Ensenada refit

[Calicruising]

Hi everyone.

I recently became the owner of a 55 Pilothouse Trawler and I am looking to undergo a refit. Mostly a new canopy, interior fittings, exterior brightwork and deck work etc., etc.

I'm trying to find out if someone has a reference for getting work done in Ensenada? I just met with a guy name Mario from Niza Marine and they seem descent. The prices seem reasonable and the completed work on the boat the team were working on when I was shown around looked to be a good standard.

If anyone has any experience with Niza I'd love to get some feedback.

Thanks in advance.

 

[KnotYet]

Welcome.
I have no recent experience down south to share, though.
Reading mvweebles' posts will shed much light as will some others.

 

[mvweebles]

Hi everyone.

I recently became the owner of a 55 Pilothouse Trawler and I am looking to undergo a refit. Mostly a new canopy, interior fittings, exterior brightwork and deck work etc., etc.

I'm trying to find out if someone has a reference for getting work done in Ensenada? I just met with a guy name Mario from Niza Marine and they seem descent. The prices seem reasonable and the completed work on the boat the team were working on when I was shown around looked to be a good standard.

If anyone has any experience with Niza I'd love to get some feedback.

Thanks in advance.

What kind of boat and where is it located now?

I spent a little over 2-years having Mario/Niza work on Weebles. It did not go well in my opinion. La Costa Boatworks finished the work and repaired multiple errors by Niza. In the end, price with La Costa was cheaper than Niza, and work was much better.

In the last couple months, Niza has had a number of 5-star reviews show-up on Google (including one from a gal that had a great bachelorette party - how that was accepted to a marine service review I'll never know!). I have no idea where they came from since the only boat they've had in the yard for the last 18-months is a 50-foot aluminum Chris Craft Roamer that Niza painted the hull over a 5-month period or so. It's at Cruiseport Marina - you may want to ask Mario to put you in contact with the owner or stop by and look for yourself. Or you could pick one or two of the 5-star reviews at random and ask Mario to put you in contact with the owner. I know of another boat that Niza did the interior and teak decks. I'd be happy to put you in touch with that owner too.

Best of luck with whatever you decide. Feel free to PM me. Please include your email and phone number - happy to discuss.

Peter

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard.

 

[alfamike]

Ensenada Mx. Boat Yards - We used "Baja Naval"

Ensenada Mx. Boat Yards - We used "Baja Naval".

Talk to Diego, let him know I sent you. "White knuckles".

I was very happy with the work, easy to do business with, not the cheapest way to go, but always good work.

You need to be willing to be there regularly to inspect progress every week.

Correct any thing done wrong immediately, to get it corrected.

Also Roberto was a good advisor.

Know what you want & bring pictures of approximately how the end product is wanted to look.

Good luck

 

[Terry Wilkinson]

Just had my boat in Baja Naval, bottom paint, thru hulls, polishing, all done within a week, excellent workers, clean boatyard, easy communication, fair price.

 

[ksanders]

I had my boat in Baja Naval for a bit over a month this summer.

The facility is top notch, on par with high quality boat yards in the states.

The customer service is Fantastic! You are assigned a project manager, and that person (either Ricardo or Diego) is your point of contact. I requested daily photos, and a weekly billing, and they were happy to do that.

The quality of the products is the same as America, and the quality of the work was extremely professional.

I would not hesitate to recommend Baja Naval for any boat project or refit.

 

[mvweebles]

Ksanders, Alfamike, Terry Wilkinson: Thanks for these endorsements. I get quite a few people ask me for feedback on having work done in Ensenada. I generally give Baja Naval a luke-warm recommendation work-wise, they get high marks. Commercially, different story. Quite a few reports of unexplained price changes which is disturbing given it's a decent haul to come to Ensenada, even from San Diego. For me, after sitting at their docks for 3-months, I finally gave-up waiting for quotes (and the quotes I did receive varied wildly from what was discussed prior to coming to Ensenada). I figured they just didn't want the work, but I have talked to several people who were flummoxed by mid-work price change without commensurate change in scope.

Peter

 

[RickyD]

I have had three boats worked on at Baja Naval. Mostly a very good experience. Bottom paint, through hulls, other painting, varnish, bow thruster installation (pre-COVID), PSS shaft seal replacement, cutlass bearing replacement, and some electrical all have been very good, especially when I have gotten and approved quotes in advance. So, what was not good? Wax job, cleaning the engine room without a quote. Resealing forward facing windows was bad but they farmed out the work and after my complaint, refunded the entire cost. I'll still go back but try to have pricing set in advance. Oh, about the cleaning and waxing issues. I think post COVID they lost some of their employees and relied on anyone off the street.

 

[ksanders]

Ksanders, Alfamike, Terry Wilkinson: Thanks for these endorsements. I get quite a few people ask me for feedback on having work done in Ensenada. I generally give Baja Naval a luke-warm recommendation work-wise, they get high marks. Commercially, different story. Quite a few reports of unexplained price changes which is disturbing given it's a decent haul to come to Ensenada, even from San Diego. For me, after sitting at their docks for 3-months, I finally gave-up waiting for quotes (and the quotes I did receive varied wildly from what was discussed prior to coming to Ensenada). I figured they just didn't want the work, but I have talked to several people who were flummoxed by mid-work price change without commensurate change in scope.

Peter

I'm a bit different I suppose.

I do not need or even want a quotation for work.

I like to go over the work to be done and the hours and materials are what they are.

What I do expect is honesty. If I am paying for someone 8 hours in a day I expect that they are devoted to my project for that 8 hours. I do not expect them to be full time manual labor. Skilled trades require time to think, ascess the work done, and plan the best path foreward.