Marine tradesmen in Grenada Rock!
They say that schedules and cruising don’t mix and I would tend to agree. Since we’ve converted from cruising to work mode though, schedules and due dates have become a huge part of our lives. We’re now in the position of having to deliver goods (the boat) and services on a specific timeline. In order to accomplish that we have had to rely upon numerous tradesmen to commit to completing work for us on time. I am happy to report that all have done so, and then some.
Special thanks to the following Grenadian businesses (in no particular order):
- Simon Clay from Navicom Marine
- Sheldon and Darren from Turbulence Electronics
- Turbulence Sails and Canvas
- Larry from Nabela Custom Upholstery
- Steffen from Driftwood Custom Boat Woodwork
- Basil St. John Marine Refrigeration
- Island Water World
- Budget Marine
- Port Louis Marina
A SPECIAL shout out goes to Nicholas and Mark from X-Marine, and all of the good guys that they have working for them.
X-Marine took on a couple of huge projects for us, most notably the davit reinforcement that I have written about several times. I still plan to do a detailed summary of that work for those who are curious about what specifically was done. In addition to that, they also modified the swim platform for us to make it into a grill table. I’m confident that project was one that they wished they had not undertaken!
Plagued with numerous setbacks, the repair of the swim platform (there were a couple of structural issues that needed to be repaired and/or improved) and the modifications for the table took X-Marine way more time to complete than they expected. So much so that Rebecca and I were pretty sure that they would not be able to meet the completion date that they had promised us. I was in constant contact with Nicholas though and he assured me that they would, and encouraged us to go ahead and clear out of customs so that we could leave at dawn on Friday as we had intended.
Would you believe that they worked all day and all night to get it done, and showed up on the boat at 3:40 AM to install it? How many companies would do that? None that I know of! Now, I’m pretty sure that our neighbors in the anchorage wouldn’t have been too impressed, assuming they could hear the noise from our boat. I’m sure that if they knew all that we had gone through to make this happen, and the timeline that we were operating under, they would forgive us.
Completing the job at 4:00 AM!
Anyway, by 5:30 AM the platform was installed and Nicholas and crew were free to leave to go home for a few hours before starting all over again. And with our Grenadian projects completed, we were free to leave. At 6:30 AM, only 30 minutes later than we had hoped to, we raised anchor and set sail towards St. Martin, a 376 nm passage.
Thanks to all of our friends in Grenada, both old and new. Although our time on the island was a lot different than in previous seasons, we still had a great time and left with many fond memories. Until next time.
Heading out of St. George’s harbor. So long, Grenada.
Hey guys good to see you finally on the way!!! I’m a first time writer (or second, I can’t remember) but a long time reader (years). Quick question, why did you choose a Raymarine chart plotter, or did it come standard with the boat? I’m trying to make a decision on a chart plotter myself but I’m suffering from variety paralysis..uff. I think I’ve narrowed it down to Simrad, Furuno, or Raymarine (I think). Do you have any insight on the subject that you’d be willing to share? Thank…
Good question. Don’t forget about Garmin. If we didn’t get Raymarine that is what I would have suggested that we purchase. Because all of the instruments on the boat are Raymarine, and Budget Marine has some people knowledgeable about that brand there, we opted to replace the existing Raymarine C80 with a newer C95. There really isn’t much more to it than that.
You just reiterated what we already felt; Grenada is a great place to get work done and to enjoy.
D & Don
SV SOUTHERN CROSS
We definitely concur.