Don’t Be A Bunghole, Please Be Kind.

Ineeda will tell you like it is! She ain’t taking any of your crap!

Over the past months as we have sat at home, lost work and been dealing with the world upside down, we have been going through a mental process. The same as the process of loss and grief. Here are the stages. ( It is important to note that we all don’t go through these stages at the same rate or sequence.)

1. Denial and isolation.

2. Anger.

3. Bargaining.

4. Depression.

5. Acceptance.

Parts for our boats are hard to find, and getting harder and harder to find.

I set this up because after speaking with many suppliers, restorers and fellow business folks, it’s getting nasty out there. Like I quit this business nasty. And if that happens, who will help us? WE ARE ALL! ALL! ALL! in this together. Yes, this boat together. There I said it. UGH..

It’s not like parts are being made at the factory. They are all over the place and sometimes an old part needs to be rebuilt or adapted.

Customers are being nasty and not respectful of how our suppliers are trying to also cope with all this crap. Our suppliers of stuff are 99% small businesses that are all linked together with people helping people, not heartless business’s helping Wall Street. Our business’s are struggling to keep up, find stuff and deal with delivery of stuff. Hell, even Amazon is taking more time to deal with stuff. It’s in all business. My neighbor is a partner in a pool company and they are triple the demand. TRIPLE! So guess what, people are pissed off.

We are so used to clicking and the next day some appears, or going to the local store and getting something off a shelf. That isn’t the way our passion works anymore. Part of the fun is finding the part. Enjoy that part.

Please, see the world through the eyes of your fellow man. Try and imagine how they are doing, you may be surprised how they are dealing with all this. In our community, we all want our boats done NOW, we all want to go out, we all want to go to boat shows and be around each other.

Way to go! The Antique Boat Museum is showing us all how it can be done. The museum despite all this crap, has really risen to the task, with charm, wit, and fun.

There will be events, but reimagined, we will wear masks, gloves and stay 6 ft apart. Keep the politics out of it. And know, we will get through this with kindness, respect and being open to each others lives. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go make a water pump out of tooth picks and rubber bands. Hey, don’t judge. They are vintage tooth picks!