When Is The End Of Next Week????

The boat was taken to the shop in Aug. 2006 for repairs. Most of you know, we had a small accident due to not paying attention and getting into shallow water. The fact that happened is probably a good thing. It appears a previous owner had a worse accident and tore a whole in the bottom of the boat. Rather than fixing it properly, they elected to spot patch the damage & cover it over. We were given the option to so the same & sell the boat that way or invest way more money than we ever meant and repair it correctly. We could never knowingly sell someone a boat that is not properly repaired so we elect the later.
Since it is coming up on the end of boating season & will take a few weeks to repair the boat we agree there is no rush, as long as the boat is ready for the water by spring. Oh, yes, of course, says Mr. Boat Fixer Man. We, also, give up the slip at the Yacht Club, not wanting to pay out money for a slip that we cannot use. Jerry brings home the swim step, the bimini, and a few other pieces to get them all clean and ready to back on the boat.
Anyway, work is gradually begun and we pay a few hundred dollars, here and there. Around the end of Feb., he says the boat will be ready in a week or two.
In March we find that there are only two slips available at the Yacht Club so we arrange for the slip as of April first. More money, but the boat will be ready by the end of next week so that does not seem to be a problem.
Telephone calls are made to Mr. Boat Fixer Man to see how things are going. Oh, she should be ready by the end of next week. Oops, I guess we must have forgotten to specify which spring??? Remember a few entries ago I said I try to remember to be very specific about things? Well, I am not the one actually handling this deal, although I doubt it would have occurred to me to specify the spring of 2007.

Next week comes and goes. More calls made. I say calls because no one is answering the phone, and messages left on the answering machine get no response. We drive out almost weekly to check on the progress. No progress most of the time. Occasionally a little has been done here or there. Finally, contact is made, when will the boat be ready? I promise, by the end of next week. "We have had too much rain and have not been able to get the glassing done." Hmmmm, I know it rains in one spot and not another but this has been the driest, hottest spring and summer ever. Too bad some of that rain couldn't have landed in our yard.

We are now coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Yeah, she will be ready. We are now into month two of slip rental for a slip we can't use. I suggest to Jerry that he offer it to the family that live on the street in front of us, to use until we need it. They have a boat and Jerry found out the week before they keep it on the trailer in the safe zone at the Yacht Club. We figure it might be nice for them not to have to hook up & launch the boat every time they use it. The guy tells Jerry, that will be great because I need to do some repairs on the trailer and that would give me a way to get that done.

The couple uses the slip for a few weeks then go back to trailering their boat. Memorial Day weekend has come and gone. Time to pay another month of slip rental. Boat still not ready.......it will be ready by July 4th, I promise.

After driving over to the shop and finding no one working for several weeks there is a note posted on the door stating that due to the hot weather they will be in at 7:30pm. We go back that evening and sure enough they are there. Is anyone working on Me~n~You. Well, no. When Mr. Boat Fixer Man sees us pull up he comes out toward us and yells at me his usual "hello, darling." I do not like this familiar phrase but have put up with it until now. This time I respond with, "I am not your darling." With that he takes a step back and says something like, oh, okay. We have met half way between the boat & the truck. I do not know if I would have said anything or not but after his too friendly greeting and under the circumstances I confronted him. I started by asking how long the boat has been here. He says coming up on a year. I say, no we are past a year and this is ridiculous!!! I go over the fact that every time we talked to him he would say it would be ready, he would say the end of next week. He agrees, then starts giving excuses. I call him on each one he offers. Each time he agrees that I am right and he apologizes. I tell him he needs to learn how to prioritize. He admits he has a problem with that. I point out we have seen any number of boats come & go and our's still isn't near ready for the water. He agrees. I ask him to tell me the truth about when the boat will be in the water. He says he will have to think about that. *rolling eyes*. I also bring up the fact that he does not return our phone calls. Again, he agrees. That is another area that he has problems. (The thing is, he only seems to have that problem after he has the boat up on blocks and the engine out & all of the trim pieces in his shop. Previously, he either answered the calls or returned them if he was not available & a message was left).

Finally, he says I don't have to take this. Now is my time to agree, I tell him, "no you don't have to take it". He says we can take our boat somewhere else and be done. I say he knows we can't do that. He agrees then he walks off. Oh yeah, I forgot the part about him starting to walk off when I first start questioning him about things. I ask why he will not look at me. So he turns around and looks me in the face.
We leave with no answer as to when the boat will be ready. Jerry said that he noticed him look over and see his guys standing watching our conversation when he said he didn't have to take this. I found that amusing.

This afternoon we go over to get something out of the boat, not expecting anyone to be there however he is there. I stayed in the truck this time. Jerry goes to the boat & then into the shop and Mr. Boat Fixer Man comes out with him. They talk for a while as he shows Jerry some things on the boat. Jerry comes back to the truck and we leave. Jerry tells me what has been accomplished and said upon asking when, honestly the boat will be in the water, Mr. Boat Fixer Man, said the end of next week.
Does the end of next week ever come???? Not yet.........


(For those of you that don't know, this boat is an older boat that needs a lot of things done to it aesthetically, as well as electrically, and we know it is going to cost quite a bit to get it like we want it. We did not anticipate having this added expense. We could have a pretty nice ski boat in the slip that we have paid rent on since April (6 months now). (I fear, it is going to be a $100,000.00 boat by the time we finish, just kidding, sorta).