How much would you pay to have your winches serviced?

[Dreamcatcher34]

I serviced one of my Lewmar 45 winch for first time this weekend -it took about an hour but that was partly as I was rewatching the utube vid as I progressed and also while I had organised my white spirit,plastic box and paint brush I hadn’t really prepared enough paper towels and such like . Anyway I’m no engineer but apart from putting the pawl springs in it all seemed simple. So while time poor I could now do it quicker next time . If I was looking to pay someone for tasks I would prefer to have someone go to top of mast to make wind cups work or wire up a Fusion unit or recipe the heads . It seems to me to offer services as a reliable marine electrician would be a better idea to generate cash .

[Gerrit Coetzee]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Winches are supposed to be serviced? [emoji848][emoji23]

I too apparently need to extend my "to do list"...😬

[Gerrit Coetzee]

And if anybody wants work, and plenty of it, you can try your hands in Puerto Rico. Too many boats and too few people to do the required work, on every imaginable spectrum.

[Time2Go]

Originally Posted by MJH

Forget about it and build a career as a marine electrician. I just needed one and made numerous calls without success. Many of the ones I called were looking for more employees without success...and it pays way better.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

Take up "Boat Yoga" and Cable pulling.
Just about finishing my friends Irwin 44 electrical system.
This was all DIY and it came out just as good as any pros
This being said, both my friend and I are in our early sixties and
contorting our bodies into all the positions needed to feed, pull, tug,
guide, harang, cajole, all the wires was without a
doubt the hardest part.
I would have gladly paid 25 an hour to have somebody else do this bit.
Not connecting or even stripping anything but simply run the wires
while I supervised. An add on bit would be a tool wrangler.
Lots of times we would be working on different bits and would be head
down in a locker hands in front doing something and realize that we needed
a 5/16 and not a 1/4 wrench and had to shimmy out and get the correct tool. Again would have paid to have an assistant so I could yell
3/8" and have a wrench slapped into my hand. Kind of like a surgeon
saying scalpel.
I really enjoy doing work myself, saves a good few boat bucks
and I know its done right and I like the sense of accomplishment,
But age and previous sports injuries
at times makes "Boat Yoga" painfull and sometimes undoable.
More than once I was sure Rigor Mortis was setting in.
Cheers
Neil

[GBR134]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Winches are supposed to be serviced? [emoji848][emoji23]

On our boat we cal it ‘fixing’ as it’s usually only done when they stop working!

[Sheriffdep]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I would say tasks such as waxing and varnishing would be better opportunities...not because they are particularly difficult but because they are tedious (washing and waxing a 40ft boat is a lot of effort) and require repeat services (wash and wax at least annually and for obsessive people maybe monthly).

Varnishing is most likely your best bet. NO ONE enjoys that work, and if you say you do your are part of the 1% or less that do. Its tedious, must be done well, and takes a ton of time. So there you go, make it worthwhile for someone to pay you and over time you can raise your prices due to demand or quality of work. Also a key might be to offer the customer ideas of how to change the look of their varnish to enhance the vessel. This might get people to pay.


Washing a vessel - this is most likely already being done by the marina employees as a service. However, there could also be a company contracted to the marina to do it.

Take a 100 boats in a marina for example. Possibly half would have you wash and clean the outside once a year. The other half every other year. 20% may have you wash twice a year or more. Only a few will pay to have it done after they use the boat.

So not enough to live off even if your cheap. Plus that is a business so you must pay taxes on what you earn. Then the liability if you damage something. It will happen and someone will make it to where you dont want to do the work.


WAXES------ my largest pet peeve in the automotive/boat world. Probably 95% or more of people have no clue about the products they use, what they do for them, and how long they last. All they know is that they wash the item weekly and wax it once a year. They think that is good.

Carnauba waxes ---- ONLY last 3-5 weeks depending if the car or boat is under a cover. For a marina boat in the tropics, likely less than two weeks. While your boat or car may shine a bit longer your gel coat or clear coat is no longer protected. PERIOD

Synthetic Sealants (people call these waxes too which is wrong) --- These are typically liquid only and are applied the same. On a garaged vehicle driven often they ONLY last around 4-5 months. Bit more on less driven vehicles and a bit less on tropical outside stored and driven vehicles. This means in 6 months for sure your get coat or clear coat is no longer being protected.

Dont even get me started on Cleaner/waxes everyone in the boating world loves to use on a wool pad high speed polisher.

How many people wash their boats or cars with dishwashing liquid? A TON. How about that coupled with harsh cleaners to help with stains. Example - a boat someone just spent 2 days waxing, was taken sailing for one day, and when returned it was washed with Dawn and just doesn't it sparkle. Well that person has no clue, but all the waxing work they just did was washed off by using the dishwashing liquid or cleaners. EVEN if they just wash a section by the bow and then the residue rinsed down the deck to the transom. They just wasted their time and money.

Point is the majority of people DO NOT CARE. This is even more prevalent in the marine world. IF it looks clean its fine. If guilt is involved then when the vessel is hauled out the wax goes on.

Point is, except for beer money, washing and waxing likely wont pay the food bill

[TPG]

I would gladly pay someone to do this, but I agree that a better approach would be to offer several services in addition. Have been looking for someone to compound and wax my boat in my area and can't get anyone to respond so there is a need out there for boat service.

[Mickeyrouse]

It’s been previously observed that the most marketable skills for cruisers are electrical and canvas work. Larry Pardey always stayed busy with carpentry. Delivery skippers are in demand in any high-traffic areas.

[belizesailor]

Nothing. Prefer to do it myself. I already have the parts, its a simple job, and I get to see any problems.

Jobs I do contract out fall in several categories:

- Require specialized skills/tools that I dont have.

- Bigger than I want to take on.

- Simple, but cheap to have done, and I dont want to do it. Like boat cleaning.

- Something I can do, but its a PITA and I prefer to pay rather than do it.

- Im short on time and need to hire others so I can have a team working

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by MikeHoncho

I wouldn’t pay being I do it myself.

Right on. I wont let anybody touch my boat.

Anybody who owns anything mechanical should know how it works, 'cause ya just never know.

[double u]

Originally Posted by Tonali99

Right on. I wont let anybody touch my boat.

Anybody who owns anything mechanical should know how it works, 'cause ya just never know.

...knowing how the injection pump works & servicing it oneself are 2 very different things...

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by double u

...knowing how the injection pump works & servicing it oneself are 2 very different things...

If you know how it works you shpould be abloe to replace or repair it.
Anything breaks whilst at sea and you can't do anything about it tells me you should never go out of sight of land.
Do you know how tyo signal for help?

[Apollo366]

As noted above, Boat Electricians are hard to find if they are REAL Electricians!

Way too many are self taught. Most Community Colleges have trade schools at night. Learn all you can, then ask around for an electrician that needs a helper, many will take you on, or find an established shop that will take as an apprentice. In a year or two you'll have more work than you know!

If you're a gear head, same goes for engine work.

Just try getting some real education on the type of work you like to do, the rest follows.

BTW, my crewman serviced my winches a year ago, it was obvious they had not been serviced for many years!

The first one took 4 hours by the time he did a few it was down to 2 hors or less, most time was spent removing all the caked on dried grease.

Apollo Wayne