Cat friendly yards in Florida(or north?)

[REsCat]

Hello to everyone and thankyou "all" for continuous great discussion and (entertainment!) regarding our shared passion. I have been following this forum for years and have recently purchased a Cat as my next chapter in life, not to mention my next form of employment and place to channel $$.

The boat is presently in Panama(Shelter Bay) and I will be sailing north in mid November, hopefully...
I am looking to haul the boat to complete various items tagged in the survey,
#1 rig inspection (Navtec diamond stays amongst other items)
#2 sails off to a loft for inspection /repair

many other things that I would like to do myself as well..
thru hulls,zincs, paint etc

The boat is 70'6" tall, and 25'3" wide
Which yards might be accessible with these vital statistics and would be deemed
"reasonable, competent" and welcome some "do it yourself work"

I would favour the east coast as I am continuing up to the Chesapeake in the spring so anything below the freeze line would work for this mission. Thanks for any suggestions that the members might know of.


Bob

[Howaya]

Hello Bob,

Somewhere within Chesapeake Multihull Association is a list of multihull friendly marinas around the Chesapeake. Your beam may exceed the capabilities of some of these facilities and some may serve your various needs better than others, so you ought to contact them before making any plans.

Mike

[REsCat]

Thanks Mike

I know the Georgetown Yacht Basin, MD has a travelift that can do the beam and I may ultimately end up there but I am hoping to stay further south to avoid the freeze. I also would like to avoid the big yards in Fort Lauderdale/ Miami but I know I dont have a lot of options with that beam.
I know of Jarret Bay up at Beaufort, NC , Does it freeze up there? Do any forum members know of a good marina search site that lists lift out capabilities as I cant seem to put my hands on one?


Bob

[SurfNRG]

Check with Cracker Boy in Riviera Beach (palm beach) and also Newport Scorpion in Port Canaveral. Think their new haul out slip will take up to 28 ft beam. Congrats on your new boat!

[imagine2frolic]

Harbortown Marina - Ft. Pierce, Florida - A Full Service Marina.

Easy access from sea as you can see.....BEST WISHES in finding a good home for the boat.....i2f

[Vasco]

St. Augustine Marine, St. Augustine.

[imagine2frolic]

St. Augustine can only do 23'6". When I enter the slip there's only room for the straps, and I am 23'3". Unless you use the railway, and it is available for a short time only.

I don't know the name of the yard, but at the mouth of the St. Johns they have a railway.

[Vasco]

Then it'll have to be Jarret Bay in NC.

[SurfNRG]

Harbourtown in Ft. Pierce wouldn't let me work on anything when I hauled out in March. You have to use Indian River Boat Works for any kind of work on your boat. So, we splashed back in and went to Riverside just to the north where I was barely able to get hauled. They do up to 22 ft beam, I'm at 21.3. I know you're able to work on your own boat at Cracker Boy in Riviera Beach. The Cracker Boy in Ft. Pierce doesn't have a wide enough haul out slip for you. You can call Newport Scorpion in Cape Canaveral and ask if they'd let you do any work. That 70 ft. mast height is gonna restrict you from heading up the ICW where most bridges are 65ft.

[REsCat]

I have investigated all the Yards everyone has suggested so far and Newport Scorpion seems to be the best available and I received a quite favourable response from them on all points of my wish list, a big thank you SurfNRG for that referral and everyone else as well.

As I have read and observed it is getting very tough to find a good yard that will allow some do it yourself work which I very much enjoy doing and am confident of "some" of my abilities. I realize that yards are expensive to operate and equip but not everyone is able to simply say "Send me the bill when you are done".

We all know bigger Cats are getting more common and I was getting indications from many Yards that I contacted that larger, wider, liftout capabilities are in the works.
Please keep any more suggestions coming and I will keep you updated on my enquiries.

[funsailthekeys]

There are two yards that I have used in Key Largo that will lift a 50' cat. One yard is Manatee Bay Boat Yard and allows do-it-your-self. The other yard is referred to as Boats and Tires (I don't know why) also will lift a large cat and allow you to work on it. Key Largo Harbor Boat Yard will lift a cat but the crane comes down from Miami. Calvert Sail Loft is 20 miles away in Islamorada for any repairs. All are located on the Atlantic side.

[oscar]

This may be the same yard as the previous post.....but there's an e-mail addy and a phone #. From multihull magazine classifieds....


Travel Lift 28' wide, 80 ton. Wider boats with 125 ton crane, Key Largo ocean front. Do it yourself yard, full service or combo service. E-mail: rockharbor@bellsouth.net or (305) 852-2025.