The "Bad" List!

Metabronze manufactured all of our ports and dorade cowls. They appeared to be a cheap, good quality local option.

They were slow: it took more than 12 months from date of our order to delivery of our oval ports. Sure, their casting pattern had to be slightly modified for our job, but that modification was completed in 2-3 weeks.

Their quality has proven to be marginal: when the oval ports were first delivered we sent them back due to an appalling polishing job. After mounting the ports we discovered that the machining on the dogs did not allow many of the ports to close adequately.

Their level of after-sale customer service is abysmal: The problem with the poor machining of the dogs on the oval ports was rectified at no cost to us (as it should have been). However a glass in one of the ports has since cracked, possibly from stress induced through the port frame or a faulty glass panel (the boat has been situated on a hard stand for several months and has not yet sailed). We are understandably concerned if supposedly "bluewater" ports cannot survive a few months on a hardstand. We approached Metabronze Industries to seek recification and have been told that it is "not their problem".

Summary:Given our experiences thus far, we will not be dealing with this Company or purchasing any of their products at any time in the future.

All of our deck hatches were manufactured by Goiot. We chose this company because of their reputation and the fact that the hatch lids were of solid cast construction.

One of the large hatches in our original order arrived with a broken frame. This frame was replaced, but with a frame from a newer version of the hatch. Unfortunately the original hatch lid did not fit the new frame.

After many calls to Goiot, we finally managed to get them to ship a complete new hatch to replace the two mismatched parts. The new (and heavy) hatch was shipped internationally in a light, single walled cardboard box with minimal padding. It arrived dented on 3 corners and unusable. When the damage was reported to Goiot, we were told that they had never had a hatch damaged in transit before, and that therefore the damage was "our fault!"

After many MORE calls to Goiot, they agreed to send another replacement hatch (packaged more appropriately this time). When the hatch arrived, we realised they had sent a THIRD version of the hatch, which was slightly different to the hatch of the same size that we had already installed aft of the cockpit. The replacement also had a short spigot (while all of our other hatches had long spigots). We gave up. We had a hatch that worked, and by this time our boat was out of the shed and needed to be made weather tight.

Summary: We will not purchase anything from Goiot again.

Seamac manufactured a watertight door for the forward cabin of our yacht. They are a local supplier who apparently had a lot of experience in the construction of marine windows and doors.

The door was delivered in a timely fashion and was the correct size and shape. In short it fulfilled all of our requirements except for one: it was fitted with dog-style latches that were not marine grade. These latches, while being strong and functional, had several steel components, and we believe were not suitable. When questioned, Seamac stated that they had not had a problem in the past (and inferred that our complaint did not constitute a CURRENT problem). They were not prepared to investigate alternatives, and we had already paid for the door. So we solved the problem ourselves by redesigning the dog, making a casting pattern and having it cast out of aluminium bronze. When fitted with 316 stainless steel hardware (adequately insulated from the alloy/sandwich of the door itself), we now have a latch that works, looks good and will last.

Summary: Caveat emptor