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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: UVI 6
Posted By: Vic Roy In Response To: Re: UVI 6 (Jerry Gomber)
Date: Monday, 26 June 2006, at 8:50 p.m.
Not sure about second yet, still working on the rules for second.
Anyway, sort of got office stuff sorted out today. TSL has severly sapped my zest for working. The entire TSL experience from start to finish redefines "first class". Of course going with 25 buddies does not hurt either.
To a man, our impression of the place, the service, food, the staff, the captains, mates, and the boats, and of course the knock-out fishing far exceeded our lofty expectations. TSL's advertising really underplays how nice the place really is.
Their maintaince facility rivals any boatyard in the US. Their B31s are customized to fit the needs there. They are FBSF models, all identically outfitted down to the tackle, which is all first class. Each boat has a custom half tower, made on site in their welding shop, that is perfectly functional for the fishing they do. The interior has pushed the V-berths into maybe the size of a Bahia Mar, with a manual head up there for the ladies, and huge seating bunks just forward of the engine boxes. All the front windshields have been removed and glassed in. They have about 10 original windshield frames hanging up the the sheds. TSL has its own fiberglass shop with custom molds for all the fish boxes, live wells, engine boxes, etc. They have a welding shop, a full machine shop (rebuild the old DD 4-53s right there, have many engines and gears ready to go. A canvas shop, a refirgeration shop, a paint shop, a marine railway where they can haul the boats into a big building in a couple of minutes. A full carpentry shop where they build huge pangas right there.
The place runs on two big Cat gensets and they have a lot of diesel storage on site. They use about 500 gallons a day in the boats and about 100-150 in the gensets. All supplies are carried in on their two big red supply boats from Panama City, about 130 miles away.
In a nutshell, the place runs like the Swiss Federal Railways. They directly employ 120 people for a lodge that has a maximim capacity of 34 guests. The minimum wage in Panama is about a buck an hour, and that's a primo job down in southern Panama.
While we were there the execs of Bertram Yacht (Joe Bubenzer, the CEO, Don "Hi Dollar Beer" Jones, the sales mgr, etc) and we had a nice time visiting with them and commenting on the looks of the new Bertrams. It got spirted at times.
Speaking of beer, the local beer, "Panama" brand, green bottle is real good and only 2 bucks a pop. The Panamanian people in general are extremly friendly all over, and the staff at the lodge are a riot - never a dull moment and full time genuine smiles. Randall became only the third guest to surf a spot near there with the manager, Henny, and one of the waiters, Achilles. I'll let Randall tell ya'll about that deal. Randall did win the Surfing Division of the UVI, and Doc won the crutch division. speaking of Randall, he did present me with the most incredible wood carved, hand painted marine chart of Pinas Bay (First Place Angler) that I'll treasure forever. I'll get some pix of it and send them around. Customs lady in Houston yesterday asked me what was in the big box I was clutching under my arm, and when I told her it was a hand carved and painted marine chart of Pinas Bay, Panama done by my friend Randall Rosenthal, one of the best craftsmen and artists in the world, she grinned and waved me through, saying "you could not have made that up!!!"
Anyway, enough from me, you other guys chip in and tell The Faithful your impressions of TSL.
UV
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