Hauling Out? How to Protect Yourself

Once a boat is blocked and on the hard, a boat owner is particularly vulnerable. Generally things go well. But like any service, there can be some unscrupulous characters. So how do you avoid the bad ones? And if a dispute arises between you and the boatyard, how do you protect yourself? After all, you can’t simply drive your boat off the lot. You need the yard to launch your vessel back into the water. Fortunately, you can improve your chances of having a good haul out by

• getting referrals from other boat owners,
• observing in advance how the boatyard handles boats, and
• getting a written estimate.  

Sounds simple, right? It can be.

Getting Helpful Referrals

First, if you’re a new boat owner or in a new area, ask local boaters both for recommendations and for yards to avoid. They are your best resource. But don’t stop there. Make sure the referrals are reliable.

• Does the person making the referral have direct experience? Boat owners love passing on rumors. But you’re entrusting your home to a business. You want to know that the person recommending a boatyard knows firsthand how it operates.
• Is their experience recent? Staff turnover can affect operations. A great boatyard manager can affect a business’s reputation long after they’ve left or retired. If their replacement isn’t up to scratch, your experience could be different.
• Is their experience relevant? Yes, the owner of a small fishing powerboat may be able to tell you how well a yard manager communicates and if they are careful. But they won’t have experience with how the staff handles sailboat rigging. Most yards handle recreational boats more than cruising boats. Recommendations from other cruisers (or at least boat owners with similar vessels) will be most helpful.
• Get several opinions. Don’t rely on only one person’s experience.

Word of mouth is very helpful. But if you really want to protect yourself when hauling out, it’s ideal if you can see the yard for yourself before you commit to haunting out.

Observe How a Yard Handles Boats

This isn’t always possible. You may need to haul your boat while cruising, and the first chance you’ll have to check out a boatyard in person is when you arrive. But why not check out the yard before committing from a distance?

Here are a few things to look for:

• Is the equipment in good repair? Does the Travelift appear to be well maintained? Are the pads on the jack stands failing or in good shape?
• How do the crew handle boats they’re hauling? Skilled staff can maneuver a boat into a Travelift with boathooks. You don’t want to see anyone stopping a boat’s momentum by grabbing stanchions, for example.
• Are boats already in the yard blocked appropriately? If the yard is unpaved, are there pads under the jack stands? And are the jack stands opposite each other chained together?

Get It in Writing

Some yards are excellent about providing prices up front. You can often find prices for a range of services right on their website. Some less tech savvy boatyards hand out copies of their services and rates. That’s a good starting point, and a helpful planning tool. But you want to get a written estimate, outlining the work you want done and the expected cost. Do not settle for a statement that work is x dollars per hour. You need to know how many hours of labor the yard expects the work will take. Also get a completion date.  

An estimate should say that you must give approval if work will exceed the estimate by a certain amount, although this can be tricky if the work is only partially complete and the boat can’t be put back in the water as is (say when hull repairs are being made).  

A very detailed estimate needs to happen before your boat is hauled out. Once the boat is hauled, the boatyard has all the power as they control when (and if) your boat goes back in the water. If you’re not experienced in boat repairs, you may want an experienced friend to look over the estimate both for completeness and reasonableness. If you don’t have someone you trust, another option is to hire a surveyor as a consultant on the project. 

In the rare case that the scope of work truly cannot be assessed until the boat is out of the water, you should have an agreement as to the cost of the initial haul and diagnosis, including a statement that if the estimate is unsatisfactory the boat will be relaunched upon payment of that sum. 

And don’t forget to get additional written estimates for any extra work not covered in the initial estimate. You don’t want to get a nasty surprise when you go to settle up! 

What do you do if an estimate doesn’t seem reasonable? It could be due to high charges, that you are doing too much, or that work is being done to a luxury standard when something less would still serve your purposes.You might get a second estimate from a different yard which would hopefully reveal n unscrupulous facility. Another option would be to discuss the scope of the work and see if there is another alternative either to how much is being done or the standard to which it is being done.  

Haul outs and repairs don’t have to be nightmares but it’s up to you to protect yourself. Written estimates, signed by all parties, are an important part of that.  

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