Review of Boatyards in Chaguaramas, Trinidad

[Cheechako]

I left my boat on the hard in Florida one summer. I asked the yard foreman to grind out some small waterline blisters carefully just enough depth to expose the glass so they would dry for the summer. Two narrow strips maybe 3 ft long. When I had returned, he had told the "new guy" to do it and that guy had gouged real deep and ground out inches above the waterline into the topsides! I dont think the foreman ever looked at it.
Getting bad work isnt reserved to Trini for sure! Being there when work occurs is priceless....

[Waimangu]

@Bill_E We did most of the work ourselves so not much first hand experience of people's work. Whenever we did need anything, we asked for advice on the Cruiser's Net in the morning and were able to crowd source a recommendation! Coral Cove allows anybody to work on your boat whereas i think in Power Boats you had to use "their" guys. Having a project manager was helpful for friends of ours in Power Boats who had their hull sprayed with Awlgrip. If they weren't happy with something, they could go and talk to the manager who would sort it out for them.
We stayed at the hotel in Coral Cove for a few nights when we got back. I think it was around $60 US per night. Room was adequate with shower, AC, cooker, fridge, sink and cupboards for self catering. You could probably negotiate cheaper for a longer term. Crews Inn also has a hotel. Didn't notice any condos but I'm sure they exist. A great local "helpy helperton" is Jessie James: 'Members Only' Maxi Taxi Service - Home I'm sure he could advise.

[Southern Star]

Thanks everyone for the updates - very helpful.

Brad

[Mark_S.]

Can you leave your boat in the water in Trinidad, and what are the reason to do so or not?

[Cheechako]

There are mooring bouys over by the yacht club where people leave their boats. I would not try it on the other side where the yards are... terrible holding in there and a lot of junk on the bottom and exposed to wind that occasionally comes from the wrong direction.

[terrysandling]

Hi Gail ,or anyone ready this, is is a long time ago is anyone reading this still in Trinadad or Granada who could give me some information on the present circumstances of these years 2017 many grateful thanks Terry

[gael]

Hi terrysandling,
My sailboat is still on Powerboat, since 2012 an so far so good....
Camao is an aluminium "midle size" boat (50ft) .
For boat handling, the crew know its job. They are calms and do their job very well in spite of the strong emotionnal context, having the boat owner on their shoulder.
In case of longer boat , Peak should prefered. For multihull , Pwboat has a special trolley.A friend of me haul out a 55ft cat and all went ok.
In term of safety, I didnt heard about issue , even if you leave some unattend gears on the ground.( I didnt try banknote...)
The frontoffice lady are very professional and always try to solve your problem.
Connection with airport is fine with local cab.
There are both 110V and 220V power line.
So I dnt see no "real" negative aspect.

For smaller boat there is an other shipyard but I have no personnal experience.

Hope this help.
best regards
Gael

[gael]

Originally Posted by Mark_S.

Can you leave your boat in the water in Trinidad, and what are the reason to do so or not?

There are 2 spots where to leave the boat:
1- In the Yatch club(TTSA) , nearly 2km from the main Chaguaramas facility.
Very calm ,very nice pool and club, exepted when the wind come from SE , very a very long fetch area. Also a bit far from all shops.
2- In front of the shipyards. I'll never left my boat on a buoy there because it is not alaways well protected from winds and waves, the bouys service is not "reasonable", and woth there is a strong trafic with fisherman shuttles, local lancia's, taxis running as crazy and sometime hit the boats.

There also few others spots on the trinidad south shore but I never experienced them.

[shipchips]

Hello all,

I am on the hard in Power Boats right now. I can't get to my boat due to Covid so I decided to let the yard do some work for me. Well I had to put a stop to it, like everyone has said you need to be there when the work is going on.

Nothing to horrible but they should have cleared it with me before they started removing parts of my galley to get to my chain plates.

That being said, they are all very friendly and in the office they are really trying to make things right.

So I have her covered under a shrink rap cover and two dehumidifiers running full time until I can get there and get things in order.

If anyone is interested I can keep updating this.

Jim