Dealing with Boatyards. What you should be doing.

It’s that time of year, at least in New England, where boat owners are filling out spring work order forms, paying their slip or mooring fees and getting ready for the coming 2024 boating season.

If you’re a seasonal boater in this part of the hemisphere, this is the most expensive time of the year.  Buying fuel during the summer has nothing on this. I go through 70%+ of my annual boating spend between February and April every year.

My boating career began as a kid racing 13' duckboats in Barnegat Bay NJ.  Later, I raced other one design sailboats growing up in the Midwest.  In 1992 I bought my first cruising sailboat and kept her on Lake Michigan.  There I got my first introduction to dealing with boatyards.  A career change moved me to New England, and I brought the boat with me and sailed her throughout New England for 10 years.  After that I went to a 40’ power boat and

have had her regularly serviced at 5 different boatyards in the past 18 years. (5 different boatyards? Well, making the move from sail to power prompted one move; needing specific engine expertise prompted another; the last one was the best: the channel entrance to the marina shoaled, so I could no longer access the marina at low tide.  I am not making that up!).

You’d think I would be an expert by now, but it has taken me all this time to learn how this business works, at least from the boat owners’ perspective.

So now, for my thoughts here.

First of all, don’t ignore your engine room, don’t ignore your rigging and sails, keep on top of this stuff.  I was in my engine room with our mechanic last fall and he said (referring to boat owners) “nobody ever comes down here”.  I am in my engine room A LOT, making sure nothing is leaking or smelling or smoking or looking broken or worn.  No, I don’t check all my fluid levels before every trip, but I check them often.

Secondly, READ your work orders, estimates, invoices from the boatyard.  If they aren’t itemized, ask them for an itemization.  Ask questions. Why do they say they need to replace the turbocharger all of a sudden? I can’t tell you how many times (since I actually started reading my boatyard bills) that I have caught mistakes, duplicates, etc.  Most appeared innocent; some did not. Some potentially nefarious personal examples:

-When my boat is on the hard, there are through-hulls in the bilge that are left open for rainwater to drain through during the winter.  Removing and replacing the hardware in those through-hulls was supposedly a standard part of winter work at this particular yard.  I moved to the next yard and that fall I got a call from the mechanic saying that those same through-hulls were so corroded that they had to be drilled out.  He said they hadn’t been changed in years, even though the previous yard had billed me for it!

-I don’t believe in shrink-wrapping my boat.  When I used to shrink-wrap, in the spring the boat would still be filthy.  A boat is mostly fiberglass, stainless and plastic, all materials that will still be around when the next ice age hits, right?

One recent winter I went to the boat to retrieve something and saw that they had shrink-wrapped the boat even though I had not ordered it.  I sent them my workorder (where shrink-wrapping was not selected) and they sent me back their work order showing that it had been selected.  The only problem was that I had typed my selections in the form; on their copy however the shrink wrap box had clearly been manually checked in pencil!  I got them to remove the wrap.

I could list several more.

Lastly, get to know your mechanic(s).  If you are new to each other, set up a time for them to come on your boat.  Talk about the history, potential problem areas, things for them to watch.  If they have time (you might have to pay for their time, which is OK) do a sea trial with them.  Have them down in the engine room while you’re at the helm with the throttles flat out so they can take some measurements and observe things.

A lot of boat owners just trust their yards and pay their bills.  That used to be me, but not anymore.  And it’s paid off.