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Bash · 26-04-2010, 22:33

So, there was a marine flea market held near my slip last weekend, and while looking for a 55lb Fortress anchor I met a cabinetmaker. Simple little booth, seemed like a nice fellow. Had an album of photos of jobs he'd completed, and they seemed nice. So I invited him down to my boat to bid on a tabletop for the saloon. What I wanted was fairly simple: walnut, 36"x28", no inlays, fiddles or hardware.

The cabinetmaker quoted me a price of $4,200, unvarnished, unfinished, and uninstalled.

Gasp.

We're talking about a table top here, not a complete table. A flat piece of wood smaller than a card table. The bid was for $1,000 in materials plus $3,200 in labor.

Once again: gasp.

Is it me, or has the world suddenly gone mad?

**James S** · 26-04-2010, 22:37

I'll go with "gone mad"

Minggat · 26-04-2010, 22:41

How many did you order?

Minggat · 26-04-2010, 23:03

With what you are saving by not buying his table, you could buy him a new calculator. Apparently the 0 key sticks on the one he has now.

babykinz · 27-04-2010, 00:23

They *assume* since you have a nice boat then obviously you have money to burn.

SvenG · 27-04-2010, 06:25

I'll do it for $4,100.00 !

-Sven

(reminds me of the old printer commercial: "... I figure that at $1,000,000 per printer I'll only have to sell one")

cdennyb · 27-04-2010, 09:07

Shoot, I'll make you one, varnish it with urethane clear AND ship it to you prepaid for $3000. I'd even have you pick the wood blanks and include the box for free.

Oh, I think the decimal key is the one stuck on his calculator.

Did you find an anchor or was the side-track too much of a disraction?

Anzo · 27-04-2010, 09:55

Hate to mess up the bidding war going on, but if all you need is the top, lookie these guys:

WOOD BUTCHER BLOCK,COUNTER-ISLAND TOP,CUT.BOARD,24"x48" - eBay (item 120561022163 end time May-23-10 19:11:55 PDT)

I'm sure they could come up w/something

SkiprJohn · 27-04-2010, 10:19

There are a lot of folks who believe that they can use one job to make enough money to tied them over for the rest of the year. They just have to find the right consumer. Consumer means "sucker."
I can't believe this guy would ever have been hired by a frugal boatowner.
regards,

**hummingway** · 27-04-2010, 10:23

It does depend on the wood involved. A book matched crotch of black walnut dimensioned to 6/4 will cost a lot more then select and better. 18 bf of s&b would be about $200 at current prices. The afore mentioned crotch could run $1000 if it had some oxide colouring and was highly figured. It also makes a big difference to the labour since surfacing a black walnut crotch can be a nightmare. IF it's bread boarded and has butterfly joints it adds more labour. He's obviously not looking for work but there can be factors that take what looks like a $750 job and turns it into a $4100 one.

**Boracay** · 27-04-2010, 15:06

That would accord with 40 hours at $70 per hour plus costs and expenses. With time for quotes and flea markets and the like he probably plans on one job every two weeks.

My dinette table is a piece of scrap ply on top of a base from the chandler, with a few coats of epoxy on top. My wife complains that the angle is wrong but when I think of how much work to "do it right" it looks pretty good to me. Total cost about $200, total time about 4 hours.

If you can bolt a standard marine table pedestal to your sole and floors (falling against the edge of a table imposes huge loads - larger tables may need two pedestals) then a visit to a well set up cabinet shop could get you a ply table top with glued on edges for a modest figure. Plan on varnishing yourself. Adjust the height with plywood shims.