I just couldn't pass up teasing about the shotcrete, here's why:
Boats Compared to Houses
There seem to be 2 schools on working on or maintaining anything.
The First School is the "I want to put as little money into it and get all my money back out of it when I sell it school".
The 2nd School is "I want to do what it takes to maintain it or make it better even it is for the benefit of the next guy".
From years of professionally remodeling houses, I've had to be able to screen out the First School potential clients (as I hate to do work that is cheap, but going to fail "prematurely" and leave someone down the road with a bigger problem).
Traits of the First Schoolers:
Sometimes they don't have much money or couldn't do things "right" even if they wanted to. Sometimes they wouldn't anyway even if they had the money. These guys would buy an old Catalina, "sail" it with bagged out sails, do nothing to it other than apply duct tape,caulk or baling wire.They will probably sell or sink the boat within a few years.
For others it is all about priorities. As they set their priorities, their house is very low on the list, they would like to do better work, but they got kids to put through school, or love buying new car every year, or have to have 150 pairs of designer shoes in the closet with new fashions coming out next week or maybe they have an old sailboat that needs work. They enjoy having a house, but view it as nice umbrella, useful for keeping the rain off their heads. If they have a boat, it is probably nicer than their house.
Then, there are those First Schoolers that see a house as essentially a box functioning as a human warehouse. It's all about the most square footage per dollar they can get. They want it to look acceptable from the street as they drive in to the garage and close the door. They want the inside to look "nice", but they don't go much beyond that. The actual interior design is not so important, as they don't really focus on much beside their big screen tv anyway. This seems to be the most common American model, and has spawned the sprawl of cookie cutter tract housing and McMansions. Banks and mortgage companies love this model, because there is little concern with quality, it is something that they can evaluate on the strictly mathematical basis of cost per square foot. If they were to buy a boat it would be a MacGregor.
The flippers and landlords are also usually in First category. To them a house is basically a tool to make money. The less money they spend on the tool, the more they can put in their pockets. These guys, if highly successful, wouldn't own a sailboat (the don't have the time to relax), they would own a big powerboat that doesn't often leave the dock and is mainly used as a tax write off. If they did own a sailboat, they would view it as a tool, they would lease the boat to chartering company and closely evaluate the depreciation curve to determine the best time to sell it.
People that are in the Second School seem to be harder and harder to find.
They tend to live in the same house a long time.
They view their house as more than square footage or a big umbrella, it is a space that they spend a lot of their lives in, raise their families and entertain friends. Their memories become part of it and it grows beyond simple enclosed square footage. It becomes a silent, subconscious repository of their daily life experiences.
They are aware of the way the morning light floods across their gardens and onto the breakfast table as they sit and have a cup of coffee. They are aware of how the quality of this light changes as the seasons change and their lives flow by. They maintain their homes and gardens even if their neighbors do not. They enjoy seeing the tree they planted as a twig grow up and bear fruit. When they sell their house, they are happy to see a young couple that reminds them of themselves when they were young buy it, and they hope the couple savors and maintains the home as well as they did.
These people are like little Old Ladies in the tiny houses that flabbergast and frustrate developers when they refuse to be bought out and that now are forced out through imminent domain condemnation of blighted areas. These people are the ones that buy an old boat and take pleasure in the experience of restoring it, keep it for a long time and become a bit attached to their new old friend in the process.
I would guess that a lot of Vega owners with nice boats fit in the Old Lady category. There are probably Pacific Seacraft, Cape Dory, Contessa, Trintella, and some Pearson guys in here as well.
Also in the Second School, are those fans of architecture and art. They see houses as sculptural works and a fully aware of the the dynamics of space light and functionality. These were always my favorite (and rarest) clients. To them remodeling or building a house is creating essentially a livable art form. They often have a "feel" for what they want, and it was satisfying to work with them to consolidate and refine their ideas into something that they love. Unfortunately the opposing emphasis on the lowest cost per square foot, the house should be built in 3 months mentality and the morass of building and zoning codes have made this style of house almost extinct except for those with patience and money.
I would guess these Second Schoolers would own a Sparkman and Stephens, Samuel Morse, Morris or old classic schooner.
So there you have it, the underlying motivation of why I felt compelled to make the wiseass shotcrete comment. As you can probably guess, I like to think of myself as in the Old Lady category.
As an Old Lady, it makes me a little sad to see the photos online of boats for sale that have been neglected or have had questionable work done on them. I really like Vegas, and once they start that slide down from being in good condition, it is a very slippery slope. Vegas in good condition are very cheap, so it doesn't make much sense to spend the time or money to rehabilitate one when you buy one in good condition, spend less money in the long run and sail it the next day. This fact eventually dooms all but a lucky few neglected or kluged Vegas to the bottom of the sea or a trash dump. A sad fate for a once loved boat.
Boats As Batteries
I guess another way to look at a boats and other things is to compare them to rechargeable batteries. You can either buy the battery and charger and then pay a bit here and there to recharge it as you use it and use it for long time or you can buy the rechargeable battery without a charger, use it up and then throw it away. The distilled version: Boat owners are either Battery Chargers or Battery Depleters.
I could expound on this but unfortunately, that would get me going on my "Cheap imported goods from countries with horrible working and environmental conditions have created a everything is disposable attitude and a view that actually working and producing or repairing tangible goods is a second rate despicable occupation only worthy of low pay" rant which would lead to my "entitlements are going to ruin the country" rant or my "I should be able to go through life with a buck over my head and still be safe because someone else should be responsible for my safety despite of what I do and I should be able to sue someone if something bad happens to me while I run around with a bucket on my head- is is ruining the country" rant.
Basically-you get the idea (no-the idea is not that I should be on medication, although I'm sure pharmaceutical companies would disagree), but this is supposed to be an Albin Vega forum and not a Tim's Wild Rants forum so I will leave it at that.
One of the nice things a bout the Vega group is that everyone gets along
whether their an Old Lady a future MacGregor owner or just a Battery Depleter. But I do have to
admit, it is hard for an Old Lady to behave at times....-Tim
