A human perspective. Advice needed.

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by snowbirder, Apr 7, 2015.

  1. snowbirder

    snowbirder Previous Member

    I rarely ask business advice, but this is a mixture of business and personal.

    I have a new boat that's nearly done on the outside and partly done on the inside. The outside will be done in June.

    This summer, I need to go to NY with it, so I can participate on a daily basis at a company that I let decay while in FL wrapping up the boat build.

    I'll have to keep the boat outside of the city... way outside... and go into the city for like 4 days in a row each week.

    I wanted to finish the whole interior of the boat myself, but I'll barely have weekends even
    to do that...and it's a full time job.

    One option is to keep one of my employees on and give him one of the 4 staterooms on the boat. Since it's not done insdide, it'll be dusty and a lot of construction going on. A small part of the inside is done. A galley and the crew stateroom. Since it's designed to act as a hotel on the water, my stateroom (crew) and the galley, are in the same spot, away from the rest of the boat's main areas and rooms.

    SO... if i have this employee stay on, I'll have a roommate part of the week that has to come in my room all the time to use the kitchen. I like privacy. I need my space. Plus, I already have several female friends that want to come out to visit.

    BUT...he could work on the boat 5 days a week, speeding up the end of the project immensely, though not doing as good a job as I would.

    But I need to attend to the NY business to keep the money flowing (it's a trickle right now)... burning savings.

    Should I suck it up and have a roommate to get things moving faster? A roommate that needs to come in my room a lot?

    Or should I be at peace and just take longer to finish the boat myself?
     
  2. waikikin
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Australia

    waikikin Senior Member

    Be at peace, looking down your list there's more negatives especially the workmanship issue, maybe you might find someone who dose'nt need to live aboard with better skills.

    Jeff
     
  3. snowbirder

    snowbirder Previous Member

    Thanks, Jeff. I'm thinking you're right. It's been a unanimous response from everyone I've asked.
     
  4. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Well, see if there are any laws on boats in parks in NY, if there are no laws forbidding boats in a park, then park the boat in the park and live in it while you finish it, you can still decay the business daily while working the boat nightly.

    By the time the law comes out forbidding the park of a boat in a park, the boat should be ready. If not, you can always contest the law on grounds of common law, iow it is practiced already before the law was made, hence a general accepted concept :D

    The answer is a helicopter. You need to pay for it only once when you bring it in, the taking it out will be free when the government removes it for you :D

    And you can maybe score a few day if you can get some FBI perimeter tape to camp your little area off, well someone gave it to you, just find an unofficial acronym for FBI... like First Boat In (a park).

    Good luck...
     
  5. Petros
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Arlington, WA-USA

    Petros Senior Member

    take care of your income first, let nothing distract you from that. An employee would be a distraction, and might even harm the value of you boat if the work is not done to your standards. The boat will still be there later, but your business may not if you do not give it your undivided attention.

    I say this as someone who has been self employed for over 20 years, and I have never found a way to keep my business running smoothy when I am not present. I wish I could, but that has turned out to be more difficult than I would have thought.
     

  6. snowbirder

    snowbirder Previous Member

    Sage advice. I've been working on my own 15 years now. I am only now thinking I may have been able to do both a boat build and business at the same time.

    Previously, I had a wife tending to the business while I was full time on the boat.

    I've been struggling for a couple years now, working in NY and trying to manage a couple employees 1000 miles away who were building cosmetic things and fairing. Took them a year and a half to build the deckhouse and 2 boxes in the aft cockpit, as well as fair the boat.

    It's at a point I had to come down because they were screwing literally everything up. Had to be at the boat to supervise.

    Then, morale decayed at my business since my shining smile wasn't there to keep all the employees happy. ha ha Go figure... didn't even realize they liked me that much.

    I've been here all winter. Gotta get this boat in the water and up to NY area by mid June to catch summer rush, inspire NY employees and get some revenue coming in.

    What I need is a second "me" to be in 2 places at once. ;)

    I haven't heard s single person say it's a good idea to have this other employee in my boat/home, so I think I'll let him go with the other guy in June when we splash.

    Thanks for the advice.
     
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