Over a 5 year period people around the marina have watched me restore every system in my Pearson 365 Ketch from derelict wreck to near Bristol condition. As a consequence I get asked to provide expert advise to boat owners who come to me describing all manner of boat problems.
So why is it that when I provide an explanation that may include mathematical computations, engineering drawings and ultimately a solution... they will immediately seek out a second opinion. And why is it that this second opinion is always the hands down winner?
I have some theories and in no particular order they may include one or more of the following:
A. They paid money for the second opinion.
B. It came from some boat salesman.
C. It's the answer they wanted to hear.
Case in point: The Universal Diesel in my friends Catalina 34 would always start at the dock. But when you would go to start it hot out in the middle of the ocean it would just groan. I know I was there. Which brings me to another "why is it?" As in, why is it after all the effort of ensuring that my vessel is completely seaworthy that I get stuck crewing on boats that should never have left the dock?
Well back to this C34. I'm suspect that I get invited to crew not because I'm a fine tactician but rather that they know they can press me into service as the onboard mechanic when their tub breaks down.
I analyzed the C34 and found that the starter battery was located some 15 feet electrically from the engine and that it was wired with AWG #2 which was by now hot and smoking. Thank God for that compression release on the Universal.
My advice was either collocate the start battery with the motor, where it belongs, and leave the #2 in place for nothing more than charging house batteries or rewire with at least 1/0 cable. I did all the math, referenced the ABYC wire chart, etc. Showed how with #2 the voltage at the starter was down around 10 volts.
In the end the guy went with the second opinion which came from a boat salesman who claimed he could solve the problem for $200 by rebuilding the starter.
Ultimately this boat owner chose what I called the panacea. Good Luck to ye, Matey.
Pete, still restoring old hull #6
Pete,
I have found that people are seeking an opinion that reaffirms their perceived solution to the issue at hand and they are asking around, "polling", for that reaffirmation. The other likely possibility is what you already mentioned, they will accept the paid-for answer. Also, your explanation might have (probably had) gone way over their ability to comprehend what you explained; therefore, they thought you were full of sh*t.
Perhaps they invite you sailing because they like your company? ;)
My favorite theory is that they wear a cool looking polo shirt with an emblem, instead of a grease stained set of coveralls. After all, you wouldn't want to contaminate the your pet theory with contact with real boats.
One of the issues that the ABYC code is that it actually makes a lot of sense, and people like you at least use it as a guide for how things should be done, but it is not always the cheap way to go. I had all sorts of "experts" in the boat yard tell me how to do our through hulls. I'm really glad I researched it here, and in the ABYC code, because if I had listened, We would have spent a lot of time and money on substandard stuff. Things like tapered threads onto pipe threads, brass fittings into bronze, the skupper hose through hulls would still be 1981 vintage plastic, and on and on.
Similar here. If I have time or if they appear truly interested I explain that I am an expert only in my boat and that I will tell them what I know. I do not invest myself in whether they act on my information or not. As I have gotten older, my patience level has gotten much better and my value to myself and my immediate friends is not based on what I know or what I have done. I have also learned to talk a lot less.
My interesting anecdote is that my son, after hearing information he requested from me, usually did what some dock-lounger spouted off to him. Well, we all need to learn someway...his method had a lot of false starts and wasted money.
Patience and compassion...God grant me more!
Amen to all of the above. Been doing this stuff for 45 years, know a lot, (but still not much), but the local EXPERTS usually have 5 years experience with one boat. I mostly keep my mouth shut and watch. But when asked I usually offer advice and often then encounter an argument. I'll probably never learn. Still, it is hard to watch fools set their hair on fire time after time. Jim
Pete,
I wrote a response late last evening but after reading it over, I deleted it. The new morning gives me another look and a better response. Unfortunately, the more I think about it the more I am heading back to the same line of thought. The question you asked is one of the main reasons I left the corporate world behind and walked away from engineering.
There are a lot of educated people out there but there are very very few that are actually knowledgeable. Knowledgeable people typically have several things in common. One is that they have made way more mistakes than the average person. Another is that they were not afraid to make those mistakes. The most important trait is that they learned from those mistakes. Additionally, knowledgeable successful people are typically persistent where many of the others are just stubborn.
That being said, I have worked for many companies full of educated people but most were without knowledge. Many just did not understand. Worse yet they didn't know what they didn't know, but they were sure quick to apply their educated opinions. When given a directive I disagreed with, I would provide data and documentation supporting and proposing a modified direction. The typical response was that I was not a team player or I was not supportive of the collective goals. If it got to the point where I simple stated that their proposal would not work, I was told it would not work because I had a negative attitude or it would not work because I didn't want it to work.
After years of swimming up stream, I began to take a different approach. When handed a project with a built in flaw, I stated my observation/objection and then simply instituted their plan. When it failed I was told that I sabotaged the project. I was told I was incompetent.
As live advances I have learned a very valuable lesson. A life lesson that will indeed provide people like you satisfaction and ultimate happiness. Low expectations. Yes... the secret to life is having low expectations. You see, many of us have been taught that to be successful in life we must get a good education, secure a good job, work hard apply ourselves and climb the corporate ladder. Not. Others especially today believe that they are entitled to what someone else has and that the government will provide everything for them. They will find soon that this is false as well. The difference is they will starve to death.
If you start each day with the expectation that nothing good will happen that day, that there will be no good news and that evil will triumph over good, you will not be disappointed. Do not expect to get ahead with hard work. Do not expect knowing the answer is enough. Do not expect that what you took the time to learn and understand will have any value. Do not expect that every good deed goes unpunished. Do not expect someone will appreciate you solving their problem. Do not expect that anyone in any position (especially government) has the ability or desire to do the job.
Here is an example. You head out for a nice meal. You are famished. You can't wait to dive in to a wonderful meal surrounded by a relaxing atmosphere. This is going to be great! You arrive, there is no place to park. There is a 30 minute wait and no chairs to wait in. You are called to your table at the 45 min mark. Three out of four legs are short and the table wobbles. The AC vent is directly over you and it is dripping ice water. They are out of the daily specials one by one and you missed the lunch prices by 10 minutes. Both forks have bent prongs from the previous all you can eat crab leg night and the table is sticky.
The three tables that came in after you get waited on before you. You quickly discover there is an adjacent table of loud inebriated bowlers next to you. You place your order to a wait person that writes nothing down while playing with their noise rings. The three tables ahead of you leave before you get your food. It is not what you ordered. It does not taste good. It did come with onions after all. It is cold. Your wait person asks how everything is only when you have a full mouth. You cut your losses. The cashier can not make change after you hand them the 3 cents. You can't get back in your car because someone parked too close. On the drive home while walking with a gas can in your hand, your insides start to rumble as you turn gray. Had you gone there anticipating all of those bad things were to happen, you would have been thrilled to find out while leaving the tooth picks were free!
If you modify your thinking to this level you will be far less aggravated and thus happier. Once this change in expectation happens, if even the smallest good thing that occurs will be exceedingly positive. They say it is life's little things that bring the greatest joy, I would argue this is what they have been talking about.
Dale
Dale,
I can certainly feel your pain with the engineering career. I started my career as a self made bench tech. 12 years of night school earned me a BS degree only to find out that without Graduate degree from an Ivy league school I was not going to go far at least not in north east. Then moving out west ahead of the high tech dot com bubble days, I was among the Steve Jobs style of entrepreneurs that did not value any degrees so much anymore (dooh). So, I started my own startup 20 years ago and invented a new style of radio receiver and published a few papers. Today this technology is at the heart of several 3/4 $billion doll ar patent infringement law suits. Although my work predates the patents by 10 years and I am referenced in modern engineering books on wide band receiver design, my only reward was to be deposed and humiliated in a court of law by a panel of the same New England PHDs. To give you an idea of the scope, I figure If I could get a penny for every smartphone manufactured past and future I would be filthy rich. So I have issues too.( Any IP lawyers out there that think they can monetize my existing shop rights, I'm all ears. )
But after 35 years of sitting in conference rooms listening to my windbag colleagues attempt to prove how much smarter than me they were, I called it quits too. So now we are both applying our skill sets to old boats. And all I can say is old boats need people like us. Because old boats are loosing this battle.
Out where I am at any time there are at least 20 sailboats I could acquire simply by agreeing to pay a few months past slip rent. My Pearson 365 was destined for the chain saw when I took it on. After changing the locks to keep the homeless squatters out, it took on a huge commitment of time and mostly money.
Meanwhile I walk the docks watching some real gems of classic and famous sailboats slowly disintegrate. The 41 foot Kettenburgh or that beautiful 41 foot Ericson (hull #1, that ran the Newport to Bermuda race in the 1960's) Boats who's owners are not able or willing to maintain these boats and may be on the verge of just walking away. I tell them what they need to do but they don't do it and I know without the right owner that boat is just doomed. So I'm frustrated by that.
Then there are these Pearson 365 owners keeping a dream alive and I find inspiration from the folks on this blog. So thanks to you all.
Regards,
Pete, still working on old hull #6
Just remember Pete, once you have explained how an electric fence works, if they still insist in peeing on it, you can still have fun watching the result😄