Preveza - Cleopatra yard - your experience with boat maintenance and work?

[Katia]

Hello everybody,

I left my boat in Cleopatra for the winter, it is my second year, last time was in 2018. My experience with lifting and dry berth was fine.

Before contracting the yard to do the annual work (antifoul, anodes, polishing, little gelcoat-repair) I was wondering if you know some good outside professional contractors . I used Paleros for the Volvo engine service and I hope they did their job as expected.

Any advise or experience you might share would be more than welcome.

Thanks
Katy

 

[dgadee]

Can't tell you about work done but I got a quote from Ionian (where I am) for removing antifoul prior to copper coating which I thought was a bit extortionate. Didn't go through with it. It is not a cheap part of the world for boat work, I think.

 

[FirstAway]

We have kept our boat in Cleopatra for several years now, and like you are very happy with the lifting and storage that they have done. However having witnessed one maintenance job they did for us I would be very reluctant to let them loose on our boat again. I am afraid I can’t help much with outside suppliers as we now do most of the work ourselves.

 

[Katia]

We have kept our boat in Cleopatra for several years now, and like you are very happy with the lifting and storage that they have done. However having witnessed one maintenance job they did for us I would be very reluctant to let them loose on our boat again. I am afraid I can’t help much with outside suppliers as we now do most of the work ourselves.

Many thanks for sharing your experience

 

[AndrewB]

I over-wintered in Cleopatra 4 years ago, and wanted the yard to do some work. First off, changing the cutless bearing. Not good. They were obliging, prompt on the job, but it was all crash-bang-wallop. Pricey too. Having watched this I decided to do the rest of the work myself.

It turned out the bearing was not fitted properly, and it had to be redone soon after - difficult because it had been hammered in and could only be replaced by dropping the propellor shaft.

However there are plusses to the yard. Efficient liftout; boats stored neatly ordered with good access, power and water; no hassles about relaunch; a decent chandlery; easy-going about living aboard out of the water (they also had some limited accommodation); and a small marina for a short stay to get things sorted on relaunch (but it's too exposed for long-term stay). But beware the mosquitos!

 

[Katia]

I over-wintered in Cleopatra 4 years ago, and wanted the yard to do some work. First off, changing the cutless bearing. Not good. They were obliging, prompt on the job, but it was all crash-bang-wallop. Pricey too. Having watched this I decided to do the rest of the work myself.

It turned out the bearing was not fitted properly, and it had to be redone soon after - difficult because it had been hammered in and could only be replaced by dropping the propellor shaft.

However there are plusses to the yard. Efficient liftout; boats stored neatly ordered with good access, power and water; no hassles about relaunch; a decent chandlery; easy-going about living aboard out of the water (they also had some limited accommodation); and a small marina for a short stay to get things sorted on relaunch (but it's too exposed for long-term stay). But beware the mosquitos!

Thank you for sharing this.

Yes I agree with you that they are very efficient with the lifout ad launch. We were there October of last year and there were so many mosquitos that it was impossible to eat outside!

 

[AndrewB]

Yes I agree with you that they are very efficient with the lifout ad launch. We were there October of last year and there were so many mosquitos that it was impossible to eat outside!

Those mosquitos made history.

Cleopatra yard is on the site where for several months Mark Antony quartered his men prior to the battle of Actium in 31BC. His opponent, Octavian, was on the opposite bank, near modern Preveza. When they engaged it was a close run thing. Octavian had the slightly bigger fleet but Mark Anthony had the latest Roman quinqueremes mounted with balistas. Why Mark Anthony lost is uncertain. One story is that Cleopatra's Egyptian reserve fleet broke position, Mark Anthony chased after her, but thinking they were fleeing his fleet surrendered. However, it is likely that Mark Anthony's ships were undermanned and the crews demoralised as the result of a malaria epidemic, for which that area was notorious, being swampy as it still is. Octavian made the most of his victory to gain control of the Roman Empire, while Mark Anthony and Cleopatra famously committed suicide.

The malaria has now gone, but the mosquitos have not!