Outfitting in Grenada

[Frozen Chosen]

We are contemplating purchasing a boat in Grenada and would like input into whether there are good outfitting companies there or if we should purchase lifejackets, weather gear">foul weather gear, and other general sailing kit in Florida and ship it down.

Excuse my ignorance, never been there.

[MARC D]

You can buy all that stuff from Budget Marine or Island Water World in Grenada. You can also find surveyors and riggers.

Check websites of vendors for pricing.

Grenada is a great place for cruisers! Enjoy!

Marc

[Teknav]

Hiya Frozen! Grenada is a very beautiful island, run by a corrupt and a very poor government. Just about everything imported is taxed to death. Their exports are nuts, fruits and spices. Their main source of income is Tourism.

Not long ago, a SCUBA dive shop that I frequented could not get lead/weight belts for divers without paying through the nose. Divers were smuggling lead weight from the US, then leaving it behind; bypassing huge taxes for the dive shop's owner. (Exchanging lead for free diving!)

Grenada is NOT the place to retrofit a boat; everything must be imported at ridiculous cost; try Puerto Rico, St. Thomas - USVI or Florida (best place).

Mauritz

[MARC D]

Frozen,

Compare pricing of what you need between your home store and Budget Marine or Island Waterworld in Grenada.
We found that most items like bottom paint, rigging parts was about same price as in US. Except solar panels, overpriced...
These two stores are based in the Caribbean (St-Martin) and their pricing are quite competitive.

[boatman61]

Take any basics with you and then head for St Martins where Island Waterworld (Dutch side) and Lille Marine (French side) will save you $$'s on the rest of the stuff you need... if you need any stainless work (Solar arch etc) Lille Marine can connect you with a S African artist who operates from one of the sheds just of the channel and E of the lifting bridge...

[MARC D]

Another thing about Grenada: There is an important cruiser's community there. Quite a few items are offered on the daily morning net by fellow cruisers ''Treasures of the Bilge'' And help and advices are around the corner too!!

Marc

[boatman61]

Hey... Shrimpy in SMX does 'Treasures in the Bilge'... don't tell me the canny old booga's set up franchises...

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Teknav

Hiya Frozen! Grenada is a very beautiful island, run by a corrupt and a very poor government. Just about everything imported is taxed to death. Their exports are nuts, fruits and spices. Their main source of income is Tourism.

Not long ago, a SCUBA dive shop that I frequented could not get lead/weight belts for divers without paying through the nose. Divers were smuggling lead weight from the US, then leaving it behind; bypassing huge taxes for the dive shop's owner. (Exchanging lead for free diving!)

Grenada is NOT the place to retrofit a boat; everything must be imported at ridiculous cost; try Puerto Rico, St. Thomas - USVI or Florida (best place).

Mauritz

+1 Spend there 3 or 4 hurricane seasons, is like a wanabe island in terms of retrofit or boat work, i always end doing nothing in Grenada related to my boat problems, Yamaha charge me a fortune for few parts , impeller and some basic stuff, problems with my engine force me to sail to trinidad instead, order parts overseas is a nightmare, broker fee, fees, more fees, and tax for that etc... saying that if you want to load your boat with basic stuff , budget or island water world are the places , more expensive than other locations , and if you need technical work in the boat or order crazy things, Grenada if you dont have choice or sail north to st marteen. Cheers.

[FLLCatsailor]

Originally Posted by Teknav

Hiya Frozen! Grenada is a very beautiful island, run by a corrupt and a very poor government. Just about everything imported is taxed to death. Their exports are nuts, fruits and spices. Their main source of income is Tourism.

Not long ago, a SCUBA dive shop that I frequented could not get lead/weight belts for divers without paying through the nose. Divers were smuggling lead weight from the US, then leaving it behind; bypassing huge taxes for the dive shop's owner. (Exchanging lead for free diving!)

Grenada is NOT the place to retrofit a boat; everything must be imported at ridiculous cost; try Puerto Rico, St. Thomas - USVI or Florida (best place).

Mauritz

I had a much different experience with running boats in Grenada...

[John A]

From 2002 thru 2008, I stopped in Grenada twice a year on my way to and from Trinidad.
I had rigging work done there and rplaced a sail plus the normal boat stuff.

When I showed my boat papers and Customs forms to ANY boat vendor I didn't have to pay the 15% VAT tax.

BTW Granada grows most of the worlds nutmeg, that's why they call it the Spice island.
It's to bad that some people get upset to learn that third world countries are different than first world countries.

[s/v Moondancer]

We have been on the US East Coast and the Caribbean for 5 year and have bought 10's of thousands of dollars worth of stuff.

If you can sneak it in from the US do so...my wife can get a 50lb pump in her handbag and onto the plane.

Grenada prices are not bad but St Martin's are better.

We needed new A/C's and 250 ft of 7/6 chain so we just sailed 1,700 miles back to Miami to buy them.

Quality of work by yards is a random event, best mechanic was in Mexico as was the worst carpenter. Worst yard was a draw...Grenada and North Carolina...The one in Granada offered to pay my wife to take our boat somewhere else...they had trouble being held to a competent standard. The one in North Carolina lubricated crucial roller furler bolts and they all fell out at sea!

Best over all and cheapest workers are in Cartagena...Total labor cost for taking up and relaying and resealing the teak deck on our 55 ft boat was $2,800...two carpenters for a month! But in Cartagena you have to take all the materials with you...prices are Budget Marine plus 50%.

The key is if you are not watching them do everything they will do it wrong!

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by Frozen Chosen

We are contemplating purchasing a boat in Grenada and would like input into whether there are good outfitting companies there or if we should purchase lifejackets, foul weather gear, and other general sailing kit in Florida and ship it down.

Excuse my ignorance, never been there.

if you consider shipping, look at Tropical Shipping, LCL (less than containerload), and the 55 or 75 gal drums they offer. Fixed price for a drum to ship to the islands, good price when you ship heavy stuff.


Dirk

[Frozen Chosen]

Thanks to all of you for your feedback it has been very helpful. We will leave Florida like Russian tourists during the cold war with all we can carry. Hope to be floating in a few months and look forward to meeting some of you this winter.

[MarkJ]

I would not bring anything from Florida down as you will be hit with tax.

Buy the boat and take it immediately to St Martin which is a tax free port, then ship your stuff from Florida to SXM on Tropical Shipping. It's remarkably cheap!

Grenada is not corupt! Nor is the government poor or unstable! It's a fine government working very hard under enormous adversity. It's hard to have a national government for $105,000 people so its stretched thin. However the people here that I am dealing with in government are all great people.
The 'normal' people are, without doubt, the most friendly in the Caribbean.

But the will hit you with 30 to 40% duty at the airport!

I was looking at antenna here for US$165 and then found it on Amazon for $23 so Grenada is not the place to outfit

[sanssouci]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We have been on the US East Coast and the Caribbean for 5 year and have bought 10's of thousands of dollars worth of stuff.

If you can sneak it in from the US do so...my wife can get a 50lb pump in her handbag and onto the plane.

Grenada prices are not bad but St Martin's are better.

We needed new A/C's and 250 ft of 7/6 chain so we just sailed 1,700 miles back to Miami to buy them.

Quality of work by yards is a random event, best mechanic was in Mexico as was the worst carpenter. Worst yard was a draw...Grenada and North Carolina...The one in Granada offered to pay my wife to take our boat somewhere else...they had trouble being held to a competent standard. The one in North Carolina lubricated crucial roller furler bolts and they all fell out at sea!

Best over all and cheapest workers are in Cartagena...Total labor cost for taking up and relaying and resealing the teak deck on our 55 ft boat was $2,800...two carpenters for a month! But in Cartagena you have to take all the materials with you...prices are Budget Marine plus 50%.

The key is if you are not watching them do everything they will do it wrong!

Hello Moondancer, I too need to have teak deck work done and interior refinishing of teak. Would you recommend someone in Cartagena? or would you recommend another location in the Carib?