Joe Coons
I've been a boater for years: I owned my first boat (with another young partner) in 1953 on New York's Hudson River, a 30' wood cruiser built abound 1939 with a marinized Chevy 6 engine. I recall 60 days of work in the yard every winter, with four days use each summer I had ownership. (They say helicopters take two hours of maintenance for every hour of flying time, but this tub easily sucked up ALL maintenance hours available!)
This preamble is to show that, by now, including a four-year stint as a boat broker, I'd have some well-researched idea of when to buy, maintain, or sell a boat.
I don't.
I have been re-learning this truth. My own 43 Tolly is finishing its seventeenth season, seven of those years under my ownership. And I have been agonizing over what to do since she's clearly, at least by my standards, beginning to show her age: sell Skylark II and get another boat, keep her as is, sell her outright, or fix her up.
Part of this indecision is caused by my boating goals: A boat similar in style to my present vessel, with similar performance; a U.S.-built hull so I can continue to offer skippered charters (you can't do this on a foreign bottom); and, of course, financial feasibility. (Inexplicably, Judy opposes selling the house and cars to buy a bigger new boat that fits our available-cash budget!)
Well, I've decided to do a major refurb on Skylark II over the winter. I expect to spend some 20% of the boat's value on a number of projects that will affect every part of the vessel in some way. It's therefore likely that some of my next few articles will share with you some of the experiences I have with this project.
One of the first parts of any major boat work is preparing a list of tasks to be done. I began working on this list while I was cruising this summer, and each time I came up with an item to add, I put it down, no matter how minor or elaborate, how cheap or costly. Obviously it ran the gamut from outrageous (replace the Diesels with bigger engines to go faster) to tiny (add a protective cover to some terminals in the battery box). I then spent a couple of weeks organizing the list, and putting my own "guesstimates" of cost next to each task, and deciding whether a vendor or I myself should do the task, based upon my mental budget and whether the change would add to the resale value of the boat when I ultimately do sell it.
Next I discussed my plans with a dozen yards and/or artisans who were generalists or specialists in the various areas of work: fiberglass, electrical, electronic, engines, drive lines, cabinetmaking, bottom work, etc. I sent each major vendor the entire list, and let them tell me what jobs they thought they could handle. Specialists got a list only of the items that applied to them. And all got a specific statement of my acceptable dates for the work to be done, the kind of payment terms I would consider, and an invitation to respond. Some folks were very interested, others not. Almost all gave me advice to control costs or make the job better. I also starting doing detailed research into some products that I needed to learn about. I have a file in my den that is now about two inches thick filled with faxes, brochures, and correspondence.
Next month I'll tell you who's going to be doing the work for me, and what work will be done. Although a little of the work is specific to a powerboat, most of it could be required by any pleasure boat, so we will have a chance to learn together, it's just that I'LL be paying for YOUR education!
Have a fun-filled fall, and boat safely!
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Last updated 9/12/97 by SCR