Report Review
The last year at Fairwinds was filled with challenges. We brought our brand new 33' center console to the marina in early April 2023. We paid $5800 for a lift slip. When we arrived, they struggled to get the lift bunks adjusted to properly support the boat and there were numerous power issues; the lift kept tripping the breaker when lifting the boat. They had us try a different lift and a cable snapped while trying to lift the boat, nearly hitting my brother. They worked hard to make it right, even hauled the boat at their expense and stored it on blocks until they could get the lift operating. They even offered to refund our money and let us out of our contract. We should have taken their offer.
After they finally got the lift working and the boat stored, we noted that the bunks were not adjusted correctly. The boat would shift when being lifted as it was balanced on the ridges that run the length of the hull. Every time the boat shifted, it would slowly pull the rubber padding off the lift and chip the bottom. We couldn't see that the rubber was coming off with the boat on the lift, but asked the marina to adjust the bunks to prevent this from happening. They never did.
The rest of the season passed without incident, though the shifting issue persisted, until it was time to haul the boat for the season. When we took the boat from the lift, we raised the lift to its full height and noticed how much of the padding had come off the starboard bunk - it was approximately 2/3s of the padding. When we hauled the boat, there were numerous chunks and chips taken out of the hull along the ridge. This was predominantly on the starboard side but there were a few smaller chunks on the port side as well.
I pointed the damage out to the management of the marina. They said they'd discuss with the owner, a man named Larry Goldberg and get back to us. It took weeks for Larry to get back to us. When we finally forced the discussion, he told us that the damage was not from his lift, but was from a manufacturer issue in the gel coat. We couldn't believe the audacity! He assured us that the manufacturer of the boat would take one look at it and agree with him, claiming he was an expert. Needless to say, we were VERY upset. He also told us that we were no longer welcome to store our boat at the marina and told us that when our lease was up, we needed to find another place to store our boat.
When we launched the boat last weekend, both the Marina and Yard Managers agreed that the damage to our hull was the cause of the exposed rivets on the lift. They also said that this is not the first time Larry refused to do the right thing and had other tenants leave with little recourse and a lot of frustration.
My strong recommendation is that you keep your boat elsewhere. Larry, and by extension Fairwinds, is NOT a place you can trust and is willing to cut ties with a potentially loyal customer (and nearly $10k a year in yard fees) to save $1500 in damage repairs.