Lastly, as we had to leave the boat while on the hard undergoing various jobs, Rudy took over the management of all contractors, and when I returned, all was done - and well done.
Rudy is a calm, organized and thorough man who knows what he's doing.
Very highly recommended.
7-21 SV Harmony - Outremer 5X - Rudy was an exceptional resource in working through our B&G Zeus III system to solve and calibrate the auto-pilot system and failures to water ingress from a previous poor installation. A pleasure to work with and extraordinarily effective at troubleshooting and creative outside the box thinking. I would absolutely recommend Rudy to anyone for anything in this realm throughout French Polynesia. He will solve you problem, rest assured.
2-21 SV Spirit of Argo Rudy is one of those rare talented, methodical and efficient Ship Wright's. He can diagnosis and fix problems quickly. Finding someone like that is great, but Rudy offers something more. He is also a patient teacher, happy to train you to understand and fix your own boat.
Fortunately he anchored next to us in the Marquesas on his way to Tahiti.
Autopilot:. We had an intermittent fault we just could not diagnose despite immeasurable emails with the manufacturer. Rudy diagnosed the problem right away. A failing internal seal. He had the tools and patience to not only fix the problem, but train us to repair the hydraulic system ourselves should a seal fail again in the future. Invaluable knowledge!
Stray current:. How do stray currents pop up on an otherwise sound boat after a decade? Rudy taught us how! We were questioning why one section of standing rigging failed when Rudy came up with the suggestion to check for stray current on the boat. We had no idea where to start, let alone how to track it down. Rudy had all the tools to do a quick test of the hypothesis. Yes, we had a live stray current. He was so efficient at zeroing it in to some corrosion near a sea cock we would never have spotted under the engine. Probably saved our boat! This guy is good!
1-19 SV Rosa dos Ventos I (Edwin Bovill) am writing this email to give an assessment of work done by Rudy S’hut on our Brewer 44 Cutter (1989) Rosa dos Ventos in 2018 at Shelter Bay, Panama.
Electrical: Rudy S’hout installed a new Raymarine EV400 Sail Pilot system in our boat Rosa dos Ventos. Putting this state of the art system into our 28 year old boat was a challenge given the age of our boat and the complexity of the new system and fitting it together in an antiquated wiring system etc. Rudy S’hout did a superb job. He is incredibly knowledgeable about on board electrical systems. The system has performed flawlessly up to the present time. I give him my highest rating (5 out of 5) for the work he did for us and will point out that my rating was echoed by many other cruisers in Shelter Bay.
Mechanical: We also had some problems with our Onan 6KW generator with which he helped us. Again he did a superb job trouble shooting and fixing both mechanical and electrical systems (5 out of 5).
2018 SV Pavo Real I would highly recommend Rudy-Sail the Way for those in need of electrical, diesel and general boat repairs. When sailing in Panama my vessel, a Lagoon 410 catamaran, was struck by lightening. It was a direct hit to the mast and the electrical damage was extensive. Nearly all the electronics on the boat were damaged. Navigation, radar, radios, charger/inverter, vessel lighting, engine sensors and helm gages were fried. I hired Rudy of Sail the Way to do the repairs. He did an amazing job. Rudy advised me to work together, to repair all the damage. The best way to learn about your boat and trouble shoot the things by yourself. Most of the boat needed to be rewired. He discovered many wiring issues beyond just simple repair and reconstructed the entire system including the electrical panel and breakers. All my systems now work better than ever.
When we were hauled out he discovered some issues with through hull fittings and removed old no longer used valves and repaired the hull. Once back in the water he was able to get my two Yanmar diesel engine running in top shape. Rudy advised me to work together, to repair all the damage. The best way to learn about your boat and trouble shoot the things by yourself.
We were truly lucky to have Rudy available to do the work. He was very busy with repair work on other vessels, including removing and repairing a keel on a large sailboat that had run aground. Fortunately, he committed himself to our job and installed systems as the arrived in Panama from the US. He is now in Tahiti and sailors there are lucky to have such an amazing individual available to their vessels.
2017 SV Tavae ,Venezia 42 (1998) various seasons en Panama with some problems to solve or new installations. I never had enough confidence in the professionals I was presented till a day end 2017 when an english sailor presented me Rudy who just arrived Shelterbay as a very skillfull Dutch for electricity, electronic, mecanic.
Rudy changed all the système of refrigeration/freezer, took abt 1000 m.of useless cables put during all these years. Install solar panels which gave us full electricity independence (no more generator abt 6 hours a day just for the fridge and water maker).
Total service of the 2 Yanmar engines, changed the propellers, verify and change seals of saildrive. Checked the rigging, etc . He tried hard to teach me how to repair in case…
Rudy KNOWS and find out to solve and on top, a very nice fellow. Just meet him and use his tremendous skill.