & Fire Insurance Co. and the Boat Owners Association of the United States refused to pay Carman’s claim and instead sued him in federal court alleging the Chicken Pox either sank because of the faulty repairs he made to it before the ill-fated voyage or because he deliberately wanted to sink it.

Carman’s three aunts, meanwhile, have accused him of first murdering his grandfather John Chakalos in 2013 and then deliberately sinking the boat to kill his mother so he would stand to inherit her $7 million share of his grandfather’s estate.

Despite police investigations and court filings, Carman has never been charged with any crimes and has maintained all along he loved his grandfather and didn’t kill him, and that his boat sinking was a tragic accident.

Attorney David Farrell, lawyer for the insurance companies, described Carman in his final arguments as a liar because “no one can verify his scenario of how the boat sank” and questioned whether his mother was even alive when it happened.

“As the boat is sinking there’s not one word from his ever-vigilant mother asking what’s going on,” Farrell said. “How could that be if she isn’t in a coma or already dead or not even on board by then?”

Farrell went onto say he never offered her a life jacket and then walked by the radio and the boat’s emergency beacon three times gathering supplies without turning them on.

David Anderson, Carman’s lawyer, said it was the Chicken Pox itself that was to blame -- a 40-year-old waterlogged boat that had been transformed several times to the point it just sank.

“Something catastrophic happened to that boat. What it was we’ll never know, but this wasn’t caused by some slow leak,” Anderson said.

Prior to leaving for the fishing trip Carman made several alterations to the boat. During the trial, expert witnesses testified for the insurance companies that the changes made the boat not seaworthy.

The biggest change was removing two trim tabs from the rear of the boat and then stuffing the holes with paper towels and sealing them with epoxy. Several experts testified that Carman’s repair left holes in the boat dangerously close to the water line. Trim tabs help the boat remain stable.

Farrell also argued several of the expert witnesses raise serious questions about Carman’s version of events. One witness testified he fished in Block Canyon area the whole day that Carman’s boat was supposed to have sunk and never saw anything.

A tides expert said that based on charts there’s no way the raft would have floated to Martha’s Vineyard if it sank where Carman claimed it did.

But Anderson said that Carman, who had never used sea charts before, was confused about where the boat sank. He said Carman just used the electronic equipment on the boat to guide it to the Block Canyon area, located near Long Island.

The murder of John Chakalos and the Chicken Pox sinking are both still under investigation by both the U.S. Attorney’s office in Connecticut and the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. At one point law enforcement authorities from four New England states were investigating the boat sinking, although it is unclear now if there is still an active investigation.

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