PassageMaker - January/February 2012

The Cruising Yacht Specialists What does it take to own a boat?

Black Douglas Class - 94 foot luxury yacht

The obvious answers: First you have to want one. Second (to the chagrin of many) you have to be able to afford it. Third, you have to learn to operate and maintain it. Finally fourth, you and those around you have to love all of the above.

Those are the basic answers. Yet those don’t really account for all the folks needed to make it happen. Whether the boat is custom, a standard or even a used model, it takes many people to make it happen and more folks for support over the years. Someone has to design it, but the designer is only the tip of the spear. The construction of every boat from small to huge takes the talents and efforts of dozens, hundreds or even thousands of artisans and craftsmen. It’s an amalgam of more than the builder’s employees. There are the manufacturers of all the parts, equipment, and materials. That’s a small army of foundrymen, chemical workers, and parts and machinery assemblers large and small.

But once built it’s not over. That dreamboat has to be transported and over its lifetime requires the help of parts stores and service providers. Then there are marinas, insurance companies, brokers, lending companies and more.

But what infuriates me is the assumption that someone should NOT buy a boat and enjoy the fruits of their success. Yes, they get to enjoy something many of us cannot, but in doing so they provide a livelihood for hundreds more of the rest of us. I am ecstatic when someone buys a new boat, airplane, RV or whatever. I’m infuriated when such goals are impugned. The ability to buy what you want and not simply what you need IS what makes this country great. Boats, airplanes and other such goods may be luxuries, but they put this economy to work.

But then that’s just my opinion.

The Cruising Yacht
Specialists
CHARLES NEVILLE associates
Naval Architects
223 Broadway, Centreville, MD 21617
tel: 410 758-1891 • fax: 410 758-3724
www.nevilleboats.com • e-mail: chuck@nevilleboats.com

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