As part of a restoration project, I brought my 1968 Hunter powerboat to Baja Naval. The yard fixed a broken window, painted the hull, and rebuilt the aft head. I thought BN would give me a better deal than a SoCal shop at equal quality, but that wasn't the case and I would discourage anyone else from making the trek down just for yard work.
BN provided advanced quotes for the window and bottom paint, which were fairly accurate and 25% less than SoCal shops. They couldn't provide a quote for the head rebuild, but a carpenter/plumber team in Newport Beach quoted $5,000, so I figured I might save $1,000 on that job.
As tends to happen, the original estimates for bottom paint and the window rose a bit. Then I was surprised to get an initial estimate of $10,000 for the head rebuild, literally double the price of Newport. Guess I should have walked away then. Ultimately the final price for the head was $15,000 and, honestly, it just wasn't enough work to warrant it.
The quality of the work was not poor, but it was not great either. The aft head required the install of a shower, toilet, 5' separating bulkhead, and a door. They built a custom fiberglass shower stall. It was decent quality, but they did not install the requested access ports and tile as requested. The "bulkhead" that was installed seemed like it was rushed. The edges were not well lined up and the paint was not neat at the edges. They also requested a delay in delivery to manufacture a $900 door for the shower, which I could order for $300. Overall, the end product just didn't match the cost.
The work took much longer than expected. Baja Naval did not work to complete the job in a timely manner. The yard owner's beautiful Nordhavn 62 was in the yard, so maybe that took priority. Once the bottom paint was completed on my boat, BN moved it to a dock where lay days would be charged and little work was being done. It took rescheduling several times to pick the boat up. They also held up our planned departure by 5 hours, claiming a customs paperwork delay, but it was obvious that they were just waiting to confirm the final wire transfer before letting us leave. Once they saw the funds posted, they told me they could email the final paperwork and we were good to go. Keep in mind if you go here there's the prospect that your boat will not be released if you don't agree on terms.
Overall, I was disappointed with Baja Naval. I chose them partly based on internet reviews, which did not match my experience. Obviously they have a lot of satisfied customers, so maybe I was just too small of a job for them or maybe the hot market means that things have changed. My recommendation is to steer clear unless you have a professional crew or unlimited time to monitor the work. read more