Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
My two year yard art left today....
The old Keith Steele that a fellow brought me a couple of years ago to have me look at for a possible total restoration...it finally went home today. This fellow is a carpenter in Alaska in summers and makes good money but I just couldn't bring myself to take some of it from him by charging him hourly for all the labor this boat would have taken to make right. He's saying now he will probably take on the job on his own time, which is the only way it makes any $ense.
Right up front, after an extensive period of careful consideration, I told him it would be cheaper to build a new boat...make it a copy of that one, if he so desired. What with all the hours of sanding, a new bottom and some chine and frame work...plus the fact that someone had started stripping the old paint using a sandblaster....I just couldn't, though he said he didn't care too much about the cost........
Hopefully, he will move at a faster pace on his own restore than he did on retrieving the boat from my place...grin. I will be advising him, and glad to help out...I like these dories and most of the people who play round with em. The boat IS worth fixing if paid labor is not a factor.
Don Hanson
Views: 270
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on
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Don,
Any Pics? Might be a good example of when to give up and build new as you suggested.
Dorf
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Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on
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No, no pics, sorry.
There is no exact point, or a set of parameters where it is right to give up and start over, really. This boat was perfectly save-able, it just didn't make sense for him to pay my rate to have me do the needed work on that boat. We were right there, close, where for about the same money (my labor and material costs) he could have had a new boat or fix that one. A toss up... I gave him some estimates and let him make up his mind, but I did tell him I thought new was the way to go.
Now if he does most of the work himself, he'll probably only have $3-400 in materials and lots of hours sanding, etc. and he'll end up with a very pretty, serviceable, and durable older boat.
It's probably really about the Time...Given enough time, anyone can make anything perfect(eventually). But when you are paying someone for their time, then it gets different. That's why Jason in Montana has to ask Gucci prices for his boats while others sell thiers for way less...He has to feed himself and his family, keep his tools and shop up, etc. etc.... so he charges out his hours. His boats really are gorgeous, but quite labor-intensive at their level of finish... when compared to a traditional framed plywood boat and even more so against a glass one ("Frozen Snot" is what L. Francis Herrshoff called fiberglass)
Most dory people end up building their own boats or doing a project like this one that just left here. Because they don't have to charge for their own labor and boats are enjoyable to build there are a lot of people building boats just for giggles. Makes for a tough market for professional boatbuilders, as many know...we have to have Day Jobs, too, eventually....
There are boats that don't even need a second glance to see they are GONE...but not many, if someone takes a shining to them...they can all be saved.
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