Marine Repair Biz....

[JustJason]

Anybody here in it? Working for yourselves, a dealer, or a yard?

Spring is a month away up here in Mass.... and that means work is a month away. (aside from the 12+ inches of snow were getting over the next 2 days)

The question is... how to all of you in the biz feel about business this year?

Do you feel you'll be busy, or do you feel you'd be better off fixing GM's and Fords and weedwhackers?

I'm still teetering on leasing a building up here for the year, or just cutting and running to someplace between N. Carolina to Florida and doing it down there.

I know most people are down with everything. But with the stock market tanking over the winter months, Does anybody think the wealthier clientel (whom are typically heavily invested) will still spend money on their boats?

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Down here in South Florida the Repo men are super busy, and will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future. They are entering /sneaking into the marinas daily to seize all types of boats, yachts, cruisers, any boat that the banks need to have repossessed due to default.
Having said that. There will still remain plenty of work for the marine services in this area. Established business of this kind have the tendency to get most of the jobs. The locals either do the work themselves or they take their boats to "joe" that does this for a living on the side.
A lot of the smaller marine repair shops will make you wait a long time before servicing a newcomers boat, they take care of their regulars first, which is understandable, afterall loyalty is the lifeline especially in the marine service business.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

The way I see it, if current trends continue or if things even stay at this level for some time, a lot of 'dealers' will be going under.

For many servicing dealers, repair is but a small part of their total revenue. Profit from service will most likely not be sufficient to keep their doors open. It seems to me that if my scenario is fulfilled, their will be a lot of experienced mechanics who will try to go it alone.

The competition could be rough for a newbie.

 

[mscher]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

I know most people are down with everything. But with the stock market tanking over the winter months, Does anybody think the wealthier clientel (whom are typically heavily invested) will still spend money on their boats?

My friend's boss has recently start wringing his hands about costs and what money is being on ( my friend is his personal grounds keeper and goto guy). Never has mentioned money before and spent plenty on (ex)wives and girlfriends, plus his mulitple development properties.

This guy is at least a multi millionaire, possibly a billionaire, or maybe at least was.

I'm not in the marine business, but frankly I can't think of a riskier business, to start in 2009. Maybe a RV dealership?

Many of the rich are no longer that, so they will be watching their pennies, if they are truely that smart.

Maybe starting part time and offering on site service, when possible might let you test the waters. Good luck with whaterver you decide.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Go to Alaska, they always need people that know their stuff to work on boats.

You know diesels they need people to work on trucks.

Whats the difference, on what machine your working on. As long as your making a buck.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Whats the difference, on what machine your working on. As long as your making a buck.

exactly my point. good catch cheif. It's that if I do sign a lease on a building I want to stay as focused as possible. I don't want to even try to play the game of fixing every sterndrive and every IO from every manufactorer. And if business is slow I don't want to be fixing lawnmowers and weedwackers unless the marine repair doesn't take off.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Ok from my heart this ain't the time to be starting a boat business of any kind.

And trucks they are laid up, also over the road truckers are all out of business also.

Trains are the way they are moving freight nowadays.

I wasn't kidding when i posted for you to go to Alaska.

You know diesel's ? You can always get work up there.

You can sign on a cruise ship. They need diesel mechanics.

How old are you join the Navy, you like boats so much they need mechanics also.

See the world join the Navy.

 

[Johnshan1]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Interesting that you post this, I placed a similar add today to try to make some extra bucks. I focused on marine electrical, as that is sort of an area of my career- I am a licensed electrician and deal with project management and anything electrical you can imagine- from substations to vanity lights. I am curious to see if I get any response- you never know till you try.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

I was in the local shop three weeks ago getting an impeller. They said they had work lined up through March.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

From what I've been hearing it appears that the economy may just be starting to see a flicker from the light at the end of the tunnel. I read an article by a big financial geek which said you can see what's going on by looking at the bond markets, and he claimed the bond markets were showing signs of stability.

Other than listening to financial geeks, we're so busy where I work that we just got the go ahead from our main office to hire three people.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: Marine Repair Biz....

Interesting that you post this, I placed a similar add today to try to make some extra bucks. I focused on marine electrical, as that is sort of an area of my career- I am a licensed electrician and deal with project management and anything electrical you can imagine- from substations to vanity lights. I am curious to see if I get any response- you never know till you try.

Your type of expertise is and always will be in demand, pending your location no doubt. The services that you offer presents high risks and ultimately is less cost effective to be subcontracted offshore.
A very good example is the disasterous results already experienced by certain commercial airline carriers cost cutting efforts. In their overly zealous attempts to boost shareholders investments and deliver exorbitant bonuses within their respective upper echelon.