Sending the boat to the yard is more stressful than sending the car to the shop, but the underlying issue is the same--"How much is it going to cost to fix this?" With the car you might find out ahead of time and act accordingly; with a boat you usually find out when they're done.
But I agree w/ Gunni. I'm not much of a DIYer b/c I don't have time to learn all of the specialty trades involved with boat maintenance and repair--e.g., fiberglassing, painting, diesels, 'lectronics, 'lektrisity, sail making, canvas making, sanitation, refrigeration, solar power, wind power, autopilots, rigging, and etc. Also, I don't have the specialized tools typically needed. To date, I cannot report any "bad" experiences with the yards I've used either here in CA or previously in FL. I do, however, check on them a few times during the course of any "repair", inspect the on-going work if I can, and of course chat with the person doing the work as well as with the yard supervisor. But, I'm on my 5th boat (not counting dinghies and sabots)--and not that I haven't done a lot of my own work on certain, straightfoward things, like installing a bilge pump alarm or swapping out a windlass or a starter, or changing the propeller, etc., so I do know some things--but realign a shaft, install new thru-hulls, or replace the standing rigging, etc.--no way. I've learned an immense amount about "boat stuff" from this forum, even down to fairly simple things like where to put an in-line fuse (if you're going to use one!). I always like to hear from the professionals here, and usually I follow their sage advice whether given directly to me or not. [Hey, I sold my portable generator!]
But I agree w/ Gunni. I'm not much of a DIYer b/c I don't have time to learn all of the specialty trades involved with boat maintenance and repair--e.g., fiberglassing, painting, diesels, 'lectronics, 'lektrisity, sail making, canvas making, sanitation, refrigeration, solar power, wind power, autopilots, rigging, and etc. Also, I don't have the specialized tools typically needed. To date, I cannot report any "bad" experiences with the yards I've used either here in CA or previously in FL. I do, however, check on them a few times during the course of any "repair", inspect the on-going work if I can, and of course chat with the person doing the work as well as with the yard supervisor. But, I'm on my 5th boat (not counting dinghies and sabots)--and not that I haven't done a lot of my own work on certain, straightfoward things, like installing a bilge pump alarm or swapping out a windlass or a starter, or changing the propeller, etc., so I do know some things--but realign a shaft, install new thru-hulls, or replace the standing rigging, etc.--no way. I've learned an immense amount about "boat stuff" from this forum, even down to fairly simple things like where to put an in-line fuse (if you're going to use one!). I always like to hear from the professionals here, and usually I follow their sage advice whether given directly to me or not. [Hey, I sold my portable generator!]
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