Marina Policy

Generally, the marina where you store your boat for the winter and lease a slip or mooring for the summer is more than accommodating when it comes to maintaining a good relationship with independent marine service providers like The Boat Guys. It is well known, however, that some marinas have barred and still try to bar independent marine service providers from coming in to perform services on boats owned by YOU, the boater. Due to developments at the Greenwich Bay Marinas during the course of the summer of 2005 (click on the Trade Only Today link below for an article on this), the Rhode Island Attorney General stated that there was no reason at that time to overturn an advisory opinion issued in 1987 by then Attorney General O'Neil. On June 13th of 2006, a group representing both sides of the issue (marinas and independent service providers) met with Attorney General Lynch to once again determine the relevancy of the opinion. As it was reported, Mr. Lynch saw no reason to dispute the points of the document. This 14 point opinion, based on state and federal antitrust laws, states that marinas CANNOT bar a boat owner from hiring an independent contractor and may only impose "reasonable" regulations, such as requiring proof of liability insurance. For the full text of this advisory opinion, please click on the link below. It has been and will continue to be our policy that if you hire us to work on your boat at a marina, we act strictly on your behalf and suggest that you call your marina in advance to notify them that we will be working on your boat. Most marinas simply ask that we furnish proof of insurance and that we sign in with them when entering their yard. Some marinas have stated that they may charge a fee to have a contractor come in to perform work on YOUR boat. This may be a violation of fair trade practices (RI General Laws; Chapter 6-36: Antitrust Law). Our position has been and will be that we DO NOT pay marinas out of pocket for any of these potential charges. In the meantime, we ask that you review your contract with your marina and speak with them directly regarding their terms and conditions. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly by your marina because they have told you that they do not allow outside contractors, that only they can perform certain services, or that they may charge a fee, you may file a complaint with the Antitrust Division in the Consumer Protection Unit of the Rhode Island Attorney General. We carry adequate liability & workers compensation insurance and will furnish proof of such upon request to your marina.

What does this mean?

This means that we understand sometimes that marinas may not be completely enthused about having us around working on boats, so we go out of our way to be mindful of that.

1) We have courteous staff who follow the basic rules of the marina. We are your guests as well as guests of the marina and want to reflect that in the way we comport ourselves. We respect the property and the facilities.

2) We provide each marina we enter with a copy of our liability and workers compensation insurance certificates. We also maintain current OSHA and RCRA compliance training to ensure that we operate safely when working on boats in a marina or boatyard. Helping marinas achieve Clean Marina status under the CRMC program is something we feel is very important for all independent companies to keep these facilities safe and clean.

3) We are a CLEAN company. When we leave a worksite, it has less debris or trash than when we started. We bring out EVERYTHING that we take in and MORE. Glass, nails, bottles/cans, and whatever other refuse happens to be in our work area. We don't leave empty paint cans (cans containing usable paint may be left for the customer to pick up) or other hazardous materials to be disposed of by the marina. We do not use the marina trash facilities. We use dustless sanders and drop cloths when preparing bottoms. We all have to keep things clean to ensure future enjoyment for everyone.

4) We RECYCLE shrink wrap plastic when we remove it from boats. This program was developed by RIRRC in cooperation with the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association to help reduce the amount of plastic that is disposed of in local landfills.

With all of these responsible business practices, what marina

wouldn't be comfortable when we come to work on your boat?

(I can think of a few but that's because money is the only driving force... not your satisfaction)

Why are there STILL signs up that say "No Subcontractors" at the Greenwich Bay Marinas even though the AG reaffirmed in 2005 & 2006 that boaters could hire independent companies to provide services?

To mislead you. Despite Brewer's having taken over operation of the marinas, Bassett Boatworks has not taken these signs down. They still want you to think that you can't hire the company of your choice to come in and work on your boat. We've had several customers tell us that they didn't use us for services this year

because of these misleading signs. People thought we couldn't work in those yards anymore. The game continues. Brewer's has certainly improved the operation of these marinas and has done a respectable job of improving the relationship between the marinas and independent companies, and we'll have to see what the future holds. When do the signs come down? The Berlin Wall took 40 years so who the hell knows.