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For anyone who wants to get rich building boats. Now is your chance to be your own boss, work 80 hours a week, pollute your lungs with all kinds of bad chemicals and fiber dust, itch head to toe daily, your hands bleed from the chemicals drying out your skin and gloves don't help, probably on a good build be able to pay yourself $2.00 an hour for it. Look no further. :D
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercury-Raci...RK%3AMESE%3AIT
You speaketh the truth:)
Reggie Fountain once asked "How do you end up with a million dollars in the boating business?" His answer was "start out with 2 million"
I loved creating boats from an initial idea to the finished product. That first ride was always the pinnacle of the project. Had to quit as it WILL KILL YOU after you reach your exposure limit. Have seen many colleagues buried that stayed in the bus too long...
Same here, have seen a lot of good builders have to get out or died before they got out. We constantly during work hours run one 10,000 cfm exhaust fan and if we are spraying or heavy grinding put in two 20,000 each cfm fans. Clean air is the ticket, but it is still hard on a person. We do the best we can with respirators, suits, gloves, etc. That is all you can do in this business. It is a true labor of love deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by XstreamVking
Even the office areas need x-tra ventilation. Down here in fl the a/c is always on and getting fresh air to the office spaces is hard to do. Good bud always said being in the office was deadlier than being out on the floor. He is no longer with us....
So true. Scott Porta and Doug Wright are both hyper sensitive to chemicals at this point in their lives. I guess you get to a point and your body says enough is enough then the reaction process starts- I give you a lot of credit Todd, you and Jack are the only two guys that I know of right now that are not afraid to jump into a small boat project head first whether its a build or a repair for us as customers.
Joe
nope did some repairs and some painting /clearcoat on my ride and i can say if i wasnt so broke i would have someone else do it breathing all the chemicals ,hands cracking project turning out below my expectations etc you can have it !
A very well established restoration shop , he's a member here.
I was speaking with him a while back. He loves the boats and the restoration business but can't find decent help from the new generation. He says, Most folks he takes on don't know what a real days work is. They don't last and when they are working they are preoccupied with the smart phone or watching the clock and wrecking things. He is dedicated and his old employees are as well but the attitudes of the new try outs for the most part are terrible. They feel as if he owes them a living and complain about everything, he's pissed right off.
I think it boils down to how badly you want to eat. Lots of boats being made in cheap labour markets and with volume comes efficiency, those companies are making money. The local builders that do volume must be doing OK or they would go under. We all know of the builders that continue on because of strict quality and style. They might not come cheap but it's done with pride and sticking to self imposed standards.
When someone starts a new thread about getting into a restoration I always think about the guys that put it together originally. The busted knuckle and plugged up lungs , if it's a decent style and build and it's still around to be restored then it's probably worth doing on that alone, never mind you might not find that look anymore.
well said eagle... I go through each day with someone thinking that the material is cheap all you do is spray it on pour it up and its finished and if d/c is 20K 19k is profit... I stay dirty all day long dusty and getting to hate customers because they know nothng about building a boat... Every boat owner needs to build on and see what it take just to get it wett... I think welfare pays better
I worked for a boat builder down here for a while.... Allen Piche fame and fortune from Seabird boats back in the '70's/ '80's. I worked for him when he had Falcon Engineering in Dania Beach building AquaSponges and Blackfins. I did all the engine installs and ran the cherry pickers for popping molds and such. I stayed away from the glasswork as much as possible and wore dust masks a lot. I only worked there a couple years but also did a lot of other glasswork over the years. I have a persistent cough now that I contribute to the last 30 years in the business. Working as a mechanic still exposes you to a lot of carcinogens. Tough work for sure.