Going to Central America for major work

[hatteras53]

Our vessel needs a complete paint job/fiberglass work/windows replacement. Is it worth the long journey from the USA East Coast as a cost savings ? Or are there any REASONABLE boatyards here in the lower Southern States of America that will not rob us. I know B.O.A.T. (bring on another thousand) ! Just so very tired of $100 per hour here for the many of the workers who can't do good work/have a bad attitude/get to it whenever. Michael

[Thumbs Up]

If you go to Guatemala to have this work done it is important to know which materials to bring. Good paints, primers, and epoxies are more expensive there and some can be hard to get.

[Benz]

If you go foreign you have to worry about supply issues. Some folks waited at anchor for weeks in Roatan for some tubes of Sikaflex to arrive. I paid nearly twice what I would have 'stateside for bottom paint and 5200 in Colombia. I wouldn't trust a critical fiberglass repair job to the yard contractors in Colombia--they might do it in all mat if you're not looking, and I never saw so much a biax cloth anywhere in the western carib. Might be there, but I never found it. They're also notorious for getting you a great deal on bottom paint, then watering it down with mineral spirits. Little things like that to look out for...

[LittleWing77]

Here's a thread you might find useful:

Best Place in Florida to Get Structural Glasswork Done
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ne-244101.html

It's in Carabelle, on the Gulf side, according to tkeithlu's Post #2.

For Florida's East Coast, I would always recommend Derecktor's in Fort Lauderdale. Excellent work and very storied history. I've worked aboard 2 100'+ yachts who were refit in the Florida yard. They also have a sister yard (actually the original) in Mamaroneck, NY. You want it done right...?

[Cpt Mark]

I have no experience in South America but do have some in Mexico. I did an offshore delivery for a client to Ensenada partly for tax reasons partly because he had a lot of work to do on the boat and he didn't want to pay American yard rates of over $100 per hour. I asked him who his project manager was going to be. None. "It's a great yard I won't need one" (translated, I'm saving money by not using a PM). I spoke with him at great length to be certain he understood why I thought his plan would fail. He went with it anyway and 6 months later called me to tell me I had been right. Cost him way more then the local San Diego (not cheap) yards would have done the job for.

Same thing happens in Asia and all over the world. Yes labor is cheap and these people want to make money which often means cutting corners. I would have no problem doing business offshore in a labor cheap locale as long as you (or your PM) are there to watch every step of the process and make sure your materials are being used.

[jdaltonpe]

I recently completed a major refit in Guatemala and acted as my own project manager. We ended up with a pretty good result even with doing a number of things twice to get it right. I did have a substantial problem one day when I was absent however - the adjacent boat was sprayed without setting up protection for my boat which was seriously over sprayed. The contractor was not present and his guys were cutting corners as they tend to do. We worked together to clean up the overspray on my boat but the solar panels are suffering for it and their warranty is gone due to application of acetone, I had nothing to loose so I tried and bring them back to life after copious discussion and testing. Planning on replacement of the panels after suffering considerable loss of solar harvest I tried to create a 4 party solution that everyone could live with. $1,500 from Arne the local contractor (no insurance), heavily discounted replacement panels from Sunbeam Systems the solar panel supplier(great supplier), re-installation by myself and an insurance claim for damages from Nanajuana the boatyard to make up the difference. Original cost of the 1 year old panels was $10,000. Owner of the boatyard refused to file an insurance claim or provide any other type of compensation, all he could say was 'Not My Problem - just pay your bill and get out of here'. He was a local politician convicted of fraud who is no longer in politics but somehow magically avoided serving his time. So, even though I did my own supervision I got hosed through no fault of my own. I understand that things happen and mistakes are made but if it happened stateside I believe I would have been compensated and if not then a claim in court would have worked. My mistake was choosing the wrong boatyard and not doing enough investigation beforehand - word of warning. Glad I added 100Amp alternators during refit because my income has crashed with Covid 19 and I can not afford the replacement solar panels right now.

[JasonS]

Try Apex Marine in Pompano Beach for your bottom and fiberglass. Bill Dalton is the manager and is highly involved. He documents everything with dozens of photos. They are a small yard near Hillsboro Inlet just north of Ft Lauderdale.
For your Windows, call Paul at Oceanview Yachts. His team is neat, courteous, and fair. Both will answer your questions and take good care of you.

Let them both know that I sent you and say hello!

Jason
Breathe
Manta 40

BreatheSailDive.com
Facebook.com/breathesaildive

[AiniA]

You can get good (not perfect) work done in Trinidad.

[KENDO]

There are facilities here in Belize that can do almost anything. I use Thunderbird marina near Placencia. Email doug@hardnine.net to get the answers to your questions. He pulls my cat out no problem. He accepts US currency or wires in the US.

[mvmojo]

Call Taylor Cockrell at Tiffany Yachts in Burgess, Va. Their labor rates are $55 to $75/hr and they do very good work (used to be high end boat builders). We had MOJO painted there and had a new engine installed there. I'd worry about the Covid situation in the Caribbean and whether you can clear into the various countries...

[Mikado]

Rio Dulce Guatemala.

I’ve gotten more beautifuly done work here in the past year than I did with the hacks in Florida over 18 years. Price is $.10 to the dollar. PM if you’d like some pics

Most marinas rival any in the US. 60’ slip is $200/mo.

[waterman46]

Anybody know of good people in Belize or Rio Dulce for replacing a refrigeration system?

[LLCoolDave]

Originally Posted by waterman46

Anybody know of good people in Belize or Rio Dulce for replacing a refrigeration system?

I think the only refrigeration guy is Chris Stanley. He's they only yacht broker there and a very good guy.

I have two friends who have had their boats painted at RAM with impressive results. Costs were half of the US.

For any serious work you need to be there to make sure it is done right. I had another friend that had teak decks taken off and reglassed. The end result turned out well but it was a real struggle to get what she wanted. Rebedding deck stantions the workers were using screws instead of bolts. Lots of stuff like that.

Edwin's yacht service just completed a complete refit of a Defever 65 MY. They loaded up the boat with everything they needed for the refit and brought it with them. I never met the owner but I've read their writeup of the experience and they were very pleased.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Cpt Mark

I have no experience in South America but do have some in Mexico. I did an offshore delivery for a client to Ensenada partly for tax reasons partly because he had a lot of work to do on the boat and he didn't want to pay American yard rates of over $100 per hour. I asked him who his project manager was going to be. None. "It's a great yard I won't need one" (translated, I'm saving money by not using a PM). I spoke with him at great length to be certain he understood why I thought his plan would fail. He went with it anyway and 6 months later called me to tell me I had been right. Cost him way more then the local San Diego (not cheap) yards would have done the job for.

Same thing happens in Asia and all over the world. Yes labor is cheap and these people want to make money which often means cutting corners. I would have no problem doing business offshore in a labor cheap locale as long as you (or your PM) are there to watch every step of the process and make sure your materials are being used.

I assume this was Baja Naval. I talked with the owners son there for several months to get quotes on painting and fabricating a hard top. When I got there, price doubled to roughly San Francisco yard rates. I found a small team of ex Baja Naval workers who did a decent job at a fair price. Around $17/hr for skilled labor.

Anyone thinking of headed to a low labor cost country had better do their homework. There's a helluva more that goes into even a modest bit of work than just labor. Thru--hulls, sealants, screws, hoses, clamps, paints, fittings, you name it. None of it is reliably available in these places. You must bring a complete hardware store with you. Or one of two things happen. Either the workers make due with what they have (drywall screws instead of SS) or move on to another job while you procure the right stuff. Neither outcome is good.

Not for the feint of heart is all I can say. People think you need a project manager to ride Herd on workers. My experience is they need questions answered and decisions made.

Peter

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I assume this was Baja Naval. I talked with the owners son there for several months to get quotes on painting and fabricating a hard top. When I got there, price doubled to roughly San Francisco yard rates. I found a small team of ex Baja Naval workers who did a decent job at a fair price. Around $17/hr for skilled labor.

Anyone thinking of headed to a low labor cost country had better do their homework. There's a helluva more that goes into even a modest bit of work than just labor. Thru--hulls, sealants, screws, hoses, clamps, paints, fittings, you name it. None of it is reliably available in these places. You must bring a complete hardware store with you. Or one of two things happen. Either the workers make due with what they have (drywall screws instead of SS) or move on to another job while you procure the right stuff. Neither outcome is good.

Not for the feint of heart is all I can say. People think you need a project manager to ride Herd on workers. My experience is they need questions answered and decisions
made.
Peter

Rio Dulce has a West Marine