USVI's or BVI's For catamaran haul?

[Privilege]

I’m sailing to the Virgin Islands next month on my 44’ cat and need to haul it for routine maintenance which I will do myself. Is there any significant difference between choosing a boat yard in the USVI's or the BVI's? Any feedback or recommendation appreciated.

[Privilege]

Anyone?

[tjandoverguy]

no place to haul in usvi
nanny cay or spanish town

[Zanshin]

Nanny Cay has gotten quite pricey (I'm hauling out here tomorrow). Spanish Town is cheaper, but getting there after a flight or ferry into the BVI is more complex as there are just a few ferries there each day. Prices for both are available online.

[Zanshin]

Sorry - I just re-read your post and saw "for maintenance". In that case, avoid Nanny Cay. They have some ridiculous lay-day fees which make doing work on the boat here prohibitively expensive. I don't know about the lay-day fees in Spanish Town, but suspect they might have raised their rates as well.

I would opt to motor or sail the extra 80 miles upwind to St. Martin in order to do work on the boat. First of all, the yard rates there are lower and I think that TOBY (Time Out Boat Yard) has no lay-day fees at all. Secondly, the availability and prices for parts is much cheaper than in the BVI (some items are 50% cheaper) and as a duty-free island you can use a service like Tropical or Four Star Cargo will allow you to buy things in the US to be delivered to their warehouses in Florida and from there will either air-freight or ship-cargo the items to St. Martin for a very reasonable fee.

That was my plan, but the weather for the next week is terrible for going from the BVI to St. Martin and I have commitments that I cannot break, so I had to store my boat in the BVI rather than at Bobby's Yard in St. Martin

[Privilege]

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

[Palarran]

Maybe just keep going west until you can haul at Puerto del Rey in Puerto Rico.

As an FYI, they want $2400 per month for land storage during hurricane season. That's over 3 x what I paid in the Bahamas.

[flyingfin]

Palarran has it right, keep sailing west to PR - and check with other PR east coast marinas as well. A big Plus is that being in PR makes it easy to get parts/supplies shipped to you