Barber Marina has lots of good reviews by visitors citing the pristine grounds, the statues, the…read moreclean, pristine grounds... and that is all true. The staff are friendly & professional when you first walk up. But when it really comes down to it, to money, to the opportunity for actual integrity and fair business beyond cheap talk, friendly tones, and smiles, that's when things get a little uglier.
I chose their advertised "Bottom Job" at the published per-foot rate -- about $3,500 for my boat, paint included. It was presented as a normal, defined service: prep the bottom, paint it, put the boat back in the water. Nothing made it clear that the price could multiply several times over, or that the boat could, as result, end up trapped in the yard while daily fees just kept running indefinitely.
Once they hauled it, they said they would only put ten hours into it. When that did almost nothing, it became $150 an hour per guy. The "flat rate" job was suddenly heading toward $15k-$18k, realistically, if they were to complete their 'Bottom Job like they were supposed to for $3,500'.
I brought people in and we put over 100 hours into that bottom ourselves. Still didn't do shit. So I rented sandblasting equipment, fully wrapped the boat in tarps, and was just about to start. One of their guys came over acting innocently curious and interested in what I was doing... then, without saying or implying I wasn't allowed to sandblast, went and reported me. They said I couldn't sandblast because the sand could travel. Fair, but I'd just... enclosed my boat. "Yeah, but liability" Of what... sandblasting equipment is safe compared to other things I've been doing... "Yeah, but, rules are rules".
They said they could move me soon but not yet so I had to rent the several hundred dollar / day equipment through the weekend and finally after delays they moved me to their "sandblasting booth" for another $1,400. It was outdoor, three (not four) metal walls with no roof and that let sand blow all throughout the yard, incomparably more than my tarps would have, if at all. I literally watched the sand blow throughout much of the yard on multiple occasions, onto peoples boats. They hurried me out of the spot because someone else was supposed to move in before I was able to finish.
I then said I needed to go back in and finish it, and they said I wasn't allowed to sandblast, and that one of them had just let me do it as a favor even though they weren't supposed to. (Someone who knows how to incorporate integrity and fairness into business, who unfortunately was not in the management position.) They randomly said I had to pay $2,500 upfront before they'd blast it. Even though I'd already taken most of the coating off, they still charged $3,500. It was also two weeks before they were able to put me in, when it was only supposed to be a few days. When I asked if they would be charging me for all those daily rates while I was waiting to be sandblasted, they said "of course", like it was unreasonable that I'd ask.
They stopped while big sections still had coatings I could easily and widely flake off with my fingers, then said they were finished and weren't doing anything more. Finally, they said they'd finish sandblasting, but only if I bought the rest of the material (+$400). The whole time the $80-$90 a day storage fees just kept adding up. By the end I was looking at around $15,000. That's the best their staff can do as a "favor.", and they had to break the rules to do it. I was already thousands over the original quote just trying to finish the job they were supposed to do, and the "favor" was not charging me even more after they stopped me.
This is the real problem: if you authorize what looks like a defined bottom job at a published per-foot rate, and the cost jumps several times higher, you may not be able to pay the boat out, finish the work, or get it back in the water. The boat ends up stuck in the yard -- not because you wanted to store it there, but because the bill got so high you can't get it out. Then the daily fees just keep compounding, way past the original price and past what the boat is even worth. That's exactly what happened to me. From the day they hauled it, I was already trapped.
Barber Marina, unlike any boatyard I'm aware of, also does not offer yearly rates, so their daily fee (around $80 for me), which would not have been a problem if the bottom job only took a few days like they said, adds up quite quickly over a span of your vessel being stuck there.
These are my raised points of confusion and concerns about their business model, their shady practices, their handling of customers, and their misleading advertising.
If you're thinking about doing any bottom work here, just understand that their 'Bottom Job' service, may not render your boat in any sort of condition where it's ready to be hauled, short of a difference up to several times the fixed, per foot rate they advertise.
