Potential cost of Maintenance & Repairs

[Graham376]

Fairly often, we have enquiries from wanabe owners about costs. Came across this video this morning which should serve as a warning for those who think they will be able to afford to pay for maintenance. I've never paid for professional work so don't know how the charges in US yards compare to UK or Europe.

 

[Wansworth]

No,something else to worry about….Orcas,Saragossa weed,and wobbly keel

 

[rogerthebodger]

Owning a boat is like standing under a cold shower ripping up pound notes

 

[38mess]

Why didn't they get a quote first?

 

[Graham376]

Why didn't they get a quote first?

I've no idea and very surprised how such simple jobs which many of us here would tackle, came to $10k+. OTOH, I can understand not many folks without any grp experience would be willing to tackle the keel job.

 

[38mess]

I've no idea and very surprised how such simple jobs which many of us here would tackle, came to $10k+. OTOH, I can understand not many folks without any grp experience would be willing to tackle the keel job.

I guess the Keel job will be the clincher
whether they keep the boat.... If some of the lesser jobs cost so much I dread to think how much the Keel job will cost.

 

[Graham376]

I guess the Keel job will be the clincher
whether they keep the boat.... If some of the lesser jobs cost so much I dread to think how much the Keel job will cost.

Can't say exactly without watching again but, IIRC, $32k and they now only have about $10k in the kitty

 

[arc1]

I started off keeping a spreadsheet to track costs. Then password protected it so only I could see it. Now just pretend that it saves money as a few weeks away, mainly at anchor, is in effect a free holiday!

 

[Wansworth]

Talk about living on the boat….whilst glassing in the grid,all that dust from grinding prior to gpassing……..nice sob story will bring in

 

[davidej]

Owning a boat is like standing under a cold shower ripping up pound notes

No it’s not! It’s tearing up £50 notes.

 

[38mess]

I feel for these guys, but who's car was he driving? It looked like a Tesla. If so why not sell it to fund more repairs.

 

[srm]

I had my boat lifted out a couple of weeks ago, to stay in the travel hoist over the weekend. For the first time in around half a century of boat ownership I paid to have the hull cleaned, due to ill health. It took one guy around 3 hours with a pressure washer to remove 4 years worth of slime off the Coppercoat. Possibly a bit quicker than it took me for an annual pressure wash. Not bad as most of the coating dated back to 2009. Cost was a standard charge of 60 euro plus tax which I felt was fair.
It took me all weekend in my depleted state to remove the barnacle reef from the prop, take the prop home, clean, prime and antifoul, plus replace, change anode etc. I was pleased that on Monday morning we were able to motor back to our berth as the prop had been so bad that a tow was required on the Friday.
I suspect that asking the yard guys to do all of the work would have been expensive though and the boat would have needed a few days on the hard.
There was a joke a while back asking which of the crew standing on the pontoon was the skipper - answer, the one with the tool box. I have learnt a whole range of skills over the last 50 years thanks to boat ownership. After I sold my last boat the broker asked me to pay an engineer to service the engine, a simple 2GM. I refused saying that there was new oil and a full set of filters on the boat and the new owner would be wise to learn how to do it himself.

 

[Tranona]

Just demonstrates how unrealistic some people are about what is involved in continuous running of a 20 year old complex boat unless you are prepared to do all the work yourself. Made worse by a shoestring budget and no contingency. The shaft and anode bit was interesting. The cheap anode broke because it did not have a stainless liner like proper ones do and he was putting it in the wrong place, too far away from the prop it is supposed to be protecting. Shoot the person who made a new shaft with so much overhang aft of the P bracket, but I guess the reason was to give tip clearance to the prop. It mat well be that the engine is too big for the boat and the normal engine ran a smaller prop.

Rubbish design and build of the hull keel structure.

 

[Supertramp]

Sometimes things happen or fail that are simply beyond the ability of an average owner to fix. Can be health, strength or know how. Or specialist equipment.

I think I know my limits and use others when I reach them rather than battling to achieve a sub optimal result.

Boats are remarkably robust but extremely complicated when compared with, say, a house. It's no surprise that you can expect some unexpected and difficult repairs occasionally. The flip side is the satisfaction that comes from everything working well and you knowing how it got there.

 

[Topcat47]

My son in LA was quoted $560 to change the plugs and filters on his Mazda 3. I talked him through it and he did it himself for $ 50.00 including the purchase of a socket set and a Torx set. Either Labour costs in the US are huge or ripping off customers the norm.

 

[mjcoon]

No it’s not! It’s tearing up £50 notes.

Ah, that's why they made our notes indestructible, to defeat the yachties!

 

[mjcoon]

My son in LA was quoted $560 to change the plugs and filters on his Mazda 3. I talked him through it and he did it himself for $ 50.00 including the purchase of a socket set and a Torx set. Either Labour costs in the US are huge or ripping off customers the norm.

Not mutually exclusive?

 

[rogerthebodger]

No it’s not! It’s tearing up £50 notes.

Inflation

 

[doug748]

I've no idea and very surprised how such simple jobs which many of us here would tackle, came to $10k+...

Bizarre. He seems a practical bloke. In a previous episode he made a good job of replacing the acrylic in 9 deck hatches.

I feel for these guys, but who's car was he driving? It looked like a Tesla. If so why not sell it to fund more repairs.

They had, or maybe still have, a huge c$250k RV, which makes you think.

 

[Tranona]

They had, or maybe still have, a huge c$250k RV, which makes you think.

She said they had sold the RV to fund the purchase of the boat. He was driving a non descript people carrier, looks like a Chrysler. He said they had no other significant source of income or savings.