Berkeley Marine Center

Just completed a DIY bottom paint, thru hull transducer installation, and polish job at BMC. I was apprehensive about taking on my first haul out bottom paint and thru hull installation, but the yard staff were very helpful guiding me through the process without any attitude. It was a grueling and dirty job for a first timer’s learning curve. Very friendly front office and staff. Definitely will be using BMC again in a few years for my Grady’s bottom.

I grew up at this boatyard as sailor.
Everyone I know there is fantastic, informed and easy to get along with.
In a way it is a living museum and an asset to the area. How it has survived being in Berkeley where people oppose everything… God only knows.
They are the best in the business, been there on the hard, and splashed too many times to count. Never a single problem.
Cree is a wonderful guy and I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with him but then there’s the secret agenda people…
I recall gate 6 in Sausalito and other places in the bay area that are now history.
Hope this stays put. I hate the BMC…
Not because it’s bad there, very much the contrary!!!
What I hate is having to make reservations so far in advance now that more people know about it!!!
Will

NOTE: Please read Robert. V’s review below as well, It seems he had an identical experience with this boat yard.
Due to the fact that Berkeley Marine Center (B.M.C) is really the only option to get major repairs done near the Berkeley /​Emeryville marinas, Cree Partridge and his crew liberally use this to their advantage.
I brought my vessel in for some Insurance repairs to the rigging, toe-​rail, and paint. Not only did they take an unbelievably long time to actually repair my vessel, and the exorbitant final repair price did not even closely match my original estimate. They also failed to fix many of the items that I asked them to fix, such as adding a Windex to the mast, (seemingly simple, right?)
I was never told about the extent of the extra work they decided to perform until all work had been completed. And the final price was more than $ 6000.00 (yes that’s Six Thousand) (120.0%) above the original estimated price. On top of that, Cree threatened me with a lien on my vessel if the exorbitant costs weren’t paid. I’m a working class parent, and I’m very cost-​conscious. Also, I live between paychecks often, so needless to say, I did not have the funds available to cover these costs, nor would I have EVER approved that work if I had known prior.
One would be hard pressed to get any kind of estimate from B.M.C prior to work being completed. They rarely can tell you the price for labor or parts prior to completion. If you ask for a price directly, they can’t provide it without significant research of their disorganized work order structure.
Furthermore, their final invoices do NOT separate Parts and Labor as outlined by the Vessel Repair Law, nor are items sold in units (such as wood, or lengths of rigging cable for shrouds). And these items tallied thousands of dollars with no breakdown.
BMC blatantly violates several tenets of the Vessel Repair Law (which you can see here:
), including failing to follow Invoice and Estimate requirements, Performing and charging for work without a signed estimate.
If you have your boat repaired here, I suggest you force Cree Partridge to fully disclose estimates, prices, and parts prior to ANY work being done. And while work is in progress, you’ll need to call daily to insure they don’t decide to just «Fix» something else and charge you for it. (NOTE: If Cree doesn’t answer the Phone, he’ll NEVER receive your message, no matter who you leave it with). The rest of the staff is quite disorganized, and are not technically savvy whatsoever.
If you’ve been ‘over a barrel’ due to Cree and his crew, or any other of BMC’s practices, you can submit complaints here:
You’re also welcome to contact me here! The only way this will get fixed is via volume of complaints, and joint action.
Thanks for reading!

In May of 2014, I took my 42′ classic schooner to Berkeley Marine Center for major surgery, following a hapless example of rudimentary navigation. The rudder had been torn from the rudder-​post, which in turn had been split in half vertically. Roughly the lower third of the «deadwood» had been torn away, a number of bilge planks had to be replaced, and there was a good deal of cosmetic damage to the planking that could be saved.
As I’d spent 20 years restoring the schooner, I’d be told of every step beforehand, as I knew what was behind everything. Steve Hutchinson, the yard’s boatwrite, said he’d only do a level of work that didn’t compromise their reputation — so I’d been promised no compromises.
Cree Partridge, the yard’s owner, came up with a figure of $ 45,000 for for the repairs, and an estimate of three months to do the job. My insurance coverage was well below the estimate; and as my insurance company’s surveyor was there at the presentation, he asked Cree what he’d do when the insurance money ran out. The answer was, «it might even go $ 20,000 over the estimate, but when the money begins to run out, we’ll take it one day at a time.» Should the money run out, I planned to stop the «yard» work and finish the job myself.
By the end of July the entire keel and deadwood had been replaced, including the rudder post with the rudder angle yet to be scribed on it. Steve had done a fine job, and I remember the last step, because it was at that point that Steve asked me if the rudder tube was good enough to determine the rudder-​shaft angle. I was surprised at the question because he had seen my restoration photos, and one of them was a close-​up of the new rudder tube. Unknown to me, however, was that Cree and Steve were aware of the rudder tube’s being dislodged before Cree even wrote the estimate — but both Steve and Cree kept it a secret. I figured out the puzzle for myself — but when correcting it was nearly impossible.
The first sign of trouble was during the rudder installation, when the bottom of the rudder shaft was not parallel to the machined surface of the rudder shoe. The shoe bore the full weight of the rudder, and unless the shoe and rudder shaft had full contact, the friction at the point of contact would cause excessive wear on the rudder shoe. I brought the problem to Steve’s attention, but he discounted the importance of a perfect fit, saying that, «It was good enough to last 20 years.» At that very point in time, the rudder tube could still have been returned to its proper angle, and therefore allow the rudder post to match the rudder shoe.
Though Steve ended up relocating the rudder shoe to match the angle of the rudder shaft, the additional (overlapping) bolt holes required to relocate the shoe, only weakened the rudder post at its most important spot, and served to compromise the project.
It was in August that I finally figured out the reason for the rudder shoe having to be relocated. When I stumbled across the dislodged rudder tube, a light went off; and when Steve asked me the question about the rudder tube angle, it was only to hold me responsible for any problems with the rudder angle down the line.
Cree admitted to Steve telling him about the dislodged rudder tube before the estimate was begun — but he did so to impress me with the money he’d saved me by not allowing Steve to replace the horn timber — which was estimated to cost me an additional $ 20,000. Though Steve could have at least filled the rudder tube gap with tar while he was doing such jobs, I think he was too upset about not building a new horn timber to do me any favors.
The schooner was launched on 10÷15÷14, and getting it sailing again was my official project. The steering had faired well in the grounding; but Steve took it upon himself to correct a trivial misalignment of its parts under a hydraulic press, and the rebuild cost me 3,800.
Putting the engine back in and getting all systems working usually takes a few days — but damage done to the electrical, fuel, and shifting units during its removal, kept the boat at Berkeley Marine for the next 7 months!
Instead of taking responsibility for his employees’ mistakes, the only breaks Cree gave me during those months were access to the wood and metal shops, replacing broken or missing parts by his machinist, ½ day of his time in forcing tar into the rudder tube gap, and not charging me for the lay days.
Though the final cost of repairs nearly doubled Cree’s estimate, Cree neither apologized for it nor offered me a discount. I’ve never understood what happened to their insisting on the highest standards of construction, or concern for their reputation. Lastly, Cree’s invoices are never itemized except for the smaller items. In a $ 5,000 charge for lumber, neither the quantity of lumber bought and used were listed, much less the price per board foot that I was charged.
I’ve used boatyards since 1973.

Be weary. This place will rip you off! Spent over 20k at this yard on our islander 34. Bad workmanship and they DO NOT honor their warranty. Cree is a real piece of work. Be warned.

Family atmosphere, exceptional service, always willing to help and advise. Their main goal is to make sure that all contractors and sailors are happy. I have been using their services for years as a contractor working on boats and I cannot say enough positive about Berkeley Marine Center! Highly recommend.

This is one of the last yards in the Bay Area that allows full do it yourself work. Cree, the owner, loves boats, and it shows. He will sometimes stop by to see how your project is going and offer helpful advice. The office staff are friendly and the yard workers are competent. Pricing is on a par with other yards or a bit cheaper.
Pros: Friendly, busy place with excellent free advice from Cree. Karl the yard manager is friendly and responsive .Work force is competent .The store is convenient but pricey.
Cons: Crowded and messy with equipment and boat parts all over. Travelifts need maintenance and the mast crane is nor Ideal for the job. Buttler Rigging a separate outfit, has mixed reviews.
Overall, though far from perfect it’s a great boatyard, and that shows in the wait time to be hauled.

I am an experience boat owner and skipper. I have been using BMC for about 10 years to haul 2 different sailboats. I have had them help with 2 restorations and have hauled boats out at BMC about 8 times. Cree, Carl, Steve and David, Howard, all have taken time out to help me solve problems when I was doing work myself and when they have done work that I can’t do, the work was good, intelligently planned and at a fair cost. I use BMC after having poor treatment at 2 different boat yards in Alameda, and now come here from Alameda.
The only down side to doing such a good job is that it is now difficult to get into the yard on short notice. When other yards are empty, BMC is full. What do you expect?

recommended #1 boat yard for DIYers

My friends and I had a fantastic experience taking our 1975 Catalina 27 to Berkeley Marine Center for a bottom job and and overhaul. I still can’t believe how good the boat looks and sails!
Doing the job ourselves was a lot of work, but it was much easier and more successful because of the great advice and help we got from Karl and Jamie and the rest of the Yard staff. They coached us through every step of the project and even suggested fixes and upgrades we hadn’t imagined. The end result is that our boat looks better than we thought possible and we have the confidence of having inspected the keel and thru-​hulls ourselves.
I would recommend the do-​it-​yourself approach to hauling out and bottom work to any new boat owner – it’s a great way to get to know your boat. And, I would recommend doing the work at Berkeley Marine Center. The yard had everything we needed and the people were amazing!

Berkeley marine center did a faulty repair, that almost sank our boat. We brought it back for warranty work, which they wouldn’t honor. Then, they left the portholes open, damaging our boat. Next, they left the bilge cover open, injuring us.

I just spent 8 months at Berkeley Marine Center and couldn’t have had a better experience!
I hauled out in mid-​December with the idea that I’d put-​back-​in in a couple of weeks. They were to do the bottom, and I was going to replace some seacocks on the thru-​hulls.
Well, as any boat owner will likely tell you, it’s never that easy.
I have an older fiberglass hull sloop (1962) with a wooden mast. The mast was starting to fail at the seams. It was Cree who pointed this out to me, and I can’t thank him enough.
Steve Hutchinson, a wooden boat specialist, gave me great advice on how to approach making the repairs myself. He was very generous with his time.
Karl coordinated my repairs, and was great with engine help and coordinating custom metal work for my topmast.
I ended up replacing the standing rigging, and Jay Butler of Butler rigging did a great job. He was patient with my novice sense of rig tuning as I figured out a backstay adjustment arrangement.
I had a lot of anxiety about how much it would cost in lay-​up fees after extending my stay in the yard 8X longer than ever imagined, but the final cost was very reasonable.
Everyone was very encouraging throughout the process and I won’t hesitate to haul-​out there again.
I’ve read some of the negative reviews here and have to wonder what kind of personalities were involved. In my 8 months there I never saw a bad launch, a boat fall, or any damage that the yard inflicted.
I read the poor reviews in advance of my decision to haul-​out there, and they had me concerned about my choice. I’m happy to report that all my fears were allayed. It’s no small task to do what they do on a daily basis, and when your project changes unexpectedly (and you can expect that it will!), these guys are the one’s you want working with you.

A very painful experience having my boat worked on. Never again will I deal with berkeley marine center. They never know how much. The mysterious bill is never ready. My time is worth nothing. Pleasure was finally getting my boat away from them

BMC hauled out my Ranger 23. 2 friends and I sanded and re-​painted the bottom.
Julie in the front office was helpful recommending a less expensive paint. The rented sander worked well and BMC provided extra touch up paint w/​o cost. The boat was returned to the water on Thursday after 4 days in the yard.

We bought our boat in Long Beach & brought her up the coast to Berkeley on her bottom. We had to pull into multiple harbours & marine centers along the way. That’s just a part of owning a boat! We have now been in Berkeley 5 months. No matter what we need help with from plumbing, elec, bilge pumps, dinghy restoration, leaks, windows, etc. The staff here is great. Thanks Cree, Carl, Tony, Alabama and you gotta love a woman who knows boats & marine paint~ thanks Julie for great tips. From our fiberglass sail boat to the vintage mahogany haul CCC these guys have been a great resource of knowledge & always willing to stop & take a look at a project & give you great advice. Also appreciate them not doing the typical cock of the head, disapproving judgemental look followed by «You bought a wood boat?»
In short, this is the best place we know to haul out your boat, get great sage advice, learn and do your own work or have them do it for you.
cheers

First let me say that Carl has been extremely fair and reasonable with me and but for the fact that I will miss his customer service and genuine kindness, I cringe whenever I have to set foot on their property to get to the sailing club they share space with.
I took my boat in for its third service there in June of 2010 to have the following done: cockpit sole repaired (water intrusion), control cables replaced at the pedestal, shim the rudder and a new thru hull triducer installed in place of the existing thru hull analog knotmeter. When I had Cree look at it in October 2009, it was estimated at $ 1k (without the cables or triducer work). Then I took it in and they found a couple of other things – bad sheave underneath pedestal and a bad interface between the rudder post where it is held by a top cap. Ok. So now the estimate is $ 2.5k. So I said. ok. please add in the triducer (I assumed maybe another $ 200 – 300 as I supplied all the parts and the bottom paint to touch up.
Then there was a problem finding a replacement sheave for the quadrant. So they had to custom make one. I was told another $ 200, maybe $ 300 to do that. Fine. So in my mind we’re just over $ 3k. Alright. At my limit. TWO MONTHS LATER. After being patient, I got my boat back. But not before I had an argument with their subcontractor Steve Hutchison of Hitchison Marine (independent consultant) who all but accused me of being a liar when I told him that my transmission shift knob did not work in reverse (fwd was fwd, rev was rev). He told me that was impossible. Anyway. Long story short, after bitching to Carl, they figured it out and away we go.
So I go to pick up my boat, but the billing wasn’t ready. Fine. I’ll come back and we’ll settle. No other mention of price at this point. Then I go to motor away from their dock and guess what. This guy Steve has HOOKED UP THE QUADRANT BACKWARDS! So left is right and right is left!!! After bouncing off a couple boats, I figured out what had happened (shame on me for not checking the operation before attempting to leave) and got the boat back safely. Not before making some new marks on my bow which BMC had to repair at their cost. I nearly lost my mind and just threw my hands up and said you deal with this.
Finally 2.5 months later, I go to take my boat back again and check the rudder and everything is fine. THe work is actually done quite well. All the play in the rudder is gone, the cockpit is solid, control cables new, transmission controls work correctly and triducer installed. I get slapped with a $ 9k bill! That was far more than I paid for the boat in the first place! I was absolutely floored.
Needless to say thanks to Carl, we worked it out (far more to my benefit than to theirs in all honesty) and settled the bill. I had hoped that my first experience was a fluke since my second was so much better. But this third and final time was it for me. I get the feeling they want to be boat builders more than a service shop and that’s fine. But for those of us looking to have professionals work on their boats in a timely, cost effective and forward-​facing upfront manor, look elsewhere.

I’ve been hauling out my commercial boats at BMC for years now and have had nothing but good experiences there. I do almost all the work myself, but if I need help fitting in a plank, or have some technical questions — there’s always someone ready to assist, either with knowledge or to physically do the job right.

BEWARE — this boat yard may be dangerous to your health and the health of your boat!
I am not sure what happened, Unilocal used to have at least half a dozen horrific reviews of Berkeley Marine Center… and I think it’s overall rating was one star??? Those have all disappeared…
Fortunately, some of them are still available on the web. There was a discussion at Sailnet about boat yards in the San Francisco Bay Area, and when someone described a problem at Berkeley Marina Center an argument broke out that went on for more than 15 pages. Check out Google and Yahoo, some of the reviews are still there…
(Someone did something at Sailnet and it’s no longer listed and doesn’t come up in searches but this link works.)
Just to summarize:
* The yard is filthy and unsafe.
* The equipment is in a poor state of maintenance (multiple boats have reportedly Been dropped by the lift).
* Whatever estimate they give you as to the time for completion, your boat may be stuck there for months…
* When you finally are able to get your boat out of there, they will hit you with a large bill and you will pay it just to get away.
* There is a high likelihood that not only will the work is shoddy, but they will do significant damage to your boat.
* Multiple owners have had to take them to court.
* But most unbelievably, the police have had to be called multiple times to protect owners from Cree — such violent behavior is simply unacceptable.
Before taking your boat here take the time to read all 16 pages at Sailnet.
On the good side — if you intend to do the work yourself, they will leave you alone no matter how unsafe or unclean your own project is…

My Santana 22′ and I have just spent two months undergoing a complete refit at BMC. Hauling my boat at BMC has been one of the most fun experiences in my several years of sailing and boat ownership.
First off, the people are wonderful. Really down to earth folk who love what they do, and who seem to relish every day of it. Cree, Julie, and Karl who run the place know what they’re doing, and take clear enjoyment and pride in their operation.
Secondly… they treated me like royalty. I have a beat up Santana 22, and was doing most of the work myself., and buying most of my materials outside of the yard. Hardly a model customer, and still they went out of their way to help me out… flipping the boat upside down to make bottom paint removal easier, lending me tools, and free on advice. I couldn’t be more stoked at the service.
For a DIY boatyard, BMC seemed to be second to none. Cheaper, more flexible, and more accommodating than other places. Where I paid them to do work… spray painting etc, it was all done well, and efficiently
Everyone else I met in the yard felt similarly grateful to be there. In two months of watching the ebb and flow of boats in the yard, I didn’t see any major screw ups on the BMC end.
I’ve noticed the same vindictive customer and his friend re-​posting bad things on Unilocal,but I didn’t witness any problems in my time there. Sure there are delays, and it’s not run like swiss railways, but I watched as the BMC folks worked long hours to accomodate a myriad of shifting needs and schedules from boat owners.
If you’re on a budget and are looking for a yard that will treat your boat like a yacht, and you like a priceless customer, BMC is your place.

The bad things you are reading and hearing about? They are all true about this place.
More damage is done to boats than is fixed.
Boats are dropped. Boats are left to ground. Masts are dropped and bashed around by a construction crane that is completely the wrong tool as well as being unsafe.
Look at their lift and the fluids leaking out of it.
A few months ago someone lost a finger.
Overspray on cars, boats, people…
They cause damage and expect the customer to pay twice for the ‘work’.
The anger and negativity at this place is huge. They just don’t seem to like boats and for sure they don’t like their customers. They want your money and don’t really care how they get it.
If you want to work on your own boat go to Svens or Napa — both good yards with professional staff who care about boats.