Liveaboard in Carribean

Does anyone have any stories or knowledge about living aboard a trawler in the Carribean, St. Maarten in particular? A 38' trawler to liveaboard and cruise within a 200 mile radius is my plan from Nov thru May, but not this year. Does anyone know if maintenance costs or haul out costs or work done locally is any good and or fairly priced? I plan to keep the boat at a marina, preferably in Simpson Bay.Any info about boating, anchoring, crusing this area would be appreciated! Thank you

Dockside is expensive , you get power , and roaches , the bug type and the bigger ones.

Ya mon said:

Does anyone have any stories or knowledge about living aboard a trawler in the Caribbean, St. Maarten in particular? A 38' trawler to live-aboard and cruise within a 200 mile radius is my plan from Nov thru May, but not this year. Does anyone know if maintenance costs or haul out costs or work done locally is any good and or fairly priced? I plan to keep the boat at a marina, preferably in Simpson Bay.Any info about boating, anchoring, crusing this area would be appreciated! Thank you

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St. Maartens is in the middle of hurricane central which presents it's own set of issues. Most people who leave there boats in the Caribbean, do so in either Granada or Trinidad. Trinidad has dry storage for over 1000 cruising boats plus 4 yards all in one area and all the support services.

In the Caribbean, as a rule, labor is cheaper, materials are more expensive. Quality? As anywhere, you have to qualify your contractors. We are living on the hard in Trinidad (outside the hurricane belt) doing the bottom, painting the hull, re-gel coating the house and bridge, renewing non-skid, stripping and painting the mast/boom/paravanes plus some other stuff. Sometimes I feel like a den mother herding cats. With 3 plus different contractors, we sometimes have sit on one's door step in the morning. It's the islands mon. Is it worth it? You bet. We just finished painting the hull using Awlgrip Awlcraft 2000 for $4,300 US and we couldn't be happier.

Carribbean trawling

Thanks for the information. Do you stay in dry dock all hurricane season? What are some of your favorite islands and anchorages? Is it a problem keeping a boat in hurricane prone areas if you are prepared well? What would be good preparations for a hurricane?

so what kind of dockside problems have you incurred besides roaches? What islands are better for docking and anchorages and why?

Ya mon said:

Thanks for the information. Do you stay in dry dock all hurricane season? What are some of your favorite islands and anchorages? Is it a problem keeping a boat in hurricane prone areas if you are prepared well? What would be good preparations for a hurricane?

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For the most part we stay out of the hurricane zones during the season. This year we cruised till August. We are now in Trinidad on the hard for a major retrofit. The 4 previous years we cruised the summers in Central America and the Western Caribbean.

Favorite islands? They are all unique and have there plus and minuses. We like the French territories; good wine, cheese and infrastructure. Spanish Virgin are some of our favorites. If you speak Spanish and/or French it's a big help.

Keeping your boat and preparations in hurricane zones? Ask the people who live in FL. They have a lot more experience than we do dealing with hurricanes. Maybe start a new thread.

Thank you for the helpful info. How long do you take to cruise from Trinidad to the Western Carribbean? Have you cruised the islands of Belize?

Ya mon said:

so what kind of dockside problems have you incurred besides roaches? What islands are better for docking and anchorages and why?

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We've always anchored out except when we are in Trinidad, so no help on dock side problems.

There are good cruising guides for the Caribbean. They should help to answer some of your questions . Chris Doyle Guides Homepage

thank you so much!

Hi Larry!

You never came to Pto La Cruz, did you? As you said, speaking Spanish makes you save a lot of money in retrofiting in Venezuela. If I end up going to San Fernando next week for a work visit, I would probably visit you.

Rgs

Portuguese

Portuguese

Portuguese said:

Hi Larry!

You never came to Pto La Cruz, did you? As you said, speaking Spanish makes you save a lot of money in retrofiting in Venezuela. If I end up going to San Fernando next week for a work visit, I would probably visit you.

Rgs

Portuguese

Portuguese

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Please, come and visit. That would be great! We're in Coral Cove on the hard. You can't miss us.