General refit Curazao Marine ABC’S

[Pacuri]

Does anyone have any experience for a general refit on a Contessa 32 in Curazao Marine? Quality, cost and time scope? I would be very gratefull for any feedback. Many thanks.

[Paul L]

I assume you mean Curacao Marine in Wiilemstad. Its a decent yard with good off season storage. You can get stuff shipped from Fla and through customs fairly quickly using a number of shippers who focus on marine stuff. Not a ton of tradesmen there. Enough available to do your own work. The yard is fairly far out of town, so not that great place to live in the yard. A car would be helpful. Rental cars are easily available and a decent price. (Info from 3 years ago or so)

[Pacuri]

Thanks for the reply Paul, yes thats the yard I mean. I was looking to source out most of the work as I 1 don’t have the skill and 2 would not be there personally all the time it would take.
The reason for doing the refit in Curacao is that the boat is actually for sale there! Anyway thanks again.

[s/v Moondancer]

A very good workforce as they are Dutch trained.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Pacuri

...looking to source out most of the work as I 1 don’t have the skill and 2 would not be there personally all the time...

Were there 12 months ago but mostly DIY work; there is a very good Yanmar engines guy - does others, but not Volvo as there's a local Volvo Agent too. A very good inox welder nearby too.

The storage and working yards are separate and the latter might get expensive if you're intending to do the work over an extended period; it would be cheaper to store the boat, then move it across only when you're ready to 'hit' the refit jobs in a single effort.

A couple of friends had their boat's bottom scraped/cleaned/antifouled and both were disappointed, it seems the yard charges 'per coat' and the uys there are experts at putting the thinnest coats imaginable on.

If you're looking at a major refit then you'll probably be importing a lot of stuff, so double-check how the import duties work; do they do 'yacht in transit'? I don't know, but the import duties for the locals are hefty and whilst there are both Budget Marine & Island Waterworld Stores on island, we were disappointed with both as to the range of stuff they carried and their general apathy toward getting anything else.

[Pacuri]

[emoji1303][emoji1303][emoji1303] thanks very much!