We had work done at Yachtport in Saldanha and were treated terribly. The scope of work was to repaint hull, replace engines and paint engine rooms while old engines were out. Glen at the yard gave us a reasonable quote and time frame, 3 months.

Acceptable, but then proceeded to take on other jobs and put us in the back of the line while we were away. Calls were never returned and progress was always overstated in emails. In the end, most of the work was done last minute, poorly or not at all, such as engine rooms which sat engine free for 6 weeks! When paint finally was slathered on the day before engines went in, it did not have correct hardener and is a sticky mess to this day… needless to say we did not pay for this disaster! The bottom was stripped and ready to paint for 5 weeks and last minute paint was barely dry by the time we launched in March. Then the last minute efforts to get done with the topsides, they were short coated and the primer was showing through in many spots – contract stated 3 coats of paint.

The boat is currently being repainted in Trinidad and any effort to get refunded have been futile.

To top it all off the Yachtport sits next to an Iron ore plant and your entire boat will be stained in a matter of days when the wind blows the “wrong” way!

Captain Pete Tuls
SY Downtime
Voyage 580