Norsand boatyard

Unfortunately after hauling 3 boats out at Norsands and being happy with the staff and the way they hauled the boats and were considerate to my projects ,on the final launch there was an incident .An incident that should of been easily solved but due to the rude and total unacceptable behaviour of the owner of the yard I wont recommend his yard and will be taking my business to one of the other yards !It takes something that doesnt go right to see how competent a business is !

Hi GerryWe are currently on sail crossing back from Great Barrier Islands.We are just hard on the wind and even with a belly Genoa (5 years old and 24000 NM) we are heading minimum 8 degrees better than before your intervention on the forestay.As you can see on the movie focused on the B&G, we are sailing 10 kn on Sea (eau) with 11 kn True wind speed at 40 degrees Apparent Wind Angle.So, yes, your operation provides us a significant improvement,A more thightened and balanced forestay with a smart solution is also safer, (as often withrigging) and much cheaper.I was already gratefull that you managed to finish everything in a day with your team, which was a BIG challenge and a relief when done perfectly on time. But know I feel happy as when it works fine on the boat at any timeI was told that Norsand boatyard and Norsand Rigging had a good reputation, now I know why from my own experience.Stéphane on PeikeaNEEL 45

Great boatyard. Have been hauling out here since 2006 when we first arrived in New Zealand. Owners Jo and Murray are friendly and absolutely easy to deal with. Friendly and knowledgeable staff with all different trades available on site including a boatyard store. Facilities include washing machines & dryers along with a Free-to-use BBQ for boatyard residents. Best yard we've been to in 20 years and countries all over the world. Always found costs to be fair and reasonable. Labour rates are much cheaper than in surrounding yards. The slipway crew are very professional and take time an care for a safe haul and launch!

Held to Ransom: owners are only interested in the money. Poor slipway and half the yard is a total junk heap, literally. The mean spirited nature of the owners Murray and Jo Wilkinson will ruin your wallet and patience. Old Jerry rigged equipment and NO TRAVEL LIFT. Their sloppy practices resulted in putting a sizable dent in my boat as the site subsided, charging me standard rates for a site with no water, no power and the ground covered in ditches and broken concrete I recommend the neighboring yard Dockland 5. Keep away from Norsand. The routine at Norsand is the owners send the account manager to visit you a few hours before they launch and you pay up or book another launch that could be up to one month in the future. The trades people at the yard are sloppy, disorganized and the charges astounding for what gets achieved. So if you are silly enough to use the yard like me then be warned have your arguments well in advance (and there will be plenty). You have to chase the bills and they may not be ready until you are in a total pre launch spin and you will pay anything to just get out of the place. I literally asked the tradesmen on some jobs do you have a plan" and they happily admitted NO. At that point I wised up and only used them out of desperation or for things that the tools would have cost me more to buy than getting the Norsand staff to do the job. Charge out rates are high as they seem to charge for breaks

This is our 3rd year being hauled out here. It is a great place to get work done and prices ate reasonable. Very friendly staff amd owners. We have been happy with the quality of work.

I can only guess as to what would have people bad mouth this yard. Did you go in demanding everything at once? Could not work out to use the womens toilets and lock the door whilst in there if all the others are being used ? We have hauled out at 6 yards now in the North Island and one in the South. Only one yard do we keep going back to and thats Norsand. Why? RELAXED!! There is no hassel, no demands and quite frankly if you expect everyone to suddenly drop everything at your beck and call, you will have trouble where ever you go!!Our experience:A complete replace of our prop shaft tube. Not only did Shane do a no nonsence job, after the boring was done and glass tube glued into place we did not have to realign the engine! It was perfect. The best boat builders are there and their advice is not only free but should be listened to.When we launched the engine overheated and I was panicking but the haulout guys said no problem they will take us back out if necessary. It was Kevin spending nearly an hour helping that we found the problem. What other yard would do that!!? Gerry and Max are top notch riggers, don't follow their advice and go cheap then don't go crying in here if it fails. If what these reviewers wrote was true, the yard would be empty, it's far from it! My suggestion is, go in, smile, be happy and let them do their job. They are very good at it.

We started having our 42ft yacht maintained at Norsand Boatyard 4 years ago.First year was a refit, in a shed for 5 months. A year later we did a deck gear refit, lately some minor fix ups.We are not into do-it-yourself maintenance, relying on Norsand tradesmen to look after our much loved yacht.We have been hugely impressed with the care Norsand staff have given us and our yacht.The major refit we did was a bit daunting, but Pete and Rod gave us fantastic advice and ensured we worked to an accurate budget. Any changes to the budget and plan was always discussed with us in depth.In the end we tripled our original budget, but the end result was stunning and very much value for money.Norsand always go the extra mile.The sanding and total repaint was the best we have had done in 28 years of owning our yacht by a long way.Each time we get antifouled the hull is sanded - we are used to waterblast only.When we asked for a topside wax, we got a three day buff and wax, not the usual “toss some car wax at it”.We have entrusted our rig care to Jerry in their rigging shop. Again the best care and advice we have had in 28 years. On an offshore yacht, we don’t take this trust lightly.The haul out and cradles available, along with expert haulout staff also fantastic, feel totally confident.The prices charged always seem very fair. We pay similar or lower prices than at other yards, but get a very much higher standard of work for our dollar. Victor, the accountant always supplies very accurate invoices and emails them out to my office. Very easy and convenient.Over the last four years we have noticed that Jo and Murray have a very happy and stable gang of staff.They all offer great service and advice and all seem to be happy to help above and beyond our expectations.Norsand Boatyard have really earned our customer loyalty, we plan to keep returning for our yacht maintenance.Merv and Sandra Wilson, Yacht “ Mulberry”

Have hauled many times on our world tour but had multiple issues with this yard:1. Be very careful with recommendations from rigger on site. He said and did things which were dangerous and incompetent. Overcharged his time by 1.5 times. Of course you don’t find any of this out until you are offshore.2. There are not enough toilets on site for the men. Be prepared to wait or stand in line.3. There are grumblings amongst staff. They are forced to bill for every minute of the day. You end up over paying.An ok yard if you do most the work yourself. Use an off site rigger and keep careful track of workers hours.

I was very disappointed at the weather during the time we were out but that was far outweighed by the amazingly dedicated team at the yard. The lifting and launch were done with meticulous attention to detail, getting the supports correctly aligned on the Lightwave 45 Catamaran. We started with a few small jobs but were so impressed had the yard do a complete major underwater refurbishment including sand back to the glass and multiple epoxy coats, undercoats, primers and top coats, Fibreglass and Gelcoat repairs, sail drive seal replacements, interior varnish work, and re-sand and re-coat the centre table and a range of other smaller internal works. Nothing was too much trouble. Aaron the lead painter was meticulous, and the team worked around the weather windows. The work done was of the highest standard and the lads there concern themselves with getting the job right and pride themselves in doing so. This is a yard you can absolutely have confidence in regardless of the size of the job. The amenities are not as flashy as Boatworks on the Gold Coast but they don’t charge Gold Coast prices either. Not the cheapest in town but I absolutely got the job we wanted. It is very unfortunate the City Council does not support the yard more by adding an all-weather pull-out hangar for paint works as they have in Queensland. I highly recommend the full team at this yard.

S/Y HornpipeGary & KayWe purchased our boat while it was in this yard in 2015 and were so impressed by the care taken by the slipway staff that we were glad to haul out again this year in November. The fact that the same slipway crew did this haulout says something about employee morale and job satisfaction.The haulout and pressure wash went like clock work. They obviously keep detailed records of each yacht’s underwater configuration and have your cradle customised for your boat before you arrive. You are hauled out on the cradle that you spend your stay in. No transferring from haulout equipment to resting cradle or vice versa.The works manager was very responsive and helpful in organising everything we wanted the yard to do which included preparing the bottom and spray painting the anti fouling, cleaning the prop and applying PropSpeed, rigging inspection and some rigging repairs including a new tri sail track, hydraulic steering inspection and repairs and assistance with bedding new Hydrovane hull castings. The store was very convenient for all the commonly needed supplies and was able to track down the non standard sized zincs we needed. Whenever we needed something not available at the yard the manager knew where to send us. Not knowing Whangarei, this was very valuable help.Living aboard during your stay is common at this yard and there are a good range of facilities to make your stay enjoyable: kitchen with fridge and free barbecue, library, laundry (washers $4 and driers and you are welcome to hang laundry on your boat), showers $2 for six minutes, and containers and hoses to collect gray water from your boat.Our launch date was set for a stay of one month based on required tide levels and all the work kept on schedule and the launch was uneventful, as anticipated.Our only regret is that we have subsequently discovered a couple more jobs we would have had done if we’d realised the need at the time but we’ll get them done the next time we haul out, at Norsand.