The Long Wait

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So here we sit on a lawn chair waiting for our sofa to be re-upolsterd. The company doing the work has had it since the end of September. They have a great reputation. We winter over near Portland Oregon.

It would appear to be normal operation, at least in this area. This include boat technicians, engine/genny repair ect.

I'm not complaining, well maybe a little. Why does it take so long to get repairs? Sometimes you have to get on their schedule, then when the day comes and goes, no tech. You call them and they tell you they are swamped.

So is this totally COVID or not enough boat techs or something else? Have any TF'rs experience this?

 

[tiltrider1]

Those who do good work at a good price are always busy. Those who do good work for an arm and a leg are usually able to take care of you immediately.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Good point.

 

[rsn48]

I had new cushions for my boat made in Comox BC and it was the same story, a long wait. But the quality was good and he has done other work, putting those bungy cord type things on my bimini soft wall curtains that roll down. Prior I had snaps which were a real pain the the butt, the bungy thingy's I love.

I will be using the same guy for my "curtains" which I have decided to just have canvas with snaps placed over the windows for privacy. My windows have angles to them so using traditional blinds would be difficult.

Here is a pic of my boat prior to refit, but it pretty much looks the same post refit. You can see there are windows everywhere, which I love as the boat is bright and cheerful even down in the V birth and galley area.

https://www.nauticapedia.ca/dbase/Query/Shiplist5.php?id=60685

 

[O C Diver]

Waiting for the landscaping guys to show up. Couple of trees have co come down and the guy who climbs the coconut trees to remove the nuts needs to do his thing along with other tree trimming. Called in November; won't be till after the first of the year. It's frustrating, but they do good work and are reasonable. Good work, reasonable price, and do it promptly, you can have any two.

Ted

 

[Lollygag1]

This is not just related to boats. We have been renovating a new house and have had a 3 month delay for a refrigerator w 2 canceled appointments, 7 weeks to get a fence a desk that never arrived. Supply chain is a mess so folks book an appointment but then materials are delayed thus pushing back the delivery/install.

While I am sympathetic to the situation I do not like to pay in full or even 1/2 and then get my product service delayed for weeks or months.

I am having boat work done and have an agreement w the mechanic to keep me updated w progress and I will pay as he completes various tasks. All I ask is for good communication and a completion by 4/15

 

[OldDan1943]

Those who do good work at a good price are always busy. Those who do good work for an arm and a leg are usually able to take care of you immediately.

Same way with my cabinet maker for the boat. They do fantastic work and I put their kids through college. SMILE

 

[kthoennes]

We wanted some drainage work done at the house last spring. The landscaper said $12,000. We agreed. He said August. Okay. Never heard from him again.

I dropped off some boat cushions to be recovered in October. Here it is December, I'll bet they're not touched yet.

I filed a marina work order last April for new fuel hoses on the boat. Never done, work order was just forgotten.

We went to a tree nursery in June and picked out a large tree. Finally installed in mid-November, surprised he ever showed up.

I could go on but yep, I guess all these people are not very eager for my money. I don't pester people but maybe I should - but I figure I shouldn't have to nag vendors and service people to make money.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Same way with my cabinet maker for the boat. They do fantastic work and I put their kids through college. SMILE

Oh yes!! The price I am paying, I could buy two huge lazy boy sofas!!

But the quality is well worth the wait. It would appear if you can start a business in the marine repair sector, you could almost write your own ticket.

Could that be another reason? Shortage in the marine repair sector?

 

[OldDan1943]

LOL I dropped off one steel hook and ask they make 6 out of marine grade stainless, that was 2 months ago.
A lot has happened this year. Covid, people out sick, people in quarantine, people afraid to come to work, free govt money etc......

 

[GFC]

Tom, sorry about your plight with the upholstery company. I can't say enough good about the company that does/did out boat repair and maintenance work.

Tom you saw this in action this past summer when we had that problem that caused us to return to our home port.

I called Jim Toroni (Columbia Marine Center) before we even got back to our home port. He agreed to meet us at the boat the next morning at 10:00. He and his helper diagnosed the problem, disassembled it to get out the failed part and by the next morning had the parts in hand to do the repair.

Now I must admit that Jim and his wife are more than a boat fixer, we consider them good friends. He wouldn't charge me for their work to fix the boat so we took them out to dinner. What a great guy!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Tom, sorry about your plight with the upholstery company. I can't say enough good about the company that does/did out boat repair and maintenance work.

Tom you saw this in action this past summer when we had that problem that caused us to return to our home port.

I called Jim Toroni (Columbia Marine Center) before we even got back to our home port. He agreed to meet us at the boat the next morning at 10:00. He and his helper diagnosed the problem, disassembled it to get out the failed part and by the next morning had the parts in hand to do the repair.

Now I must admit that Jim and his wife are more than a boat fixer, we consider them good friends. He wouldn't charge me for their work to fix the boat so we took them out to dinner. What a great guy!

Oh I would totally agree. Too much work and not enough of good technicians? Or maybe, as some have stated here, good quality work tends to spread.

 

[rsn48]

Same way with my cabinet maker for the boat. They do fantastic work and I put their kids through college. SMILE

I helped my refit guy buy a Tesla 3.

 

[OldDan1943]

Same way with my cabinet maker for the boat. They do fantastic work and I put their kids through college. SMILE

I helped my refit guy buy a Tesla 3.

My cabinet maker was indeed a cabinet marker in Canada, own his own factory.
The joke is, I was one of his first 2 customers and we feed his family for well over a year. Now, his reputation has spread wide and his small company it in great demand on boats. Dennis Sr has retired, his son runs the company now.

 

[tiltrider1]

Upholstery work is a strange environment. I send two guys to the same place. One thinks he is great the other thinks his work is crap. One guy is all about quality materials and sewing the other is all about dodads and cosmetics it doesn’t even notice that the panels are mismatched.

Then there are the people who do the work. Some say next week when they know they are back logged for 3 months, some just disappear and only show up after they ran out of money. Some have no clue what they are doing while others are only interested in creating a work of art and pricing has no rhyme or reason in the upholstery world.

 

[kthoennes]

You're right, same here, upholstery is a strange world for some reason. In this city there are/were three options. There was a car upholstery place, but last year they decided they weren't doing boats any more, just cars. Okay then. Then there's a Russian immigrant and his wife who operate in a large ancient World War II quonset hut that used to house small planes, located behind a sketchy used car lot. His wife does the work, pretty good, as long as he translates your requests well enough to her. And then there's the business up near the trucking and industrial part of town. They do pretty good work but you'll wait 100 years. Most of their guys are former Penitentiary inmates who worked in the Pen's upholstery shop. They actually do great work, but their availability is - well, irregular depending on how their lives are going.

 

[backinblue]

Those who do good work at a good price are always busy. Those who do good work for an arm and a leg are usually able to take care of you immediately.

People in Portland OR are actually working these days? Not what it looks like in the news!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

People in Portland OR are actually working these days? Not what it looks like in the news!

They moved out of Portland and are located in Woodland WA.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well an update.

The Admiral is madder than an old hen. She checked in with the upolster and it isn't started yet. Back in November they told us they needed a down payment. So we sent them 1 boat dollar.

She checked back in today and they told her that the warehouse for Sunbrella didn't have enough of the fabric she ordered. She was told she could wait until end of February or pick another fabric.

She is not a happy camper. I am trying to encourage her to call the main HQ in Florida. But this is her project, her calls.

 

[Alaskaflyer]

Upholstery work ought to win the award for the industry with the most unexplained delays. I just had to help my elderly FIL "repossess" a truck bench seat that he had dropped off four months ago for a fairly simple foam and upholstery job. Hadn't been touched. The proprietor just shrugged.

A few years ago my mother sent her two couches off, and went without them for near a year. I'm convinced the only reason they decided to finally do them is they were in the way in the shop. Mom doesn't like confrontation.

We're trying to schedule site engineering for a new house build. I'm losing my mind with those people, but the market is crazy here Doesn't bode well for scheduling subs, window and door delivery etc. It isn't even for us (business property), so I'm not very motivated for the headaches to come with pinning people down on deadlines.

 

[backinblue]

Well an update.

The Admiral is madder than an old hen. She checked in with the upolster and it isn't started yet. Back in November they told us they needed a down payment. So we sent them 1 boat dollar.

She checked back in today and they told her that the warehouse for Sunbrella didn't have enough of the fabric she ordered. She was told she could wait until end of February or pick another fabric.

She is not a happy camper. I am trying to encourage her to call the main HQ in Florida. But this is her project, her calls.

"BOAT" as in Break Out Another Thousand?

 

[Alaskaflyer]

Hopefully it was a marine monetary unit (=100USD.)

 

[Chip Prather]

Same in SoCal

My boat neighbor had a “suite” of electronics installed. The place required 25% deposit. They fairly quickly removed the old stuff and installed the new. It’s a great system but not finished (MFD’s not secured and depth finder not connected to the network). My buddy has called the guy a dozen times asking him to finish up - no joy! And, get this, it’s been 18 months. Guy appears to be very busy as we see him all over doing work. I told my friend to call his wife - once she hears they are carrying 75% of the amount due I suspect he finishes up.

 

[backinblue]

Hopefully it was a marine monetary unit (=100USD.)

That was my original thought but wasn't certain of the term!

 

[Alaskaflyer]

The only reason I tend to find boating fairly reasonable is because for years I was spending disposable income in AMUs (aviation monetary unit = 1,000USD.) Once you've owned a plane, everything else seems cheaper.

 

[backinblue]

The only reason I tend to find boating fairly reasonable is because for years I was spending disposable income in AMUs (aviation monetary unit = 1,000USD.) Once you've owned a plane, everything else seems cheaper.

LOL, good point, it's all relative. I accept that boating right now for me is not my entire life but an expensive leisure activity, I don't wince at the marina bills anymore.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So the Admiral called Sunbrella HQ. It seems 2 companies bought all the material. Those companies used it all up. Next delivery, yep February.

She picked another pattern. Yep, all out.

After discussion with the upolster the Admiral is going to wait until February. In the mean time, I get to keep using the electric chair.

 

[kthoennes]

Well this thread makes me feel better. At least I have company in Upholstery Bizarro World. Still no word on my upper helm cushions dropped off in October. At least it's not me, or my personal lack of rapport or influence with upholstery businesses, or that I'm located as far as you can get from salt water on the North American continent.

(I am ahead of you in some ways though -- I already learned a while ago you can't get picky on colors. You have to reach a Zen place on color flexibility. I've learned to just ask for green. Anything they have is close enough for me, lime green, emerald green, vaguely green-ish, I'm just happy to get anything close, even if the boat looks like a patchwork quilt. Last time they said they only had something called "verdigris." Sure, whatever.)

 

[Alaskaflyer]

It's to the point that with any smallish proprietorship, if they simply acknowledge that you left them a message, you want to fall down on your knees and bless them with effusive gratitude. Not, you know, actually return the call, or respond to your request contained in said phone call - just that they remember and acknowledge that you previously called, when you call them again because you never heard anything from the previous call.

 

[grandbanksbayfield]

Short on skilled labor

This is the new norm, to use a worn-out descriptor. I see it here in the Great Lakes too. Younger people are not going into the skilled trades. Unless they are working om a union shop, there is no health insurance, no retirement, no nothing. And these things we need on boats are real WORK. Find a shop run by some skillful Mexican family where everybody, including the grandkids know a thing or two. Do not make comments about immigrants. Lots of the stuff we do on boats can be done by people in the automotive industry.