Mr. Ramsey,
Just a short note to tell you about the great support I got from Richard Melke and his team at East’ard Marine Supply.I built my 36’ sailboat Far Reach from a bare hull over six years in a shed in my back yard. After launching in 2015 I sailed her engineless for five years making multiple offshore passages to and from the Virgin Islands. In the summer of 2019, I decided it was time for a small inboard diesel. I hauled out at Jarrett Bay (my third haul out there in six years) and stored my boat at Roy Wilson’s yard in the JB complex.
This was a long challenging project which included designing an engine system that would work in my boat. I drilled and installed a shaft log, fabricated engine beds, designed and installed a fuel tank, designed milled and installed new cabinetry around the engine, built a new electrical panel, and of course installed a new Beta 25 HP diesel engine. Throughout the project, I relied heavily on the chandlery at East’ard.
Richard and his team were just terrific. They were always courteous and friendly. They always greeted me by name and helped me find what I needed. On the few occasions they did not have what I needed they ordered the part for me and had it on hand in a couple days or less.
It’s the only chandlery I have ever seen stocked entirely for boat work versus retail clothing and other items not really related to boat projects.
The store is orderly and professionally maintained. As a retired Marine officer with over 26 years of active service I know what a professional organization looks like.
My project took me about 20 months to complete. I launched the boat a few days ago on 9 June. And, though I am very happy to be out of the yard and back on the water I enjoyed interacting with the professional East’ard staff. I had great support from Richard, Buddy, Frank, Justin, and Nick.
I also managed to purchase my engine control cables from Paul at the Marine Parts & Salvage shop. Another excellent resource.
I also wanted to mention that in the course of the last 20 months I have had a chance to talk to many of the Jarrett Bay employees as I worked on my project. I was uniformly impressed by their professionalism and enthusiasm for their work. I was chatting with the grounds keeper the other day and he was just as professional and enthusiastic about what he was doing as the rest of the crew. The travel lift operators are the best I have seen in 50 years of sailing. They have always made me feel at ease and seemed determined to address any concerns I have had.
While Jarrett Bay is clearly focused on big power yachts I have had a great experience there as a sailor with a modest sailboat.
Thanks again. I’ll return for our next haul out.
Sincerely,
John Stone
