I have a couple of jobs on my shoal-keel centre-plate trailer-sailer (an Investigator 563). One is pretty basic - replacing a cabin window but the other is either making the centre-plate swing down again, or removing it and closing up the void with more ballast. The boat sails well enough without the plate - I know this from experience.

I am looking for a recommendation from someone on the forum who has had similar work done on their own boat.

Peter

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RL24 Mk4 cruiser Mariner 5 2 stroke

A bad day in the Whitsundays is better than a good day at work. Unless you work in the Whitsundays.

Thanks for the link. The posts about Boatworks of Seaford were positive but dated. Do forum members still rate this business?
Peter

You can try Yaringa, they have most boat services there from fiberglassing to trailers, workmanship is of a good quality, like most boat places that are any good you cant get in straight away, normally takes a week or two before they can do your boat.

I had dealings with Boatworks and they come highly recommended but I found their service was ordinary to poor at best, 6 months ago he told me he would call me back about when he could MAYBE have a look at my boat, so he was going to tell me that he MIGHT have time to look at my boat at sometime in the future MAYBE. No phone call as yet, so I got it fixed elsewhere. If they didnt want my money thats fine with me.

You can be the best tradie in the business but if your customer service is bad you wont have too much work for long.

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Cheers Mike
Macgregor 26X SeaYaLater
Hastings Yacht Club
Warneet Motor Yacht Club
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClULxhArKeEpFb_3-iYna5w/videos

Boatworks at Seaford made new lifelines with roll swages for the Farr three months ago - nice job. I have seen his work resurrecting boats from major damage and it is very professional.

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Farr 7500 (Circe') Sold. Avan Camper, 1967 MGB roadster, 1932 Austin 7 Sports.

Peter has been around a very long time.

I dealt with him 25 years ago when he worked for others and I've never heard a complaint from a paying customer. He has advised people against work when it would be uneconomic but that is just protecting his reputation.

He is busy because working on trailer yachts in the limited market of Melbourne means the paying work often backs up. That is what most owners need to do, wait if you want the best person to do the work.

I used Botril Boat Builder's son to repair my J24, I waited 4 months till he was available to do 3 days work, the best are scarce.

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RL24 Mk4 cruiser Mariner 5 2 stroke

A bad day in the Whitsundays is better than a good day at work. Unless you work in the Whitsundays.

I agree but service is still required or you get annoyed people like me, I mean really, "I will give you a call to tell you if I might be able to do your boat" hardly qualifies in my book either he could in so many weeks or he couldnt, I didnt really care either way. I guess people like that think that business will always be so good that bad service is accepatble

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Cheers Mike
Macgregor 26X SeaYaLater
Hastings Yacht Club
Warneet Motor Yacht Club
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClULxhArKeEpFb_3-iYna5w/videos