Gambol Industries Inc

Recently a 70 ton vessel collided with my 48 foot trimaran. Gambol Industries repaired the damaged so well that you would never know that there was a collision.
Teak/​paint matched perfectly. Staff is courteous and professional, price for repair was reasonable and covered by insurance. Wow, they take the stress out yacht repair.

We had a little run in with some rocks with our Bertram. Took it to Gambol because it was convenient. The problem is once they haul it out of the water you’re at their mercy. In their investigation of the damage they ground several holes all the way the fiberglass hull (can’t put it back in the water and take it elsewhere now!). After the rock incident the boat was taking on less than a pint of water per hour which was easily handled by the bilge pump. Why Gambol decided to grind five inch holes is beyond me. They came up with a $ 90,000 repair bill and the boat turned into a total loss with our insurance company. To add insult to injury, when we refused to agree with their suggestion that we let the insurance company «total» the boat and then buy it back from the insurance company and still have it repaired (what the heck?!) they called us and wanted $ 17,000 for their investigative work. Huh? A marine survey costs $ 450. I believe my insurance company ended up paying them $ 4,000 for their investigative work that resulted in the beautiful Bertram 38 being scrapped — which just validates their request for $ 17,000 was outrageous. Something isn’t right with their business practices and I would never take a boat here for repair again.

I red the 3 negative reviews and initially had some reluctance to have Gambol do the bottom paint on my boat. After visiting the shipyard in person, and talking to Jeff, I felt comfortable. We contracted to have the bottom painted however there was some bare spots and blisters that needed work and the additional cost took us by surprise but the bid was fair and they agreed to fix a few more blisters in the price. The communication was good; Jeff did a great job explaining the prep process, the fix for blisters and the new bottom paints., The boat was ready when promised and there were no unexpected pricing hits. Overall the value and work was very good, the final price fair considering the extra prep work, and I would definitely come back to Gambol.

The original estimate for the bottom paint seemed very reasonable. It was once in the yard, the games began.
While watching the yardmen work on the rudder journal I told them «It needs to be un-​screwed from the top» The guys clearly had no idea what they were doing. The job took twice as long as it should have and some damage was done to my metal work. I asked several times to look at the parts they removed and for some reason they were never available when I was there. The price for this service seemed high at $ 2200.00
When I received the estimate for the thru-​hull it was $ 900. I asked «why so much?» They took me into the back room to talk to the big boss. John, the general manager, explained to me the bottom of your boat is a «core-​hull» and we will need to grind out a large area and lay in fiberglass so the thru-​hull would have something solid to mount to. My boat is very solid and I told them I didn’t think that would be necessary. John told me the only way he would do the work is if they at least drilled an over-​sized hole and cemented in a fiberglass tube, grind it off and then place the thru-​hull and they could do that for the amount I had purposed $ 500. However when I received the final bill, they did not place the tube in. «I asked why». They said «it was not necessary because your boat is actually solid on the bottom». The charge was still $ 500 and it could not have taken a guy more then 20 minutes to complete the job.
The estimate for the actuators was not received until I was in the yard and the price was $ 950. I explained to the guys the cost should be no more then $ 500 because the parts were already disconnected from the hoses and hardware and I only wanted them to change out the actuators. Gambol agreed to allow me to fill and tested the system because it was on the inside of the boat. I don’t know if you work on your own boat or not but I arrived at the yard at 8:10 that morning and was testing the trim-​tabs at a quarter to 9:00 and saved $ 450. The total price for a job like this should have been no more then $ 500 for the entire job. The yard rate is $ 100 per hour and the whole job including wire wheeling the brass parts could not take a guy more then 3 to 4 hours to complete.
I asked the yard to remove my propellers so «I» may take them to Wilmington propeller for a tuning; the estimate to remove the propellers was $ 650 to $ 900. When I asked why so much? The lead yardman, Jeff tried to explain to me the expense had to do with «inspecting the key-​ways». I was unable to contain myself at this point and burst out laughing. In my mind I could not figure out if they were trying to rip-​me-​off or if they just didn’t want to do the work. When I left, there were only three boats left in the yard. Oh by the way, my bottom cleaner Vaught’s Yacht Service took the props off and put them back on for $ 200. And yes he inspected the key-​ways, what a joke.
After the first few years with a boat like mine, where you can not see the swim-​step from either station; you better be ready for a little fiberglass repair. The estimate from the yard was $ 2800 to $ 4000. My first thought was, «damn if I knew it was going cost so much, I would have been more careful backing in». I suggested no more then $ 1500. For that price I was told they would repair it but it would not have a finished look and I would need to have someone else complete the gel-​coat. My topside guy introduced me to a licensed friend in the Marina who does fiberglass work and including every little nick, ding, and old snap screw hole was repaired for $ 800. I mean it looks like new.
So after two weeks Gambol finally finished my boat. That Thursday when I worked on the trim tabs Jeff told me to come back the next morning to launch my boat. Friday morning at 8:00 AM the phone rings. Jeff explained to me the bottom paint, they applied on Tuesday, was not dry enough to put back in the water. I called my buddy who was half way to my house at that point and told him it was off. Monday morning the same run around. The phone rings at five after eight, Jeff now explains he didn’t check the tide and he can not launch the boat until 11:00 AM. The boat was not launched until 12:30.
Monday when Jeff called he told me. «The guys were working on your boat on Saturday and it’s already to go, come on down».I arrived at the yard and noticed nothing had been done to the boat since the prior Thursday when I worked on the trim-​tabs. In fact I had to complain because the barnacles had never been cleaned out of the thru-​hulls «The guys were working on your boat on Saturday»? Either this guy confused my boat with one of the other three boats in the yard or he was flat out lying to me!
I had to cut off the rest of this because Unilocal only allows 5000 words
The Gambol experience with out a doubt was the worst experience I have ever encountered in a ship yard. Do not take your boat here!

I took my boat in for bottom paint. They pulled out the drain plug and put it somewhere in the boat and did not notify me that the plug was out. My boat nearly sank when I put it in the water. luckily, I was able to get it back out of the water before I totally sank. The bottom paint has come off the drive after 2 months. It wasn’t preped correctly. I do not recommend going to Gambol Industries if you value your boat.

OVERPRICED AND POOR WORKMANSHIP. Recently we took our 33′ twin engine power boat to Gambol for bottom paint. While on the hard, I asked for a quote to replace the dripless shaft seals. They quoted $ 4200. That seemed very high to me, so I called two other yards. Both of them said they’d do it for $ 1800 – 1900. I also emailed PSS, who makes the shaft seals. They said $ 4200 was extremely high.
I told all this to Gambol, and they said they’d quoted it high because the shaft couplings were rusty and they weren’t sure if they could get the shafts loose without a lot of effort. Also, they included about $ 400 for cleaning and painting the couplings. They suggested doing the work on a time and materials basis, so if there was a problem with the couplings they’d be covered, but if not, we wouldn’t have to pay the extra money. Seemed fair to us, so we agreed.
As it turned out, there was no problem with the couplings. Gambol told us the shafts came loose very easily. So we figured the job would cost $ 1800 – 1900, plus the $ 400 for cleaning and painting the couplings. So that should have been be $ 2200 – 2300 altogether, right?
Wrong.
When we got the bill it was $ 3659. At least $ 1300 too much. But at that point, having trusted them, there was nothing we could do. After all, they had possession of our boat.
Then to top it off, when we went to pick up the boat and inspected the bottom paint (the original reason we took the boat to them) it was clear they had not bothered to feather the edges of the spots they’d sanded to prep for the primer coat. The bottom was extremely rough. And they had splashed bottom paint on the gel coat under the swim platform without bothering to clean it up. So not only did they over-​charge, but their work was very poor in quality.
I would not use Gambol again even if they were cheaper than the other yards. To get that kind of substandard work, and to have to pay a premium for it, just adds insult to injury. Do yourself a favor. Stay away from Gambol Industries.