Grenada or Trinidad

[tugz]

Hi all, so I plan to out my 40th catamaran on the hard for 4 months for Hurricane season. Looking at Grenada or Trinidad. I here a lot of work has gone into making the boat yards safer then a couple years ago and the lay-up is a bit cheaper then Grenada.

What about labor costs and parts, how about the quality of work? How do they compare? Thanks for the help. BH

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by tugz

Hi all, so I plan to out my 40th catamaran on the hard for 4 months for Hurricane season. Looking at Grenada or Trinidad. I here a lot of work has gone into making the boat yards safer then a couple years ago and the lay-up is a bit cheaper then Grenada.

What about labor costs and parts, how about the quality of work? How do they compare? Thanks for the help. BH

I typically shy away from making posts that arent first hand knowledge... but since you arent getting other replies, here goes.

First, we have NOT used both, so again, this is not ALL first hand knowledge. We did haul out and spend a hurricane season in Grenada and know dozens of other who did the same, all with great success.

We did not spend time in Trinidad, but among the several cruising friends who did... the general impression was not positive, most werent comfortable spending much time onshore, much less hauling out there.

If you need details on Grenada let us know, happy to help as we can

[svHyLyte]

While the original inquiry is quite old, for those pondering the question, one of our close friends that was sailing his Bene 42 in the EC for many seasons used to lay the boat up on the hard in Trini until a few seasons ago. He switched to using Antigua (Jolly Harbor) as he reported that the crime situation in Trini had become untenable.

More recently, other friends of ours with close and extended family in Trini returned home after this last Christmas to report that while there they felt like they were imprisoned. Their family there had walled off their property, installed iron bars on all the windows and doors, had had their cars "armored"; and, kept armed guards around their home 24/7/365 and with them when any of them traveled about during the day. They felt they could not safely leave their family's compound before sun up nor after sun set. Evidently, there is/was a lot of "spill over" ex-pats from Venezuela and an excess of "street people" and attendant violent crime problems. Trinidad was once a lovely place but, given the foregoing, I would not consider going there even remotely as one is not immune even in "secure marinas/boatyards".

FWIW...