Cheap stainless steel work in the med?

[Safc]

Hello all,

We are currently in the gulf of Lyon area, France. In May/June we'll be heading east towards Croatia /Greece.

We decided we want to install a stainless steel arch on the aft of our 2002 Beneteau 411 to mount our solar panels.

Unfortunately, we just got quoted almost 5000 EUR for a (standardized?!) "custom" steel arch. It's not like a beneteau 411 is a rare type of boat in France.. Hundreds of them here, almost all having stainless steel arches. No idea why it should be this expensive.

So, we want to do the installation somewhere cheaper...

I am thinking Tunis, Malta ? Anybody has any positive experiences / hints regarding this matter? Any other places?

Contact details for workers mentioned would be highly appreciated !!

Thank you so much.

Brgds,
Safc

[JohnC1954]

Hi Safc,
once I had one made for my old boat a Feeling 1090 at Joe of Medway Marine in Malta his mobile is 00356 99403366, I cannot recall the price but at that time he was reasonably prices, there are other ss workshops from you can get a quote. However this custom made and italso depends on the design plus type of materiel used.
Good luck with your project.

[mcruf]

Hello!

Our Boat is in a marina near Hyères. We had stainless steel work done by a local company called Inox Plus (contact@inoxplus.fr). Very helpfull and not expensive.

Best regards,
Marcel

[chuckr]

Not sure on Tunis - we spent 2 winters in Hammamet and yes we loved it - but getting boat parts is an issue - the workers really knew what they were doing but saying that they need parts and sometimes you can get them and sometimes not

You said Croatia -- we had great success at EuroMarine in Dubrovnik - they can get parts and know how to take care of a boat.

Good luck

[Rickymarks]

We have a Bene 393 also looked at the arch didn't like the look or expense
,so we had Bimini extended which it needed and put 3x100 flexible solar panels on stitched in turnbuckles ,with a Velcro flap round the back to hide all cables ,cost nothing and it does not change look of the boat,also fitted lights underside of Bimini works really well ,
Down side is you have to leave Bimini up ,but can take down in 5 minutes if needed,have pictures if needed ,
Best regards R

Originally Posted by Safc

Hello all,

We are currently in the gulf of Lyon area, France. In May/June we'll be heading east towards Croatia /Greece.

We decided we want to install a stainless steel arch on the aft of our 2002 Beneteau 411 to mount our solar panels.

Unfortunately, we just got quoted almost 5000 EUR for a (standardized?!) "custom" steel arch. It's not like a beneteau 411 is a rare type of boat in France.. Hundreds of them here, almost all having stainless steel arches. No idea why it should be this expensive.

So, we want to do the installation somewhere cheaper...

I am thinking Tunis, Malta ? Anybody has any positive experiences / hints regarding this matter? Any other places?

Contact details for workers mentioned would be highly appreciated !!

Thank you so much.

Brgds,
Safc

[const0022]

Try Malta, I got some good work done there

[douglong]

Not stainless (aluminum) but great value is the "Atlantic Towers" "arch in a box" that could be shipped to you.

[Safc]

I'm sorry.. The what now ? :-D

[TheThunderbird]

5,000 is a rip off
I stay away from marine yards, and look for good iron carpenters in the industrial areas adjoined to big cities.
E.g. i paid an artifact 250 instead of 420eur (60%)

I found ones in Catania, Fano, Civitanova, Monopoli.

The cost of manpower is 37 to 40eur/h both on italy, sicily, and malta...

Be able to draw a design, buy material (ss pipes) yourself , and sail out of bloody EU

[David B]

Originally Posted by Safc

Hello all,

We are currently in the gulf of Lyon area, France. In May/June we'll be heading east towards Croatia /Greece.

We decided we want to install a stainless steel arch on the aft of our 2002 Beneteau 411 to mount our solar panels.

Unfortunately, we just got quoted almost 5000 EUR for a (standardized?!) "custom" steel arch. It's not like a beneteau 411 is a rare type of boat in France.. Hundreds of them here, almost all having stainless steel arches. No idea why it should be this expensive.

So, we want to do the installation somewhere cheaper...

I am thinking Tunis, Malta ? Anybody has any positive experiences / hints regarding this matter? Any other places?

Contact details for workers mentioned would be highly appreciated !!

Thank you so much.

Brgds,
Safc

You are in a good part of the Med for some good and economical work. Just sail to Corsica, enjoy the sail down the coast (especially Bonifacio at the bottom), then Sardinia, and across to Port Yasmine, Tunisia.
In the South of France we had a quote for over EUR8500 for our arch (admittedly with panels, but it was no where near as solid, sophisticated or elegant as the design I eventually came up with).
I brought the panels over with us (only a couple of hundred dollars), and did that part of the work, while the arch was done by the local stainless guy Yaya. If you can speak some French you should get away with under EUR3000 (we used an interpreter, so there was an overhead for that), or for a simple arch, perhaps under EUR2500. All materials come from Europe, so there is no problem there. The job quality was very good (not excellent or exceptional, but very good - say a 9 out of 10). I supervised to ensure everything was as I wanted it.

Time frame:
Onboard for briefing, discussing plans and measure.
Two days later a price and go ahead
Four days later a full day to trim and tack-weld curved tubes together and cut away pushpit (I designed it integrate rather than bolt-on) etc.
Five days later back to fit and weld into place. Another full day.

We are very pleased with the final result, and consider the outcome to be a definite improvement. Some photos below - the first as it arrived after full fabrication, the second showing how it was integrated into the pushpit.

We have Wi-Fi, 4G and Navtex antennas, plus 3 cables from the solar panels (semi-flexible so that they conform to the curvature of the arch), so there are effectively nine cables all coming down inside those tubes to the stb lazarette below. Keeps it nice and neat.

We also have davits incorporated into the arch for our tender and outboard.
If you decide to go to Pt Yasmine (actually Yaya is in Tunis, so any marina in the area would be fine, but we like Pt Yasmine), then I can PM you contact details. Just get there before the season hots up (we had ours done late May/early June), or you will be waiting a bit longer. Also try to avoid Ramadam - people go slow when they can't eat or even drink in the hot sun for 12 hours.

For a full custom arch, with the main tubes gently curved to match our cockpit arch, 50mm heavy gauge 316, and integrated into our pushpit (there was several hours of welding, and then acid etching, and then polishing as part of the installation), I think under EUR3000 was pretty reasonable.

As a note, we also got a full Winter cover made over there (again, European fabric). Quoted over EUR8000 in France, made and fitted for a little over EUR1000 in Tunisia!

Hope that helps,

David

[Safc]

Hi David, thank you so much for your reply. As soon as we know when we will be able to head down to Tunesia, we will ask you for Yaya's details !
Pictures look great!

[robert sailor]

[QUOTE=Safc;2296932]Hi David, thank you so much for your reply. As soon as we know when we will be able to head down to Tunesia, we will ask you for Yaya's details !
Pictures look great![/QUOTE

That arch is a fairly simple design and you should be able to get it built well under 5000 Euro but it's just for holding solar panels. Many sailors decide to combine an arch with davits included and that requires a more complex design that will cost around 5000 Euro. Something to consider if your into full time cruising.

[David B]

[QUOTE=robert sailor;2296962]

Originally Posted by Safc

Hi David, thank you so much for your reply. As soon as we know when we will be able to head down to Tunesia, we will ask you for Yaya's details !
Pictures look great![/QUOTE

That arch is a fairly simple design and you should be able to get it built well under 5000 Euro but it's just for holding solar panels. Many sailors decide to combine an arch with davits included and that requires a more complex design that will cost around 5000 Euro. Something to consider if your into full time cruising.

Read my description in my original posting:
1. The arch is custom designed with curvature in two planes to match the fibreglass arch.
2. It is cut into and welded to the pushpit, rather than being a bolt-on.
3. It has integrated davits
4. It supports solar panels, Wi-Fi, 4G, and Navtex antennas.

Many positive comments from those who have seen it, and again, it has davits

[chuckr]

David did you have it done in Pt Yasmine? We spent 2 winters there and loved it and have good friends there.

[David B]

Originally Posted by chuckr

David did you have it done in Pt Yasmine? We spent 2 winters there and loved it and have good friends there.

It's not a bad spot is it Chuck. We arrived 2013, and left our boat there, returning 2014, where we lived on board for some five weeks getting work done (the arch etc). Then returned in 2015 to head back to the European side. Very friendly people, very helpful, and have made some good friends there. Pity we did not meet up Chuck. Where are you now?