----- Original Message -----
From: Arild Jensen
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 5:28 PM
To: trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com
Subject: TWL: Consumerism and obsolescence ( was: Trace Inverter Support)

"...Steven Popular Mechanics  ran an interesting  special section this month.
It  focused on  buying a well used 1986 Chevy truck in terrible condition
and refurbishing it to like new condition.
The two part series describes the steps involved in  a complete overhaul.
The end result will be a like new vehicle,  but at considerably lower
cost...."
I remember reading somewhere that if you build a car from spare parts (and pay
the going spare parts prices) the cost of the resulting vehicle will be a high
multiple of the new car price. Interesting how Popular Mechanics intends to
overhaul that Chevy truck in terrible condition and come in at a lower cost
than new.
Al Kirsinas
Norland
LA CA

I remember reading somewhere that if you build a car from spare parts (and
pay
the going spare parts prices) the cost of the resulting vehicle will be a
high
multiple of the new car price. Interesting how Popular Mechanics intends to
overhaul that Chevy truck in terrible condition and come in at a lower cost
than new.
Al Kirsinas

REPLY

Yeah I heard that too.  I even built a few hot rods that way.
In the case of the PM  article they were using after market products not GM
parts.

Now were they "restoring" the truck but rebuilding it functionally.
It will be interesting to see their cost breakdown in part two.

BTW
Similar conditions  would prevail in the marine world.
If you bought everything at West Marine and  had all your work done at the
most prestigious yard in Florida or Seattle, then naturally your cost may
equal or exceed a brand new boat.

But,  we have already seen several list members  who have bought old boats
and  refurbished them and  the results seem worth while.
So  it remains to be seen if  the notion is viable.

cheers

Arild

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Several private posts got me thinking.

Perhaps I had better elaborate on what prompted my earlier posting.

Someone recently asked about extending their hull by about six or seven
feet.
There used to be many yards in Florida who did this kind of thing.
When the luxury tax on boats over a certain size  caused a mini recession in
the marine industry many of these yards  either closed up or greatly reduced
their size and staff. The  skilled labor force was scattered and that
specialized  knowledge lost.

In the past two years  I have seen several yards close down when the work
was sent overseas.
The skilled workers  are scattered all over.  Since several yards closed
down almost at the same time, many of these workers were forced to seek
employment in other fields. Again the hard won skills  are now lost to the
industry.

When someone wants  major work done  to their boat, where do they go?
It used  to be there were any number of yards  with the skill to build a
boat from start to finish.
Their workforce could equally well repair something or  build it new.
Such yards are  becoming scarce.
When we  choose lowest price and buy from an offshore manufacturer we are
also  in effect depleting our own  domestic capability to  do such work at
home.

When we  choose to buy any manufactured goods built  offshore, we diminish
our own domestic ability to manufacture things and eventually we will
completely lose the ability  to even design such things, let alone
manufacture them.

Last year I had occasion to call up Woods Freeman in Seattle regarding a
part for a 35 year old autopilot.
Well, we still make it and the parts are available. What would you like?
Isn't that a wonderful thing to hear when you call about spare parts.

Increasingly we are more apt to hear.
"sorry we discontinued that  model a couple of years ago and parts are no
longer available.
Yes we did introduce it about four years ago but we now have a  better idea.
Can we interest you in buying our newer super duper model. It only cost $$$.
Never mind that the new unit  has a completely new footprint, the  in and
out feeds are reversed from before and  everything has changed in size.

That seem to be the inevitable spin off from a global economy.
Is it really worth it or should we focus more on supporting  local and
domestic businesses which actually manufacture products at home?

When one of my customers bought a 1965 vintage boat four years ago he
replaced the house battery.
The guy who  did the replacement work  was  surprised to discover that the
original 32V bank  was one he himself had built  as an apprentice  many
years ago.
This battery bank consist of quantity 16  2V cells each  as big as an L16
golf cart battery. They were actually hand made and lasted a couple of
decades.
Admittedly it cost Cdn $4000  but  with such a life span,  is it really more
expensive than  the cheap stuff that only last six years or less.

Isn't it nice to  call on a company you last  did business with four or six
years ago and the same staff are still there and remember the product you
need. a part for.

Cheers

Arild

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