Bad boat yard experience - a lesson learned.

[willpower1]

I am originally from the Florida panhandle area. I still have family and return often I can tell you that the level of craftsmanship in Carrabelle or PC compared to Stuart Fl where I have lived for the past 15 years would be dramatic to say the least. I am not sure I would do any haul out work up there unless you absolutely had to. Fort Pierce and Stuart up to Canaveral seems to have more options and better workmanship

[BandB]

Originally Posted by willpower1

I am originally from the Florida panhandle area. I still have family and return often I can tell you that the level of craftsmanship in Carrabelle or PC compared to Stuart Fl where I have lived for the past 15 years would be dramatic to say the least. I am not sure I would do any haul out work up there unless you absolutely had to. Fort Pierce and Stuart up to Canaveral seems to have more options and better workmanship

We live in Fort Lauderdale and get all our major work done at one marina in West Palm. We've never gotten anything but excellent service on any boat we've taken there, but we do give them all our business. Still, we do have someone present to oversee all yard work. Quality work is readily available in Southeast Florida with many excellent yards all around. They appear at first to be more expensive but in the long run they do the job right, you don't have to take the boat back for the same work, and so they turn out to be cost effective.

Now, that said, we don't own a sailboat, and don't know if we would take one to the same yard or a different one if we did as we don't know which yards specialize in sailboats.

[thruska]

My shipyard/boatyard experience...
I worked in the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Yard in Sturgeon Bay , Wisconsin.
Best yard I ever walked on. A union yard and integrity of workers was to be admired.
At a yard in Portland Ct, I was accused of being an accomplice of a fired employee who had apparently pocketed consignment monies. Their reasoning was , I had bought consignment items. I paid cash and had to produce receipts to clear my butt. Then got billed for transient slip charges after 4 months on the yard.
At a yard in Wilmington nc, Bennet Bros, had insurance work done thru Progressive ins. We hauled and could not stay in boat. A kind liveaboard had an apartment empty and said please let us help you. Run around with ins adjustor and yard, yard started work without authorization, agent cut check on site and boat was back in water without inspection by me or agent. Rehauled because leak had appeared. Never signed a single document. A total disaster! Neither insurance nor yard accepts responsibility. Had no less than five adjustor son the claim. Bennet washed their hands of all wrongdoing. Original adjustor refused to speak to us. There were under the table deals going on and we became the bad guys. Just wanted our boat fixed.
Got hauled at a boatyard in Southport. Nc. , so the insurance company could survey the boat for condemnation, lol. It had a travelift. Thus a boatyard. It puts boats in a yard. The definition stops there in my humble opinion. Being called a boatyard doesn't make it a repair yard. The boat never got out of the sling. Cha -chingggg$$$
At a yard in North Carolina, got charged for environmental charges , water and electricity while there for storage only. They somehow got over spray on our mast, damaged the tricolor light, and mucked up the spreaders and claimed they were not responsible. After that our cc number 'wouldn't work' and they demanded bank check. Got a trailer and got the hell out of there.
Present boatyard I have no water at slip, although faucet is there, even after numerous requests. Intermittent electricity. Loose dock cleats, fallen thru dock deck, floating logs up against our boat and in slips. All request for repair on deaf ears.
Boatyards ain't all boatyards.... they should display barber poles so you could call em clip joints.
Shipyards is where ships are at! Not boats! I'm sure I'll hear guff on that statement.
Now for my bp meds lol.!

[BandB]

Originally Posted by thruska

My shipyard/boatyard experience...
I worked in the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Yard in Sturgeon Bay , Wisconsin.
Best yard I ever walked on. A union yard and integrity of workers was to be admired.
At a yard in Portland Ct, I was accused of being an accomplice of a fired employee who had apparently pocketed consignment monies. Their reasoning was , I had bought consignment items. I paid cash and had to produce receipts to clear my butt. Then got billed for transient slip charges after 4 months on the yard.
At a yard in Wilmington nc, Bennet Bros, had insurance work done thru Progressive ins. We hauled and could not stay in boat. A kind liveaboard had an apartment empty and said please let us help you. Run around with ins adjustor and yard, yard started work without authorization, agent cut check on site and boat was back in water without inspection by me or agent. Rehauled because leak had appeared. Never signed a single document. A total disaster! Neither insurance nor yard accepts responsibility. Had no less than five adjustor son the claim. Bennet washed their hands of all wrongdoing. Original adjustor refused to speak to us. There were under the table deals going on and we became the bad guys. Just wanted our boat fixed.
Got hauled at a boatyard in Southport. Nc. , so the insurance company could survey the boat for condemnation, lol. It had a travelift. Thus a boatyard. It puts boats in a yard. The definition stops there in my humble opinion. Being called a boatyard doesn't make it a repair yard. The boat never got out of the sling. Cha -chingggg$$$
At a yard in North Carolina, got charged for environmental charges , water and electricity while there for storage only. They somehow got over spray on our mast, damaged the tricolor light, and mucked up the spreaders and claimed they were not responsible. After that our cc number 'wouldn't work' and they demanded bank check. Got a trailer and got the hell out of there.
Present boatyard I have no water at slip, although faucet is there, even after numerous requests. Intermittent electricity. Loose dock cleats, fallen thru dock deck, floating logs up against our boat and in slips. All request for repair on deaf ears.
Boatyards ain't all boatyards.... they should display barber poles so you could call em clip joints.
Shipyards is where ships are at! Not boats! I'm sure I'll hear guff on that statement.
Now for my bp meds lol.!

Well, I obviously can't speak to the specifics of your situations but I do know at least one and maybe two of the yards you've maligned in your post has an excellent and well deserved reputation and I know many who have always been very pleased with their work. Seems you have insurance claims and I'm curious as to what led to those. If the marina where you are now is so bad, and certainly the things you describe would make it bad in my mind, why are you there and not at a better marina? Did you select based on price? Progressive for boat insurance also wouldn't be a choice I would make.

We all have different experiences. Since the only yard you named was Bennett Brothers, I've heard them praised by many captains I very much respect.

[thruska]

Originally Posted by BandB

Well, I obviously can't speak to the specifics of your situations but I do know at least one and maybe two of the yards you've maligned in your post has an excellent and well deserved reputation and I know many who have always been very pleased with their work. Seems you have insurance claims and I'm curious as to what led to those. If the marina where you are now is so bad, and certainly the things you describe would make it bad in my mind, why are you there and not at a better marina? Did you select based on price? Progressive for boat insurance also wouldn't be a choice I would make.

We all have different experiences. Since the only yard you named was Bennett Brothers, I've heard them praised by many captains I very much respect.

Hello, we were told the same, but our experience was different..
The other stuff is all about location location location.
I think we can concur that just because it costs more doesn't make it better.
Not willing to split hairs with you on any particulars at this point.
Thanks.

[ValiantV]

Though my experience with boatyards is mercifully minor so far, I did ask our surveyor for his thoughts on the yard where our boat was hauled for the initial survey. He said they were good with fiberglass and paint, but not so good with "mechanical" to things. Which is fine, since that's where my skills are strong.

We did inspect the minor hull repairs (blisters) and pint they did and they looked good. We had a couple of minor issues getting the boat back in the water. (Dead batteries due to somebody leaving cabin lights on...) But ok otherwise.

Those batteries were up for replacement anyway, so I didn't obsess too much about them being drained to zero.

When I got to replacing them, I did an inspection of the lugs on the cable. Just visually, the crimps didn't look very secure. Sure enough, the first one I touched slipped off with almost no pulling! Seems the boat had been going around with really loose crimps on the battery cables since last battery replacement - five years!

I replaced all of the battery cable lugs (had to buy a $80 special tool that I'll likely never use again in my life) but now I KNOW they're on.

As an avid D-I-Yer and former professional mechanic, my mantra remains "do it yourself, save money, and get the job done RIGHT!"

Sure, there are jobs I simply can't do myself - but I will supervise the heck out of those farmed-out jobs an QC them thoroughly before forking over cash.

This is why every boat, car, home owner needs to know how things work and roll up their sleeves to make sure they get a good job!

[Bleemus]

I do all of my own work. Only one person to blame. Saves a lot of bad feelings.

[alansmith]

This has been an interesting read. I have read many horror stories here. I also want to say that my first yard experience at Napa Marina in Napa California couldn't have been better. I hired their fiberglass guy for 2 days, approximately 8 hours total to teach me fiberglassing. I hired another guy who is their top finish guy to teach me "roll and tip" in enamel topside (Brightside)... maybe 3 hours. I have done the other coats and learned. These guys stop by all the time to check my progress. I found this yard by guys on C.F. Touting the yard. In California many yards won't let u work on your own boats. They let me borrow a dual action sander for free for almost a full month. Can't say enough good things about these people.

So, as in everything, due diligence, a little luck... and there are good yards. If you need work in San Francisco you have my endorsement for them.

[Mistress Sirena]

some serious boat bucks lost there