SF Bay Boatyards (Svendsen's!)

[N.A.]

This is a fraught topic, but so important (especially for any new owners), and @Pete the Cat just posted ('Bogus Barrier Coating') a comment about an unnamed boatyard that in the past did something poorly, which reminded me that I had been meaning to post:

I have now used two boatyards on SF Bay:

- One has a 4-letter name, both literally and (in my book) figuratively. My experience there was unbelievably bad. I remain traumatized, and I say that without a trace of humor.

- On the other hand: Svendsen's Bay Marine up in Pt. Richmond! These folks rock. I subsequently went to them, and... if only I had gone to them first. I just last week got my boat back (3rd time it's been to them over ~ 3 years, this time for bottom paint and a new speed transducer). They have always done great work for me -- as in, the kind of great work where you only discover later things that needed to be paid attention to, but I didn't know to ask for/about. They have always been totally honest and up front with me, and provide clear estimates and good communication when something is getting bigger than expected (e.g., they open up some part of the boat and discover extra stuff that needed to be done first, or whatever; then they do a fully documented change order to the original estimate with me where we all agree on what is happening next. For things they estimated as fixed-price, they never charge more (as they shouldn't, but... I think that is unusual in the boatyard world) even when the work sometimes took well over expected time. When the estimate is "time and materials" then they are understandably not always exactly on the estimate, but nonetheless... out of three visits once they actually came in slightly under (!), once were over by a bit more than expected, but not for any problematic reason, and most recently were right on budget when I was absolutely expecting it to end up well over (in a way I would have understood.) And the boat/work looks great. This has been generally true with each of three different project managers I have been assigned (though the most recent, named Josh, was particularly awesome)... so I think it's Svendsen's overall that is good, not just one lucky experience with one manager.

I was so happy with the most recent experience that... I am writing this.

--> I hope some others will post, just so there is a resource on local yards for others. I have heard some other SF Bay places are good, but having no direct personal exerience I will not opine there -- again, hopefully others will post.

Note: Ideally this will not become a hate-thread (which I think might be awfully easy to have happen when the subject of boatyards comes up One of the things I especially like about this board is the general positivity. Hence my brief comment above about a bad experience (just enough to warn) and much longer one about Svendsen's which has done me well. I'll be sticking with them, and notably I went sailing a couple of years ago with someone else local from this board, on their Ericson, and... turned out they were a Svendsen's loyalist, so now that's two of us at least

 

[Pete the Cat]

I agree that positive experiences are important. In SF Bay I have a long standing respect for the family run, never advertised British Marine and Industrial in Oakland on the Embarcadero. You will not be impressed by the looks of the boatyard--the Travelift is tired and old and the shop is a bit in disarray, but the folks there will never try to upsell you and have been in the business so long that they have seen just about everything and fixed everything--many times. They have a list of returning customers. They fix stuff, they don't just replace it. They are reluctant to do more than is necessary because they see themselves as problem solvers. That means they will save you a lot of time and money if you listen to them. It says a lot that they never advertise and still maintain a busy schedule. Although they are as careful as any yard (I was a decades long client of the old Svendsens Alameda Yard back in the day who actually worked with the EPA to develop some of the environmental saving processes for boatyards) they have been a target for EPA folks--you need to understand that the Oakland waterfront has a history of a toxic superfund site that goes back at least 100 years--you can't fix the residuals overnight. They may be run out of business more because of the history of the area than carelessness on their part. Anyway, I trust Brian and his son Justin with just about any problem simply because they have decades of experience and a work ethic that is unquestionable. If they fix it, it will be fixed right.