West Cove Boat Yard

In the summer of 2022, I took my 16-foot sailboat to West Cove Boat Yard because it was taking on water and seemed to have a leak. I also wanted other work done—the bottom painted, the cast-iron keel coated with epoxy, a small gelcoat repair made. On the phone, I was told the job sounded like it would take four to five hours and would cost in the range of $400 to $500. When the boat was returned, the repainted water line was uneven and paint was splashed all over the trailer. The gelcoat repair was done hastily and hadn’t been wet-sanded and feathered. The color, with an obvious blue tint, didn’t come close to matching (see photos). More important: The boat still took on water and seemed to be leaking. At one point, it was riding so low there was only five inches of freeboard at the transom, and we had to remove the outboard motor quickly and haul it to shore to prevent it from sinking. Many months later, when I got the bill at my address in Philadelphia, it was for $1,500--three times more than the “ballpark estimate” I was given at the outset. When I returned to Maine and the boatyard last summer and complained, I was told that West Cove was “not liable,” and the service manager walked away. West Cove’s motto is “service you can trust.” Perhaps that’s true if you have million-dollar yacht, but that certainly wasn’t my experience.