Tips

What is usual & customary in the way of a Christmas tip for your boatyard/marina guys?

- Darrell

If you know some who actually do good honest work I'd be inclined to find out what type of hootch they like best and provide them each a bottle of what they like best. If your folks are like the ones closest to me, I make a New Years resolution, in their honor, not to do something bad to them.

I've been screwed over so many times by the yards in my area that I don't even consider giving them a gift. Take good care of those who provide good service.

You tip the marina guys?

I've been at my present marina 5+ years and the only time I've <u>ever</u> seen any of them is when I go into the office to pay the rent, except for one time when I came back from a cruise and the marina work boat was tied off right in front of my slip.* And then they got mad at me when I complained about it.

Wow, have I stumbled upon the rare, service oriented marina?* It's pretty low-key; no tennis courts, pool, restaurant or any of that "Yacht Club" stuff. But the guys did a lot of work on my boat last winter, I'm planning on more for this winter and they're usually around.* So I want to make sure they know who they should be taking care of.

I tend to end up at these sorts of marinas (affordable).* I used to be at one that when it went up for sale was described in the prospectus as, "Exhibiting extensive amounts of defered maintenance."* I love that phrase.

I was considering the booze route, it seemed very appropriate.* But some of the guys look like they might be "recovering" so I didn't want to encourage them.* Guess giving cash doesn't help that though!

Lurker---

Another option if the booze route seems inappropriate could be gift certificates to a meal at a local restaurant.

Tradition at the DIY yard in CT is to purchase a box of "Fat Pills" ,donuts on launch day.

A $10 spot to the power washer on haulout gets a far cleaner bottom.

FF

The only time I tip the guys at my marina is if they do something for me, like bring a bag of ice. This year, the marina sent a letter to all the tenants saying they were going to add a "christmas bonus" of $25 or so to everybody's bill for the marina staff UNLESS you opted out. With a 1200 slip marina, this could be a pretty hefty bonus.

Everybody I know (including me) told them no way, but I'm sure there were a lot of people who ignored it, didn't get it, or felt intimidated to contribute. It also was unclear who the "marina staff" included, as technically I'm one of them listed as such in the marina newsletter as the editor of same. None of the worker bees who empty trash cans, do* maintenance, etc. are listed there.

I haven't heard yet how much was actually contributed / extorted, and probably never will, but I think it was out of place to automatically add a contribution unless you took action and said no.

I don't specifically give them a Christmas "tip"....but I do buy lunch for them on the day they haul my boat for the winter season, and I buy them coffee and doughnuts the day they launch my boat in the spring. They do a lot of favors for me during the boating season, and that is how I show my appreciation.

It cost me $85 bucks this year for lunch.....4 large pizzas and 4 2liter bottles of soda, for 10 of us.