Your Own Skilled Labor
For most boat owners, especially new ones, that seasonal haul-out at the local boatyard can be a very nerve-wracking experience. To the inexperienced, the typical boatyard crew appears dismayingly casual in the face of impending disaster. As your boat -your baby- swings in the slings, the “yardrats” seem to have only half an eye on the operation. They nonchalantly act as if they’ve seen it a hundred times before, and with good reason: they have.
Blocked, chocked, and on the hard, the real work sets in. For the uninitiated, the choices seem few and harsh: hire specialty tradespeople at what seem astronomical rates, take on that friend of your cousin’s nephew who spent last season stumping the docks for daywork, or -oftentimes most daunting of all- go it alone.
The local shipwrights are often dismissive of the honest information-seeker; indeed, they seem to fanatically guard their hard-earned knowledge. What you may feel is just one little question is, to the old hand, the start of another lengthly non-paying consultation. They’re professionals, inasmuch as they make their living by the work of their hands and the value of their experience, and shouldn’t be expected to give it away for free.
For some, hiring on a professional crew, or contracting the whole job out, is simply too expensive. I’ve heard it said that if you can’t afford to do it properly, then maybe yachting isn’t for you. While this certainly rings true for some particular owner/boat combinations, it doesn’t have to be true for you. The trick is to become your own skilled labor. That way, even if you don’t do all the work yourself, you’ll at least have the knowledge to get the results you want without feeling ripped-off.
Here at Dirty Sailor, we want you to get those questions answered, get that knowledge, get the benefit of that experience, and above all, get dirty! It’s not always easy, but it doesn’t have to be that hard.
