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Getting work done in the Carribean

2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  outbound 
#1 ·
So what would be the places in the Caribbean and South America to get work done on your boat at cheap pricing? Looking at painting the bottom having some varnishing and top sides work done among other little things. Where is the cheap labor at?

:ship-captain::2 boat::crying:captain:
 
#5 ·
From experience with Grenada, Colombia, Panama, and Guatemala, by far the least expensive AND the most skilled labor is in Guatemala. Hardest working labor is in Guatemala also. Parts and material are easy to get or import there too. Second for expense and skill level is Colombia, which also has hard working labor, but parts and materials are scarce and difficult to import. Grenada skill level is "meh" and the labor is lazy, parts availability is OK, and importing used to be very easy when we were there, but I heard is more difficult now. Panama should be avoided.

I've heard good things about Mexico, or at least specific yards in Mexico. I've seen good work done in Roatan Honduras, but I think labor is more expensive. Mainland Honduras used to have a couple of good yards, but it should be avoided now for security reasons. Same with Venezuela. I'd be cautious about Cuba for parts and supply availability unless you brought in all your own. We have seen work done in Antigua, and had some minor stuff done ourselves, and the work was good quality but relatively expensive. I've no experience with Trinidad, but that is definitely a main center for boat work. The quality is probably higher, but the prices probably are too. The rest of the Eastern Caribe is riddled with facilities of varying quality and expense.

IMO, it is silly to travel out of the way to save a couple of bucks for a bottom job and some varnishing. Just do it when it is needed where you happen to be.

For larger projects, particularly those involving construction or fabrication, Colombia and Guatemala have been our choices.

Mark
 
#6 ·
St Marrten has good access to stuff, if they don’t have it you can ship it duty free from Miami. I had a welding job done at FMG this winter. Work was good and prices reasonable. We have found Grenada workmanship OK if you can get past the ****** bosses. But expensive, not so much to labor rate but the hours.

If I wasn’t there to supervise it didn’t get done. Maybe it was just the yard I was at. But I’ve heard others with similar complaints. Getting welding done seems to be tough.
 
#8 ·
..I had a welding job done at FMG this winter...
FKG is the name of the company and they do excellent welding work as well as being primarily riggers. St. Martin is home to the two big Caribbean chandleries and as mentioned, anything that isn't there can be shipped (4-7 days) or flown in (1-2 days) using companies like 4-Star or Tropical for very little money and with no duties or taxes.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Have used Clarke’s in Grenada. Price is good. Quality is very vendor specific from excellent to poor. If possible be there while work is done Makes a huge difference.
Now having work done at IGY St Lucia. Quality is good. Cost slightly less than US on somethings much less on others.
Think it’s like hospitals, boatyards.....anything. You don’t car about the hospital rather you do care about the specific physician and nurse, don’t car about the yard do care about the specific worker.
 
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