Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Two Seasons
Welcome to the 2023 Coastal Fisherman season. Unlike the traditional year with four distinct seasons, it seems that the fishing year has only two seasons, fishing or not- fishing. For fishing boat owners, the non-fishing season is often marked as a time reserved for boat maintenance, upgrades, and re-fits. For tournament sportfishing boats, this off-season may be only a few weeks of time and for boats remaining in winter climates, this off-season could be 4-6 months.
Whichever group you belong to, the maintenance season is just as important to the success of the fishing season as are rods, reels, and bait. As part of my job, I witness behind-the-scenes efforts by boat owners and crews maintaining their boats in their off season or boatyard time. This necessary work often goes unnoticed by guests and anglers. I often jokingly ask the DIY boat owner, while on their back in the gravel on a cold day in March, painting the bottom of the boat - “where are all those anglers I saw last summer hanging out on your boat”. In all honesty, it takes a diligent owner or Captain to keep track of the off-season tasks, priorities, and schedules to prepare for the fishing boat to re-enter service on time and on budget. This doesn’t just apply to a large sportfish in a boatyard, the same holds true for a center console on a trailer.
Priorities
The off-season or boatyard time is a precious break in the fishing calendar and this time needs to be managed properly to be effective.
There is often a daily cost associated with the boat’s off-season storage and often a deadline to get the boat out of storage without additional costs. In our area, most marinas haul larger boats off the water for the winter season, they nest them as tight as possible to maximize storage space, but this usually means a strict first-out, last-in schedule. If your boat isn’t ready to go back into the water on the marina’s schedule, it needs to be relocated for the marina to get to the other boats “behind” yours. This relocation and associated additional daily storage cost is significant and can cut into your budgeted costs.
While you don’t need to go back to school to manage your boat, understanding project management and using a tool such as a Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) Chart or similar could be helpful in allowing you to stay on target for your launch date. In project management, PERT chart is used to identify the time it takes to finish a particular task or activity. It is a system that helps in the proper scheduling and coordination of all tasks throughout a project. It also helps in keeping track of the progress, or lack thereof, of the overall project. The biggest mistake I often see is that priorities aren’t always made for the tasks that must be accomplished while the boat is out of the water versus projects that could be completed once the boat is back in the water. In the Mid Atlantic area, the weather doesn’t always cooperate with planned boat work schedules, so some flexibility and back-up plans need to be prepared to help keep your boat on schedule to go back into the water.
Ask for Help Sooner than Later
The other factor affecting schedules is the availability of parts and service labor for tasks you hire out. The marine service industry is still backlogged, with some providers months out to schedule new work.
Not all the suppliers have caught up from shortages of years past, so getting that part or component can delay your schedule or could cost more than you have budgeted.
The complexities of a boat- mechanical, electrical, and structural can be overwhelming at times, especially when there is a problem. When an issue arises, it’s not always easy to determine if you have a big problem or small problem. If you are not sure if it’s a DIY project or requires outside help, it’s best to consult with a professional as soon as possible – to determine the best path to get your boat back into shape.
Just recently I worked with a boat owner, who had owned a used boat for a few years and had been battling strange electrical problems ever since, where all his electronics and accessories would suddenly shut off (or wouldn’t turn on) due to low voltage. The owner had been working on solving this himself, replaced batteries, battery chargers, had the alternators checked, replaced battery switches etc. He finally “gave up” and called me, I was able to locate the problem rather quickly, finding a single main fuse that had broken (not burned out) and was sometimes loose inside the fuse case, causing an intermittent connection and or low voltage. This wasn’t readily visible or apparent to the owner and since it was intermittent, every time he checked the fuse – it tested good. He was relieved it was not an expensive fix and wished he had asked for help sooner.
Taking the time during the offseason to tackle the critical items or projects will allow you to have a more reliable and safer fishing season. While this offseason work isn’t all doom and gloom, with proper planning most boats get their work completed and get back into the fishing season on time. §
