I took a job to do a boom cover for a co-worker of my brothers and he has turned out to be a very particular person.
So he bad mouthed me when the cover wasn't right. My brother explained it's had to work off an old cover and that I never even saw the boat. So, I also re-learned a valuable lesson, never try to make a new cover from an old one. Even a boom cover..!!!!
So now I am getting it back to alter it, which I don't mind too much this time. But if he is still not happy I am going to offer his money back and chalk it up to lesson re-learned. The reason I metioned this is because I never had a cover come back on me and I have done quite a few over the years. This sucks worse because it's my brothers co-worker so I guess yet another lesson learned, deal first hand with your customer.
Anyone get into a job and wish they could get out...?? And how did you finally get out...??
Ive got one ed im still with i tell later tonight. even thiugh im paid i like a satified guy.
Rite now im taking a. Reak from the heat i though i eas going to pass out earlier.
I seem to have regrets with most sail boat jobs. :-X
Yeah, I forgot, some sailboaters have very bad reputations for being difficult and dare I say cheap...
My experience is they get the wind for free and want everything else the same way!
Quote from: west coast on June 19, 2013, 05:54:14 pm
My experience is they get the wind for free and want everything else the same way!
Awesome and true quote. :)
Chris
ok I had this guy wanted tops on this pontoon 20' of shade . I had to run a wire in the rear frame for a anchor light and stupid me when I was done it was on the wrong side , the guy said no worries he will rerun the wire on the boat. but apparently he though the could turn the top and when he took the rear top off he didn't like the frames spring tension. so he asked me to remove the tension and bend the corners of the frames more so the top laid straight. now I was already paid in full but ok not thinking and I had never done this to a great fitting top re-bent the corners so they were so sprung.
with the tension on the frame it also pushed the top up tight but now the top was loose and didn't fit properly . so I agreed to remake the tops not just butcher the current top to make a happy customer. I could say too bad im paid but that would be bad karma , last week I found at least a $100 left in a atm I turned in in to the bank call me a sucker but I try to do the right thing
Quote from: Highvelocity on June 19, 2013, 06:57:17 am
Anyone get into a job and wish they could get out...?? And how did you finally get out...??
[/quote]
Yes, a few times. It's tempting to throw your hands up in desperation and just give them a refund and be done with them, but I find that personally I feel better when I try to make it right.
And usually after sleeping on it, it all works out in the end.
I just remebered 1 i did ealk on. A pomtoon full cover.
I had it all complete and installed.
He didnt like it.
At all
So tue best complaint he could find was he disnt loke how the cover scolloped at each snap from the tauntness from the support poles. It wasnt nice and perfectly straight like it was sheetmetal.
Mi said i could add a snap betwen. Each existing snap that was a out 11". Apart
No he did t like it at all make it over. So i took the canvas and left.
I'm sure we all hate to be that way Mike. But sometimes people have an agenda to wear you down and get things cheaper maybe. I for one would have done the same thing. Took my cover and run. And if this alteration isn't satisfactory I will be taking my cover back and giving a full refund...and I will chalk it up to a lesson learned. But I will make very effort to make to alterations the best I can...
Quote from: jojo on June 19, 2013, 08:15:00 pm
Quote from: Highvelocity on June 19, 2013, 06:57:17 am
Anyone get into a job and wish they could get out...?? And how did you finally get out...??
Yes, a few times. It's tempting to throw your hands up in desperation and just give them a refund and be done with them, but I find that personally I feel better when I try to make it right.
And usually after sleeping on it, it all works out in the end.
[/quote]
I always had a hard time saying no. But it got easier to say no to the customer then face the wrath of my wife. I learned it was safer to tell the customer Nope, cannot do it sorry.
There were threats made to me about taking on anymore main patio awnings and I learned my lesson. I think the easiest way is to be honest and up front and refund their money and tell them to take a hike.
Chris
Do you ll ever know before when your contracting the job that the custoner dont feel right and that you should leave.
I have and wish i never took the job. Theese 2 were but ive had others also that worked out in the end.
But i can feel like why did i ever awnser the phone.
Recently i had a call from someone over a hundred miles away to do a boomcover for the same boat I have. He had heard of me thru a mutual friend who has same model also. I said I couldnt make the trek to pattern just a boomcover and he talked me into using my boat to pattern. When he went to install it was 3 inches short of covering the boom and too tight to fasten toward center. I made it extra loose to start with and sent him a pic of it installed on my boom. Now he said he would pay for me to alter it, but hes still a hundred miles away and how do I know i will get it right the second time? When will I ever learn not to build something without patterning it myself?
Forsail,
That is it, you nailed it. Sometimes you have to get pinched more than once. I made the alterations over the weekend and I will be returning the cover this Wednesday. I hope very much that he is happy with it and this can be over with....
Then I'm going the wright all over the walls of my shop, don't take a job without laying it out myself...!! Second hand info will never workout right..!!
I had a guy actually ask me to make Strataglass enclosure panels from his measurements and patterns. Said he was really "hands on". I said (in an incredulous voice) "no freakin' way!"
June
hiya
jobs go wrong , i get about 1 a year. Its how you deal with it that counts. if the guy asked you to copy a cover and the new one is a fair copy of the old one I'd say its his fault .. ?
Make it a rule never to make a new cover copied from an old one thats a sure recipe for disaster that has bitten my ass more than once..
Sail covers are easy from just dimensions, a lot of english sail makers have a downloadable sail cover Pdf form the customer can fill in the dimensions and it's simple to make a cover from about 8 or 9 measurements. Unless its a Gaff rig blow boat then it's just about a straight cover
http://www.newjsi.com/maincover1.aspx
http://www.sailandcover.co.uk/SailCoverMeasure.pdf
Rich
Also, there must be a shrink phenomenon with some canvas items. I had a new customer just ask me how his covers on his used boat purchase, look 6 inches too short..!! He said there is no way the side curtains on his bimini would reach the snaps. I didn't really have a good answer for him, but I have seen it before. Do covers shrink when not in use...??
The only acrylic that I know of that will shrink or stretch is Sunbrella. Recacril and Sattler have zero stretch or shrinkage because of their special weave.
Bobbin, Mike or June may know of other acrylics that may shrink but Sunbrella is the worse. I have seen it numerous times on slide toppers where it stretched against the depth and shrunk along the length.
Chris
i doubt its the acrylic shrinking but more likely the panel has a window cut off a roll and some of that shrinks a fair bit
having said that a cover can be tight to fit at the start of a season and loosen up after it's been on a frame for a while
or when it gets warmed up.
what i do is rough cut out window at the end of the day so it can settle over night before i sew it the next morning,
It depends on how you cut the sail cover, too. If you cut down the selvedge of the goods you can expect a lot of "shrink" when it's stitched (1/8"/ft. sticks in my mind from something I read years and years ago; but that adds up when you're dealing with a long boom!). I learned the hard way to leave the aft portion unfinished until I'd stretched the cover out on the floor and remeasured it!!! Some covers are made cutting cross grain (more stable) but if you do this you'd better seam and topstitch to one side rather than running it through a double needle. Seaming and topstitching leaves a fully protected seam after the topstitching rots away. And it matters a good deal if the sail to be covered is old or new. New ones don't scrunch up the way older ones do and that can be important for the sail cover.
I will remake items from originals, but it's made very clear that if it doesn't fit, it's not my problem! I will happily pattern anything you wish to have made, and if I do I'll happily accept and correct anything that's not right. I do it "your way" and any necessary repairs are on your dime... ("do you feel lucky, punk? well do ya?").
I'm with Fragged on this one. You did what you were asked to do. I assume you priced accordingly. Let the buyer beware! You shouldn't be expected to make all necessary repairs on your dime and on your time when you did what you were asked to do in the first place. How you convince the boat owner that that's the case is the hard part.
Blow boaters are the cheapest of the lot. We have a small sailboat and all the other blow boaters seem to think I'll "do them a favor". (yeah... right. What they don't understand is that they get an automatic surcharge because I know they're cheap!)
Quote from: Highvelocity on June 26, 2013, 06:25:40 am
Also, there must be a shrink phenomenon with some canvas items. I had a new customer just ask me how his covers on his used boat purchase, look 6inches too short..!! He said there is no way the side curtains on his bimini would reach the snaps. I didn't really have a good answer for him, but I have seen it before. Do covers shrink when not in use...??
sounds like you meen side vinyl windows yes they can shrink .
I had a formuila 233 and a 6 foot long bimini aqnd front and side window s and aft curtain/ one year I decided to sell it and comw the end of march I uncovered it and set it in front of my shop set up the top and installed the front wondow the the side were 6' short I had to streach then and let the sun warm them and get a snap as I could over a few days to snap then , I had stored the vinyl in the cabin over the winter
Well, here is the verdict...!!!! When asked how the cover fit the sailboat guy says, less than enthusiastic "Well it's a cover and it fits..." So even though he wasn't doing cart wheels, he couldn't come up with anything negative to say. So I am looking at it as a victory!!!...and since this person seems to be a hard to please sailboater I'm cool with it....lol
Thank you guys for the input, It's reassuring when you know your not the only one.
Ed
All's well that ends well!
Over and done with. Ow get the boat ready for the forth.
If it dont rain ill bE watching the show on the harbor
You bet Mike...!! Gonna watch them in Atlantic City over Harrah's. The reflection off the water is pretty cool.