What Do You Pay For Or Do Yourself
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Wifey B: Does it run on pumpkins? :lol:
Sweet ride
BruceK
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2011
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- 13,347
- Vessel Name
- Sojourn
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- Integrity 386
By pointing it downhill?
I well remember the old Fiat 500, and the decadent 600. In Italy you still occasionally see one, well challenged, in hill towns. Some Polish company revived the 500 here, presumably elsewhere too, but it didn`t take on, except for its cuteness.
Hi Bruce
Being a decades accomplished designer and builder of many masonry projects (as well as numerous fireplaces and chimneys) I notice just about everything regarding building accomplishments and their functionality qualities.
Feel free to PM me with any questions or suggestions you might like to review. Phone chat is fine too.
Happy O/D FP Daze! - Art
dhays
Guru
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- May 26, 2015
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- United States
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- Kinship
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- North Pacific 43
Late responses...
The fallacy of that argument is that time spent working on the boat doesn't take away from my time spent working. The nature of a private practice is that I can't take a day off to work on the boat and I can't decide to work a Saturday to earn more. Too many moving parts of which I am simply the biggest cog.
But yes. I enjoy washing the boat more than I enjoy a lot of things.
Protestant. Presbyterian to be exact. Life would have been easier if I had been raised Lutheran. Those folks really understand the nature of "grace".
I repair what I can, although that is getting more difficult with the increasing electronics in automobiles. Definitely do my own routine maintenance such as fluids, tires, etc...
I just got back from Annapolis this weekend. I flew out there to attend a memorial service for my Uncle (completely unrelated to 9/11). In chatting with his 4 boys we realized that both our fathers instilled in us the same attitudes about doing things yourself. The only difference is that my uncle went through a series of sailboats, many purchased new. I would never be able to bring myself to buy a new boat and have only purchased a new car three times in my life, 2 for my wife and one for the business, and I am still feeling a bit decadent for doing so.
However, I had a nice lunch yesterday overlooking the water in Annapolis and it was fun looking at boats and noting some differences and similarities from the PNW.
The fallacy of that argument is that time spent working on the boat doesn't take away from my time spent working. The nature of a private practice is that I can't take a day off to work on the boat and I can't decide to work a Saturday to earn more. Too many moving parts of which I am simply the biggest cog.
But yes. I enjoy washing the boat more than I enjoy a lot of things.
Protestant. Presbyterian to be exact. Life would have been easier if I had been raised Lutheran. Those folks really understand the nature of "grace".
I repair what I can, although that is getting more difficult with the increasing electronics in automobiles. Definitely do my own routine maintenance such as fluids, tires, etc...
I just got back from Annapolis this weekend. I flew out there to attend a memorial service for my Uncle (completely unrelated to 9/11). In chatting with his 4 boys we realized that both our fathers instilled in us the same attitudes about doing things yourself. The only difference is that my uncle went through a series of sailboats, many purchased new. I would never be able to bring myself to buy a new boat and have only purchased a new car three times in my life, 2 for my wife and one for the business, and I am still feeling a bit decadent for doing so.
However, I had a nice lunch yesterday overlooking the water in Annapolis and it was fun looking at boats and noting some differences and similarities from the PNW.
I could argue to not to try to do all, but do the stuff that you can do better and will save you time and money.
Simple things like changing oil/filters/batteries, etc., are often done faster than calling someone to do it. Even the big batteries. I've often jumped in to help a buddy with them and can get two installed in no time.
I really like to hire out what I call grunt work. Work that doesn't necessarily take a lot of skill and you can get people to do it cheap... like cleaning the boat, detailing, mowing the yard, etc.
I like to do skilled stuff that I've learned to do well that's expensive to farm out and often have to wait for services to be done. Especially things that require taking the boat to someone. I've got things set up where I can pull the drives if needed, able to replace a sea cock or thru hull item, or a bow thruster. All of those get very time consuming when taken to the boat yard.
I will hire someone to replace starters, as they are a bitch to get to, below and at the rear of the engine, but have done it.
Now, I could argue that if one does not do their own maintenance, they should take the time to know how, or at least the basics to be sure things are done to their satisfaction.
Usually the mechanics are fine, but seen some cases where neither the mechanic or boat owner knew what was going on and ended up ugly.
Simple things like changing oil/filters/batteries, etc., are often done faster than calling someone to do it. Even the big batteries. I've often jumped in to help a buddy with them and can get two installed in no time.
I really like to hire out what I call grunt work. Work that doesn't necessarily take a lot of skill and you can get people to do it cheap... like cleaning the boat, detailing, mowing the yard, etc.
I like to do skilled stuff that I've learned to do well that's expensive to farm out and often have to wait for services to be done. Especially things that require taking the boat to someone. I've got things set up where I can pull the drives if needed, able to replace a sea cock or thru hull item, or a bow thruster. All of those get very time consuming when taken to the boat yard.
I will hire someone to replace starters, as they are a bitch to get to, below and at the rear of the engine, but have done it.
Now, I could argue that if one does not do their own maintenance, they should take the time to know how, or at least the basics to be sure things are done to their satisfaction.
Usually the mechanics are fine, but seen some cases where neither the mechanic or boat owner knew what was going on and ended up ugly.
