An investment in enjoyment – regular boat maintenance pays dividends
By Andy Adams
It has always been important to have a marina that can provide good service, but in the madness that was the summer of 2020, getting great service was really essential to a great boating experience.
There are many marinas offering excellent service, but we have heard a lot of good things about Queen’s Cove Marina in Victoria Harbour on Georgian Bay. To get a first-hand sense of the market, we scheduled an interview with owner/operator John Swick last August 18, 2020. John is also the current President at the Boating Ontario association, so in that capacity, he is also well-connected to what’s happening at marinas all across the Province, and even nationally.
During a previous visit, we had learned how Queen’s Cove Marina encourages owners to keep up their boat with programs like their Spring Compound and Wax program. They provide boat owners with incentives but also, they emphasize pride of ownership and the value of keeping up the appearance of their boat.
Especially in the hot boating market that COVID-19 stimulated, I wanted to explore the cost-value relationship of maintenance and also, to learn more about how COVID-19 was affecting the business at Queen’s Cove.
John Swick of Queen’s Cove sits by the marina’s pool talking to Andy Adams from Canadian Yachting.
John told us that in 2020, COVID restrictions pushed the season back 60 to 90 days, so while typically the end of August should be slower, it was not last summer. The 2020 weather was also excellent and business remained steady. When we talked last August, John explained that initially the business was negatively affected by COVID-19 and he speculated then, that the year could wind up being down perhaps 10%. When we spoke again in February 2021 to update this story, the final results were ahead of the previous year. And, things have not slowed down.
Boating is an ideal recreational activity in the era of COVID-19 and again this year, there are few new boats left to buy. In our discussions, John emphasized that there is a perception that boat owners are only wealthy people, but in fact there are many regular folks with fishing boats, ordinary families with older trailer boats, retired couples and DIY owners with older keel boats and cruisers. John notes that it is not just the “1%ers” buying boats, although those are a growing segment.
People from all walks of life are attracted to boating and there is a market for almost every boat. John thinks that these fundamental market changes will hold for at least a while and insightfully last August, he commented that the virus mutates so fast, we have to expect a longer run for COVID.
The Spring Compound and Wax program is emblematic of the pride of ownership aspect where the idea is to spend a little on maintenance each year, to avoid paying a big bill at some point in the future. The Queen’s Cove program is to educate the boaters to understand that concept. It has been working well. Now, customers call ahead of time to book winter work and there is no downtime at Queen’s Cove. They offer a significant discount to encourage winter work and now the shop is booked year ‘round.
This technician is working on a sailboat rudder that had water inside and split during the winter. The foam core had to be removed they had to create a jig to redo it. This was a $4000 job on a Catalina 26, but the boat is not made anymore and you can’t sail it, or sell it without a rudder.
It’s no longer a seasonal business and even the yard workers are busy 12-months a year. With full-time employment, the marina has become a real career choice and John Swick is supporting his people to cross train for winter work and more varied tasks.
Last winter two of their yard staff took the ABYC Marine Systems course and introduction to Marine Electronics. John has found that it is better all round to hire good people and help them build their careers. Their fibreglass technicians have all done the West System courses in Michigan for repair work and fabrication as well as other manufacturer specific training. It is a big cost and an investment of time, but John sees the advantages and this year, with the rise in online education, his people have had an easier time increasing their skills.
We talked about the types of repairs that people were looking for. Painting is a big one and the marina is investing in that area for both maintenance and restoration. A great-looking boat is simply worth a lot more to enjoy or to sell. Another thing John shared was that last summer, Queen’s Cove was getting more impact damage because people were getting out and boating more. That raises the odds of a mishap. The abundance of new boaters was probably a factor as well.
The dark circle on the side of this older keel boat was not a port hole – it was just a C&C 30 which got holed in one side!
Another interesting thing that John saw last year was that people who previously used their boat mostly as a cottage, were going boating, leaving the marina more often. Fuel prices were very reasonable and that may hold for this year too.
Again, this spring there are few brokerage boats available for would-be buyers, but there is a big demand. Some will be disappointed, but for those who already have a boat, or who might settle for a brokerage boat that lacks features there were looking for, doing some upgrades can make sense.
An example of an upgrade might be a new windlass, or a replacement for the old one. Some people upgrade their electronics, audio systems, install swim platform extensions, or invest in new thrusters to make docking easier.
These are jobs that would normally be done over the winter, but any time might be a good time in this market. If adding bow and stern thrusters make it possible to dock your old boat more easily, the cost might make good sense.
They even had an old StarCraft come to Queen’s Cove. The owners’ home marina couldn’t get the work done that season.
People are starting to view the price value relationship differently now. For example: a re-power is like buying the boat again, but If you see the cost of a new boat, it makes sense. The same is true in the cottage boat market as more and more people are re-powering. Queen’s Cove recently re-powered a 24-foot Limestone and an older Chris-Craft by Grew. Such a boat may only be worth $30,000, but a new one would be $150,000, so a $35,000 repowering job may be a much better investment.
We also wanted to ask; how do people pay for this?
John said that financing or using a line of credit are two ways to manage major expenses. For example, new windows could be $6000 and that could just go on your credit card. A generator job is a big investment at $20-$25,000. When you need one, it is usually not a surprise, so plan for it.
This older Chris Craft cruiser was irreplaceable last summer and so it got remanufactured motors and a new lease on life.
Experienced and dedicated boaters come from all walks of life, with annual “boating budgets” from the low four figures to high five figures. The point is that a solid program of yearly maintenance will be cost effective overtime.
John concluded by reminding us that boating is still a safe and very enjoyable activity, vaccines are now rolling out and nice weather is here now. Your boat can be an investment in enjoyment and regular boat maintenance pays dividends, especially in a year when new boats are scarce and repair shops are already busy.
