Archive for January, 2012
Posted on January 31, 2012 - by Memphis Istaboa
River Forrest Yacht Facility
Clean, professional, and a state of the art facility.
I’ve already written this review. Had a great experience and will go back when I need them.
Click here… River Forrest
Posted on January 31, 2012 - by Memphis Istaboa
Tom Sawyer… Finish superb!
Let’s get this out of the way first… Tom is not an inexpensive boat refinisher!
If you have a boat that’s got a few years on it and needs it’s fiberglass brought back to a new look… Tom is your man.
In a previous life in the Bahamas, where he was born, Tom owned and operated a dental lab. So why would a fellow who owned a dental lab be polishing boats? His answer was, politics in the Bahamas and out-sourcing. Makes sense.
Tom applies his knowledge of polishing teeth to your boat and the results are stunning. He’s always very professional and he takes his time. At the end of every work day he’ll wash your boat and clean up after himself. You step back on the boat and you can’t tell he’s been there. Can’t say that about any of the others we used around here. Usually polish and rags are strewn around and dust from the buffers is everywhere. Not so with Tom.
Watching Tom do a friends boat… and he didn’t know I was watching… He’s a perfectionist. If the sun hits the finish from the wrong direction… he stops and works another area that he can see. I’ve seen him stare at a portion of boat for 15 minutes before going back to redo it.
He takes his time and does it right.
Posted on January 31, 2012 - by Memphis Istaboa
Sunset Bay Marina
Sunset Bay Marina
Update, 07-2013
All the info below remains the same, but what a difference a year makes. We left Sunset Bay after being dealt with rather harshly. Without going into details, we realized we’d overstayed our welcome there and it was time to move on. Management, in our opinion, treated us and others poorly. We think that being an always full marina put the management staff into a position of perceived power which they take advantage of. This had nothing to do with their rates which are very low for the fine amenities offered.
Also, the current is treacherous and growth in your waterlines and on your hull will reduce the savings of the low monthly rates significantly. e.g. Divers, A/C issues, all circulating raw water related issues.
Still, if you can get in and you don’t mind the long run up the river, the Zebra Mussels, management attitude, and you don’t want to make it home, It’s a fine place. Read the former review… Stuart is a nice place.
Sunset Bay Marina is a little oasis down here in South Florida. It’s location is ideal. A scenic walk away from the old historic downtown Stuart area, restaurants, and shopping. Sailor’s Return, though very busy, is a very good eatery with a great bar outside overlooking the marina. Because of the restaurant’s success the parking was an issue, but they have that under control. No matter what time we come in, we get a parking spot… might have to circle the lot once, but we always find a spot.
If you’re looking for peace and quiet… This marina may not be for you. Sailor’s Return has live music almost every night and on the weekends they rock, but we like to hear the good bands and when we don’t we just shut the doors on Istaboa and their gone. We rarely find it annoying.
Stuart itself is quite nice. Not too big, but large enough to have pretty much whatever you need within a few miles. Stuart, we have always said, is a very boaty little town. Unlike Ft, Lauderdale, which is Yachty. Not that that’s bad… we’ve realized it’s just not for us.
If you’re into mooring out … You’ll love this place. Good moorings and plenty of them. The marina has a lot to offer those in the anchorage; a huge grill in the comfortable common area, great shower and laundry facilities, and a large Captain’s lounge with comfortable furniture and a large screen TV.
The staff here at the marina couldn’t be nicer and go out of their way to be accommodating. We’ve become good friends over the last few years. We call this marina home. See update (that’s all changed)
Almost every night we get one of these.
Posted on January 30, 2012 - by Memphis Istaboa
Where do we start? Oh yeah… accountability
I’ll get to the point in a moment…
I was talking with a friend last week who had just recently sold his boat and he was lamenting his dream of life on a boat. When I asked him if there was anything he didn’t miss about the cruising life he didn’t hesitate for a second with his response, he said, and I paraphrase because my memory is for shit, “I really don’t miss having to deal with the boatyards who most times overcharge and under deliver, I don’t miss the high dollar servicers who tout their expertise then contract the job out to someone else while I’m not aboard, the marinas that offer a special deal until the bill arrives that’s loaded with hidden charges. All of this became the rule rather than the exception… I don’t miss any of that stuff. I loved the boat, I miss the boaters, and I miss the lifestyle, but I don’t miss those in the business of servicing my boat.”
I totally understood, I’ve argued my way out of more than a few boatyards, and no, not all of the marine servicers are that way. Some are dishonest and trying to take advantage of the cruisers who are traveling out of their area and in a bind. Others misrepresent themselves and just aren’t very good at what they do, but quite a few are genuinely trying to help out in the most efficient and least expensive way possible, trying to do the right thing —but— unfortunately they are few and becoming fewer.
Some of you may remember I was in the marine biz for almost 10 years. I started that company (Boatronix) mainly because; on the Tennessee River at the top of the Tenn-Tom Waterway, there were few (read next to none) good marine service organizations, and nary a soul knew anything about marine electronics. I started that company out of necessity.
My business model was and still is… Deliver good dependable services at a fair price and always, if at all possible—even when it costs you money—do what you say you will do…. no matter what.
It has always worked for me. I don’t think any of my old Boatronix customers or any of my company’s customers today would deny that we live by this maxim.
Okay… so what’s the point of this very lengthy diatribe?
Like my friend who just sold his boat, I too am tired of these types of business practices. I wanna out the ne’er-do-wells and tout the honest professionals. I’m gonna to post my experiences with these companies and individual contractors in a section of this blog I’m calling “Marine Services Review”. My intent is to express my opinions and recount my experiences in short concise narratives; relating the work, attitude, and overall experience while dealing with these marine services companies as we travel and find them necessary.
The objective is to show this post to any boat fixer before he works on Istaboa and explain: there are usually between 100 to 150 people a day who look at this little blog, most of these people are boaters and majority of those are boaters on the east coast.
Mr. Boat Fixer, this is your clientele. If you do a good job at the agreed upon price I will sing your praises and probably render a generous tip. View this as a good opportunity, a free organic little advertisement.
If you deliver less than desirable service… I will write a detailed account of my dissatisfaction and make my opinions perfectly clear to quite a few folks that care.
Now, do you still want this job?
Some will walk away… I will let you know who does.
In this section, (which you will find in the column on the right side of this blog) anyone, including the subjects of praise or the opposite of, can make comments that are in agreement with me or not. Fellow boaters who have had good or bad experiences can share them here. Every boater that keeps a blog should do the same thing. Speak up! Word of mouth is cool, but our words will carry further online. Maybe we will find more positives than negatives and share those experiences and contacts for our common good.
- Will this make a difference? Maybe, probably not, but you gotta try.
- Why am I doing this? Accountability… There’s certainly a lack of that in the marine biz.
- Am I crazy? Can be. Ask some of the boat fixers.
- Is this unconventional? Not really.
If this works it’ll just be another form of crowd sourcing… Kinda like Active Captain, which is a great source of information. (Istaboa has built up over 800 points with them) They have a section called Captain Rated that hasn’t been totally turned on yet. I look forward to the completion of Captain Rated and wish the Active Captain folks success on it’s implementation. (Then I can go back to just posting pictures and writing short narratives about our happy experiences while cruising.)
My motive is not to profit from this…
- I just want decent service at a fair price.
- I just want accountability in this little niche industry.
- I really just want a better boating experience.
We’ll see what happens.
Adios,
Istaboa
Posted on January 1, 2012 - by Memphis Istaboa
Welcome to Marine Services Review
So what’s the purpose of this blog? It’s not for profit… not for spite… you’ll never see an ad and it won’t be used to gain favor.
It’s about accountability in the Marine Services business.
I wanna tout the honest professionals and out the ne’er-do-wells. I’m gonna post my experiences with these companies and individual contractors in the posts of this blog. My intent is to express my opinions and recount my experiences in short narratives; relating the work, attitude, and overall experience while dealing with these marine services companies as we travel and find them necessary.
Within the posts of this blog anyone, including the subjects of praise or the opposite of, can make comments that are in agreement with my opinions or not. Fellow boaters who have had good or bad experiences can share them here. Every boater that keeps a blog should do the same thing. Speak up! Word of mouth is cool, but our words will carry further online. Maybe we will find more positives than negatives and share those experiences and contacts for our common good.
This can be a good thing, could be fun.
Please make your opinions known and comment here… publicly or anonymously, they’ll show in the comment section.
We’ll see what happens.
Here’s to safe and happy cruises,
Cheers,
Bob
