Boatyards

Why is it that the rules in each boatyard appear to vary from one to the next.

Point in case most yards require that any contractor working in their yard need to have liability insurance, that is the simple part, then some yards want workers comp Insurance or an exemption certificate again more paper work but not impossible.

Then you have American Custom Yachts in Stuart who besides the above also want you to sign a contract that runs to about 7 pages.

Go into Hinckleys Yard also in Stuart and the first thing you notice is the shouting being done by the service manager and the travel lift operator. Besides the required insurance you are told that nobody is allowed near the vessel until the keel blocks and jack stands are all in place and this is required by Osha according to the loud mouth travel operator.

Go to Sailfish or the re-opened Allied yard in Stuart and there is no mention of OSHA or the "required" keel blocks and Jack stands. Strange ?

Go to Long Island or Boston and things may vary by asking that no body goes under the boat until the keel blocks are in.

Go to Naples and Mollys Marine are very helpful even putting extra blocks under the keel to help the hull surveyor do his job underneath and that is on a concrete yard.

Go to those yards that have gravel and dirt and they love to put the boat as low as possible to really assistant the surveyor to check the bottom.

I was in a yard in Fort Pierce last week and the hull surveyor had to ask them to move the boat further away from the haul-out area as it was directly above a deep muddy and wet pool of water.

Now go to the best yards in South Florida, Lauderdale Marine Center, Roscioli's and Rybovich and no mention of OSHA, no shouting by their employees and no restrictions except the liability insurance.

The above are clean and good to work in.

I refuse all work at American Custom and heard just last week that another mechanic drove to that yard, got onboard the boat, one hour later it left to do the sea trial and he got off at the same yard and went home. For that he had to bill the boat yard, they then added 15% to the cost of the engine survey and then did not pay him for over 3 months.

Myself and seven employees are not going into American Custom to do any work and would like to hear from others who may have similiar experiences.

CaptJ, I happen to agree with you in so much that those yards I mentioned in Stuart do appear to want to keep "outsiders" out however when it was David Lowes in Stuart you were welcomed with open arms and it was not until Hinckley (northern company) came along that you have issues.

The same can said about American, they were a fairly little yard that did not have this stupid contract for you to sign until they were bought out by the commercial yard owners.

The Sailfish yard, Allied, Northside and others in the Stuart area do not have the same rules and welcome others and contractors who send them work.

Yes Ken, you can tell me to take my shoes off but do you have to shout at me to do it. Or would I be willing to take them off if your house was as dirty as some yards are kept in. Try being that hull surveyor crawling around below a boat that has only 10" or smaller keel blocks as the yard guys are too lazy to go and get more.

They tell you it is all about insurance and OSHA but how often do you see hard hats, safety foot wear or safety eye wear. How often are the scales calibrated on the lifts, if the yacht fits the haul out slip they normally lift you out.

The crazy thing is you can hire a crew member for a day or so and they have full run of the yard with little to no training and yet experienced contractors have to jump thru' loops and then wait to get paid from a yard that sticks at least 15% mark-up on all bills, that is why I do not send any work to those yards.

Shazam, I agree with you and trust me when I had my yard, more commercial than pleasure, it was very frustrating to see mechanics or welders who I had paid to train take off by themselves and were offering their services much cheaper than I could but they did not have the overheads that I had or the high insurance premiums to pay.

I have to ask though who do you think sends the most work to your yard, hopefully it is clients sending their boats to you from past experience or by word of mouth from other owners.

Is it captains who send you the work, maybe a Captain like CatpJ who seems to be very busy and on alot of different yachts.

Is it brokers who may sell twenty to thirty boats per year if they are at the top of their game.

or may I suggest it is engine and hull surveyors who are on boats going to boat yards every day.

I stand and watch hull surveyors being shouted at by "service managers" who were sanding the bottom of boats the week before or being told by $10 per hour kids who have been in the business for a week or two how to do their jobs.

Hopefully it will never come to the point when the boat yards employ surveyors but just think how much influence they have in sending work your way. They talk to the buyer and he trusts them to spend their money so why would they not trust that same surveyor if he says do not use that yard and that happens every day.........