For Services and Resources in French Polynesia
The Tahiti Cruisers Guide is brought to you by Julien Desmont from Xperimental and Chuck Houlihan from Jacaranda. Starting as an idea based on the very successful Panama City Cruisers guide, it has evolved into 200+ pages of information on vendors and services throughout French Polynesia. In January 2018, we added GPS coordinates and links to Google Maps to assist in locating businesses.
Downloading the guide and GPS map coordinates will facilitate using the guide offline. The coordinates will work for either Maps.me (best for Papeete) or Google Maps.
Especially thankful to John (SV Mary Ann II) and Steve (SV Ocean Star) for their huge effort in supplying a vast amount of information for the guide.
The guide is a community effort. Updates and new additions are greatly appreciated. If you find the guide useful or find something that needs updating please drop us a note at tahiticruisersguide (AT) gmail.com
Last update: 10 Dec 2024
Electronics (Marine)
Sail The Way – Rudy
2024-05-22 13:20:58 UTC
Island: Tahiti
Sail The Way – Rudy
Cell Phone: 87 300 864
email: rudy@sailtheway.com
languages: English, Dutch, German
Location: Papeete
Refitting electrical installations (DC 12/24V; AC 110/220, 240V), trouble shooter for navigation systems and NMEA 2000 networks, Raymarine Specialist,autopilot repairs, complete refitting electrics and electronics after lightning strike, building lithium systems, installing and repairing all kind of electrical Charging and Distribution Systems, diesel engines repairing and maintaining.
7-2022 Silent Progression Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Rudy thru a mutual friend and being a cruiser I had jobs and quickly took the opportunity to seek Rudy's help.
6-2022 SV Alila Rudy is super helpful and reliable. The starter motor on our generator gave up. He came within 2 days and replaced our spare motor we had on board. It was a very difficult place to replace it, but Rudy didn't give up. We still had a lot of fun in the process. I was glad he helped so quickly because I was alone on board during that time and needed the generator to run the watermaker.
3-22 SV Full Monty If you’re looking for someone who knows their way around electronics, Rudy’s the guy! He has no ego and is only concerned with doing a fabulous job. (Don’t let him tell you otherwise, but he is also exceptional at fiberglass repair work!) He has the mind & the knack for electronics. I have watched him work on other boats, and we have troubleshooted on mine. Highly impressive! Having been in Panama for a few years, he also has experience working with vessels struck by lightening. He’s the type of repair person everyone hopes for & wish you’d found from the beginning.
2-22 SV CAPALL MARA I am writing to recommend Rudy of 'Sail The Way'.
He tracked another complex but unrelated problem we had with a recent lithium battery installation.
We are thoroughly happy with his good work.
2-22 SV Matador I can thoroughly recommend Rudy for electronics and electrical work. I have witnessed his work over a couple of years and his knowledge and work has always been excellent. I believe you can have complete confidence in a professional and timely service.
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.
Cell Phone: 87 300 864
email: rudy@sailtheway.com
languages: English, Dutch, German
Location: Papeete
Refitting electrical installations (DC 12/24V; AC 110/220, 240V), trouble shooter for navigation systems and NMEA 2000 networks, Raymarine Specialist,autopilot repairs, complete refitting electrics and electronics after lightning strike, building lithium systems, installing and repairing all kind of electrical Charging and Distribution Systems, diesel engines repairing and maintaining.
Electrical/Electronic services
4-2024 SV Lola Rudy is the best! This guy is super knowledgeable and cares so much about quality workmanship. He is honest, professional, reliable, and extremely competent. He’s also a great communicator, clearly explaining our problems and his solutions as well as showing us ways we can avoid similar problems in the future. His expertise with boat systems in general and with electronics, solar, batteries, electrical systems is fantastic. And he is also a super nice guy! We cannot recommend him enough.
Rudy is always able to quickly and accurately diagnose and solve our problems. He has worked on our Victron Energy system, engine wiring, refrigeration wiring, and he even nursed one of our LIPO batteries back to health. He has also given us amazing advice on how to improve the operation of our system to get the most out of our solar lithium combination.
After having super experiences working with Rudy, we learned that he offers boat caretaking services. So we hired him to look after our boat in Papeete while we traveled back to the US for a few months. Our experience was amazing. Rudy exercised all the systems onboard and kept us informed about anything that wasn’t working or needed attention. He communicated with us regularly to let us know that everything was ok. He is the only person we would trust to look after our boat when we are away. Bottom line, Rudy is absolutely the best. Highly highly recommended!
4-2024 SV Lola Rudy is the best! This guy is super knowledgeable and cares so much about quality workmanship. He is honest, professional, reliable, and extremely competent. He’s also a great communicator, clearly explaining our problems and his solutions as well as showing us ways we can avoid similar problems in the future. His expertise with boat systems in general and with electronics, solar, batteries, electrical systems is fantastic. And he is also a super nice guy! We cannot recommend him enough.
Rudy is always able to quickly and accurately diagnose and solve our problems. He has worked on our Victron Energy system, engine wiring, refrigeration wiring, and he even nursed one of our LIPO batteries back to health. He has also given us amazing advice on how to improve the operation of our system to get the most out of our solar lithium combination.
After having super experiences working with Rudy, we learned that he offers boat caretaking services. So we hired him to look after our boat in Papeete while we traveled back to the US for a few months. Our experience was amazing. Rudy exercised all the systems onboard and kept us informed about anything that wasn’t working or needed attention. He communicated with us regularly to let us know that everything was ok. He is the only person we would trust to look after our boat when we are away. Bottom line, Rudy is absolutely the best. Highly highly recommended!
4-2024 SV Lola Rudy is the best! This guy is super knowledgeable and cares so much about quality workmanship. He is honest, professional, reliable, and extremely competent. He’s also a great communicator, clearly explaining our problems and his solutions as well as showing us ways we can avoid similar problems in the future. His expertise with boat systems in general and with electronics, solar, batteries, electrical systems is fantastic. And he is also a super nice guy! We cannot recommend him enough.
Rudy is always able to quickly and accurately diagnose and solve our problems. He has worked on our Victron Energy system, engine wiring, refrigeration wiring, and he even nursed one of our LIPO batteries back to health. He has also given us amazing advice on how to improve the operation of our system to get the most out of our solar lithium combination.
After having super experiences working with Rudy, we learned that he offers boat caretaking services. So we hired him to look after our boat in Papeete while we traveled back to the US for a few months. Our experience was amazing. Rudy exercised all the systems onboard and kept us informed about anything that wasn’t working or needed attention. He communicated with us regularly to let us know that everything was ok. He is the only person we would trust to look after our boat when we are away. Bottom line, Rudy is absolutely the best. Highly highly recommended!
4-2024 SV Lola Rudy is the best! This guy is super knowledgeable and cares so much about quality workmanship. He is honest, professional, reliable, and extremely competent. He’s also a great communicator, clearly explaining our problems and his solutions as well as showing us ways we can avoid similar problems in the future. His expertise with boat systems in general and with electronics, solar, batteries, electrical systems is fantastic. And he is also a super nice guy! We cannot recommend him enough.
Rudy is always able to quickly and accurately diagnose and solve our problems. He has worked on our Victron Energy system, engine wiring, refrigeration wiring, and he even nursed one of our LIPO batteries back to health. He has also given us amazing advice on how to improve the operation of our system to get the most out of our solar lithium combination.
After having super experiences working with Rudy, we learned that he offers boat caretaking services. So we hired him to look after our boat in Papeete while we traveled back to the US for a few months. Our experience was amazing. Rudy exercised all the systems onboard and kept us informed about anything that wasn’t working or needed attention. He communicated with us regularly to let us know that everything was ok. He is the only person we would trust to look after our boat when we are away. Bottom line, Rudy is absolutely the best. Highly highly recommended!
11-2023 SV Ziezo Another excellent job completed by Rudy from Sail the Way. He converted our 12v AGM system to a 24v Lithium setup. All functions including Air Conditioning can be run from solar. Unfortunately he had to spend some time diagnosing the “wacky” wiring that Fountaine Pajot and other parties had installed and streamlining the entire electrical system. I have found Rudy to be very conscientious and detailed in his work. I highly recommend him to anyone requiring any work on their boat. He is skilled in all electrical and mechanical Boatworks. Ask me how I know
8-2023 SV Pole Pole If you want to get any electrical, lithium or solar work done, engine and generator maintenance or fuel polishing and boat care, I can recommend Rudy -
4-2023 S/V Moondance We started preparing for a battery upgrade in November of 2022. Friends of our suggested contacting Rudy, a marine electrician who is currently mooring in the airport anchorage. When I contacted Rudy he came by our boat to survey our existing electrical system. We discussed our present system and the changes that would be needed to accommodate lithium batteries. Rudy’s experience was invaluable in tracing out existing wiring and determining the easiest way to modify our system.
8-2023 SV Pole Pole If you want to get any electrical, lithium or solar work done, engine and generator maintenance or fuel polishing and boat care, I can recommend Rudy -
Technically strong, very good communications and good quality work
4-2023 S/V Moondance We started preparing for a battery upgrade in November of 2022. Friends of our suggested contacting Rudy, a marine electrician who is currently mooring in the airport anchorage. When I contacted Rudy he came by our boat to survey our existing electrical system. We discussed our present system and the changes that would be needed to accommodate lithium batteries. Rudy’s experience was invaluable in tracing out existing wiring and determining the easiest way to modify our system.
We thoroughly enjoyed our Rudy experience and highly recommend him for your marine electrical needs!
1-2023,SV Auntie
Rudy is a valuable resource. Knowledgeable and helpful, worth waiting for his expertise.
7-2022 Silent Progression Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Rudy thru a mutual friend and being a cruiser I had jobs and quickly took the opportunity to seek Rudy's help.
He is prompt,
He delivers what he promises,
Above all else he's a Professional and it's getting harder to find this type of service in today's day and age.
All my schedule was completed and I am happy once again..
6-2022 SV Alila Rudy is super helpful and reliable. The starter motor on our generator gave up. He came within 2 days and replaced our spare motor we had on board. It was a very difficult place to replace it, but Rudy didn't give up. We still had a lot of fun in the process. I was glad he helped so quickly because I was alone on board during that time and needed the generator to run the watermaker.
I can only highly recommend Rudy.
3-22 SV Full Monty If you’re looking for someone who knows their way around electronics, Rudy’s the guy! He has no ego and is only concerned with doing a fabulous job. (Don’t let him tell you otherwise, but he is also exceptional at fiberglass repair work!) He has the mind & the knack for electronics. I have watched him work on other boats, and we have troubleshooted on mine. Highly impressive! Having been in Panama for a few years, he also has experience working with vessels struck by lightening. He’s the type of repair person everyone hopes for & wish you’d found from the beginning.
2-22 SV CAPALL MARA I am writing to recommend Rudy of 'Sail The Way'.
He was mentioned to us by other cruisers after we had a near lightning strike. He came promptly to our boat to discuss our issues. He was knowledgeable and courteous. He inspected for lightning damage.
He tracked another complex but unrelated problem we had with a recent lithium battery installation.
We are thoroughly happy with his good work.
2-22 SV Matador I can thoroughly recommend Rudy for electronics and electrical work. I have witnessed his work over a couple of years and his knowledge and work has always been excellent. I believe you can have complete confidence in a professional and timely service.
.
1-22 SV Del Mar Rudy did some electrical work on our boat Del Mar while we were in Nuku Hiva French Polynesia. He did an amazing job at a very fair price.
We had had a persistent electrical issue (stray current) resulting in quickly deteriorating anodes on our folding props. Rudy had the specialist tools (SeaBis stray current detector), knowledge and patience to not only resolve the issue but he also took the time to make sure I understood the root cause and how to resolve similar issues in the future. Rudy is an extremely knowledgeable and experienced expert with a high level of genuinity. I very much recommend Rudy of you have any electrical, electronic or mechanical work you need completed on your vessel.
1-22 S/V Fleur Rudy did a first class job of sorting out an electrical problem on my boat, quicky and with no fuss. I highly recommend his services.
12-21 SV Mary Ann I want to send a recommendation regarding Sail The Way, both for electric/electronic work, and as a diesel mechanic. 1-22 S/V Fleur Rudy did a first class job of sorting out an electrical problem on my boat, quicky and with no fuss. I highly recommend his services.
He also worked on my boat to relocate a day tank and did a superb job.
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.
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.