"More than half of marine industry unemployed"

Should be interesting to see how many are willing to go back into the business. On eastern Long Island mechanics and detailers have been hard to find for the last 2 years or so. This summer all I can say is 'Don't break down and get used to that dirty look'. DK any F/T captains. Since these jobs were seasonal to begin with I don't see anybody waiting around for the industry to recover nor giving up any F/T gig they happen to find in the mean time.

In South Florida it's kind of a good thing the marine industry has slowed down in some ways. A lot of the people in the marine industry that were crooks, took deposits and never did the work, did sub-par work, or ripped people off are getting weeded out and not able to find any work. The ones that do great work for a fair price are a bit slower, but have enough business to keep afloat and weather the storm. So down here it seems to be weeding out all of the people in the industry that were not good.......

I've been busy, but not with as much higher paying work and a lot more lower paying work......washdowns, polishing S.S. versus mechanical work and deliveries.......

I've also noticed the newer yacht owners getting in, don't have the morals and are as good of guys as the old owners have been....... they haggle with the price etc. etc.....

Rodriguez Group suspends Share Sales

Hi,

Just came across this info:

http://www.rodriguezgroup.com/en/finance/communiques.asp

...also it appears that they are, per the link, in the French version of Chapter 11.

i read that article, i'm not really sure what it means. I dont know if it is a version of chapter 11 or if its a nice loophole to be able to delay things for people to get their affairs in order. To me, the article reads as if they do not currently have the money to complete the yachts they have in build, so they are 're-financing' so they can get these projects finished.

Sounds like some owner/educating might be in order. I recently told my main client (who's opinion I greatly respect) that I was thinking about lowering my rate because of the economy. He strongly recommended against it (even though it would have saved him money). He pointed out that: 1) there will be fewer jobs available meaning workers without a following will have to leave the industry, but that owners remaining in yachting are the ones who are doing OK and they can afford to pay. 2) that there are only going to be X number of jobs to be had and lowering our rates won't increase the number of days we work. We'll just get less money for it. In fact it may have the opposite of the desired effect as we'll protray ourselves as cute-rate and therefore less desireable, and 3) if we lower our rate it will lag behind long after the economy recovers even as the cost of living continues to increase.

That's a pretty accurate description of Chapter 11.

The half of me thats still working is doing the work of both halves. However, neither half is getting a pay check.

Work without a paycheck is play. Hope your having fun. A lot of us have already left this industry and a lot more won't be in this business a few months from now. My season is just starting. Every year I wonder if my phone will ring and it does. This year, we'll see. DK what else I'd do, but I don't do this for fun and I don't work for free.

I wouldn't call it play, but I'm still trying to get paid for Jan & Feb's work. Also looking for new clients.