Some timely history, might want to dust off your sextant, and in “the stupid it burns” department….
The hard part of building or fixing up a cruising boat boils down to just having the needful capital, organizing the project, and putting in the needful labor. It’s really pretty simple.
Or, at least in a perfect world that would be the case. Sadly, where boat builds and refits are concerned, we’re in ‘here be dragons, mission creep, and death spirals’ territory.
So, how can you dragon-proof your projects?
Budgets
For starters, the first part of any successful project is doing your homework, developing a plan of action, and producing a budget that makes sense. This is key as most boat building or rehab failures are a direct result of having an unrealistic budget. Take it from someone with experience in wishful thinking where budgets are concerned; a surefire recipe for disaster.
That said, most monetary advice for boat projects are worth what you pay for them.
Long ago, I stopped listening to most volunteered advice unless someone with serious street cred who knows what they’re talking about presents it.
“Refitting a classic plastic is just throwing money in a hole in the ocean”
… is not advice it’s just an ill-based opinion.
That said, you should avoid many boat build or refit projects; however, your research and homework will help you create a cost-effective, viable project.
Another part of the budget process that hardly anyone pays attention to is the labor budget. Time, as they say, is money and far too many folks never factor that into their equations.
Let’s take the Wharram Tiki 30 for example. The Wharram folks tell us the average time needed to build one is 900 hours. Some build faster and others, bless their hearts, take a lot longer. Anyway, if you’re working a 40-hour week, that works out to 22 weeks or so. Let’s say six months. Of course, most folks don’t have the luxury of being able to build or work on their boat projects like it’s a real job.
The downside is the less you can work on your project, the longer it takes and the costs tend to spiral up. Sadly these days, inflation can become a big negative factor. If I were building a Tiki now, I’d buy all the materials and needful bits first so I can hit the ground running and dispense with wasting time running errands instead of building the damn boat.
The key to any project is that we need to treat it like a real job. You know, the kind you get paid to do and the boss is a picky bastard.
More on bringing the work-a-day world to VolksCruisers come Monday…