Boatyard RANT

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by TurninTurtle

A boat yard causing damage by doing something other than the way specified by the boat owner is responsible for all damages due to the failure to follow instructions.

But if you specify something stupid and they go through with it, they are responsible too...
That could lead to them not doing anything in order to avoid liability and to protect their workers.

The way that opening rant comes across, I could easily believe you specified something they didn't think was safe.

WTF? I ask them to do very very very little:

Hall and block my boat
Step and Unstep my mast
perhaps move the boat to a different winter storage slip
Service dinghy OB
They insist on doing the painting claiming NYSECC laws
I had them wax one year. They used an outside subcontractor.
I told them I will do everything else on the bottom

They do NO work on my boat.

I don't ask them to do anything but the simplist tasks.

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Try Manhasset Bay Shipyard

Thank you!

[boatman61]

There's a lot of crap Service Providers out there.. its a fact..

[Boathooked]

Originally Posted by atoll

the problem is it is your pride and joy......but to them it is just another job

This....

[LakeSuperior]

The price of urban living. Where there are high population densities you become a meat bag to the service providers. If you don't like it there are 100 more inline.

Where I live, I call the yard, same guy for 20 years runs the lift and crane. He will schedule me within a day sometimes within two hours. Will wait for me to get there before starting. Will do the lift after work if need be.

We typically don't flip folks off when they pull out in front of you because they may be your aunt or someone you know. Even though it is tempting. Lot's to be said for small town living.

[vjm]

Originally Posted by Sandero

Rubbish... They had set up another mast to step and could have done that one. I called them at 10:30... and there was no specific time set to do the work. If there was they SHOULD have informed me by phone the day before when they told me they were not doing it on Tuesday.

They have no rigger. The yard foreman was not launching or hauling boats... He told me he was bummed out and didn't feel like doing it. They have 95% power boats and are shedding customers like crazy... Wonder why? They are disgusted at the performance and the BS.

They might have other jobs... like getting the wrong fuel out of their the truck. They mentioned they had to work on a dripless shaft. How many men and how long would that take. If they jumped on to it.. when it was done they could and should have jumped back to my job.

AND the yard foreman is the only one who works the crane and he doesn't do mechanical work PERIOD. He moves boats on land and in the water. Hauls and launches.

The manager who I spoke with at 10:30 when I was on my way there and no more than 45 minutes away SHOULD have told me then that they would not do it that day and explain why and when they would.... at an date when I was free to be there.

Please don't justify their stupid behavior including lying.

Some yards are bad yards. Some customers are bad customers. And sometimes both the yard and the customer are bad. Hope you manage to find somewhere that doesn't drop you back in one of the three scenarios above.

[Sandero]

Another fellow who bailed on this yard... told me this afternoon that the uard manager crane operator told him NOT to have that crane lift his mast... it's not working well and they slapped paint on it and will be selling it. He's gone to another yard never to return as well.

I think this is a bad yard and they were not very cooperative and my requests were no unreasonable... especially since when they refused to step it they also refused to tell me why... and made up bogus false reasons.

They revealed their true nature so it's better to leave. No problemo. I don't need to share all the Dirt CS told me this afternoon. But it was not pretty.

[garrobito]

..This is an eternal problem between what yard understand and customer understand... I work with yard in the past and I can understand both sides, as an owner and as a manager.. No win.. no one win... you can rants all you want over the yard, they have their own schedule and sometimes changes in a minute... so guarantee they gonna wait for owner to step it's not definitely a sacred, sealed with a kiss deal ..

[garrobito]

Originally Posted by boatman61

There's a lot of crap Service Providers out there.. its a fact..

..There's a lot of crap customer too, believe me... 35 years at the trade support my words...

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by garrobito

..This is an eternal problem between what yard understand and customer understand... I work with yard in the past and I can understand both sides, as an owner and as a manager.. No win.. no one win... you can rants all you want over the yard, they have their own schedule and sometimes changes in a minute... so guarantee they gonna wait for owner to step it's not definitely a sacred, sealed with a kiss deal ..

Everyone knows that the so called work schedule is very fluid. It is so because of:

parts are not always in stock and mostly are order for a job
jobs underway can escalate when new parts are needed or another issue is discovered that also demands attention (change order)
weather can influence what work can be done
tides can influence what work can be done
staff can be out for various reasons
machinery or equipment can break or need repair
emergencies can arise which get immediate priority

and so on

In light of this... a boat yard work schedule is more myth than reality. What it is is more like a target to perhaps start or complete a work order. Because of the above.... the yard will alter these targets to keep the staff busy and the work getting done. This is a MANAGEMENT ISSUE.

The yard's "behavior" in my case struck me as irrational. The only loss of time... was to raise the hanging mast and place it back on the saw horses. They had 6.5 hrs to pick it up and step it which would take no more than .5hrs.... attach 4 shrouds and the head stay and then tow the boat 30 feet back to the slip where the tunning and wiring would be done by me.

The weather was perfect... and so unless they had emergencies preventing the crane operator and one or two mast handlers there is no reason why it could not have been stepped that afternoon. Or if they had decided NOT to do it, have the courtesy to tell me not to drive all the way out for no reason when I called then at 10:30am.

And let's not forget that the yard manager/crane operator told me at 2:30 or so that... he was bummed out and because the the fuel incident and didn't "feel like" doing anything after that. THAT doesn't sound to me like a scheduling matter. That sounds unprofessional to me with excuses and BS.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by garrobito

..There's a lot of crap customer too, believe me... 35 years at the trade support my words...

Tell me about it.. but then I just take them to court...
However.. a Service Provider is tougher as I'm usually a few hundred miles away when their work falls apart and its just to much hassle to sail back.. so I slag them off on line.. by name..

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Sandero

This is not an accurate assessment of MY situation.

It was not an assessment of YOUR situation, it was a "What about the other side." .....

Originally Posted by Sandero

This was a case of their simply not wanting me to be there when they did it...

I suspect you're right...

Originally Posted by Sandero

I sent this drawing to them.... in email... gave a hard copy and yet they still managed to put the slings in the wrong place and destroy my B&G thru hull for my speed impeller.

You left your speed log installed for a haul out..... Oops... Even with the slings in the right spot they can still slide over a speed log, during placement, and ruin it. This is why you want to pull the speed log it before haul out.

Do you have "SLING" stickers?

[rwidman]

Sandero, It appears to me that you are a very difficult customer to deal with. I was in service work most of my career so I know a bit about the other side. Demanding to be there when the work is being done and supplying your own parts are difficult demands to deal with.

It's fine to "schedule" a job to start at a certain time, but unless it's the first job of the day, it's impossible to know exactly when the previous job or jobs will be finished. The shop can't pull people and equipment off other jobs to start yours and it can't pay workers to do nothing while waiting until a certain time to start yours.

Maybe you can find a yard that's flexible enough to meet your needs, but more likely, you need to be more flexible and less demanding.

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Sandero, It appears to me that you are a very difficult customer to deal with. I was in service work most of my career so I know a bit about the other side. Demanding to be there when the work is being done and supplying your own parts are difficult demands to deal with.

It's fine to "schedule" a job to start at a certain time, but unless it's the first job of the day, it's impossible to know exactly when the previous job or jobs will be finished. The shop can't pull people and equipment off other jobs to start yours and it can't pay workers to do nothing while waiting until a certain time to start yours.

Maybe you can find a yard that's flexible enough to meet your needs, but more likely, you need to be more flexible and less demanding.

Most customers are understanding of schedule problems. The yard folks know when the jobs start blow the schedule. Cell phones help here. Doesn't sound like that was the case in this instance. The data stated by the OP don't support your comments. Sounds like the yard has lots of customers lined up and so they don't need to accommodate (lift one finger to help make a customers life easier).

It's human nature to allow the luxury of burning a few customers when there are plenty in line. Customer complains about bad treatment screw him if he doesn't like it.


I worked in a yard where the well heeled customers were fawned over and the average slob with a sailboat got the hind teat. It's just the way it is.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by vjm

Some yards are bad yards. Some customers are bad customers.

Yes, and as usual, we only got to hear one side of the story.