I got a bill from the boat guy for the full amount of the restoration. I immediately texted him to ask him wtf?

He had some sort of weird explanation that I didn't quite follow, but he said it was incorrect and he will ship me a bill for the parts only.

I asked him again about the trailer title/bill of sale. He said it just slipped his mind and he would get it to me asap.

I am really going to have to be vigilant and patient at the same time. I am positive he is not screwing me around. He just has way too many irons on the fire and is unable to juggle them properly. I am pretty sure the boat will take longer than he first indicated, but I'm also pretty sure that it will be done well and for a reasonable price.

My wife follows him on facebook and he posted that he just finished a restoration he has been working on. It looks great, and it puts me that much closer in line.

While I was rolling this around in my mind, I decided that I would call some local places that might be able to do this work.

It triggered some memories. I had a much smaller fiberglass repair to my current boat. I temporarily handed the wheel over to someone that said he knew how to drive a boat. He did. Right into a pier. Cracked a few places on the hull.

Anyway, I remember how difficult it was to get anyone to do this. I left the boat at one place and they didn't even look at it for a week. Other places never called me back.

I seriously doubt I can get the work done here without the grief I'm experiencing with the guy in NC. In fact, he's really been fine to deal with. He calls me immediately if I call him or text him. That's a pretty good sign.

I have no doubt this will be a rollercoaster though.

all boat work is like that. sits on their lot for a long time then they look at it and order parts. instead of looking first and ordering parts. just the way boat stuff goes. and most of the work is done by an unskilled helper. luckily it sounds like this guy will be doing most of your work.

Yeah. One of the outstanding items is a tackle station. I wasn't sure how big it could be and was waiting on him to give me suitable dimensions. He just texted me with the link to a unit that he thought would work. So, he's on it.

Still, my desired level of communication isn't quite what his is. I'm probably not being realistic.

Someone tell me if I'm wrong here.

I have my old boat covered by Progressive. I went online to see if I could add the new boat, but it alerted me that I need to do this through my agent.

I called my agent and told her I needed insurance on the boat I just purchased. She then did two things. 1 - she put my new boat on my progressive policy. 2 - she looked for other quotes because progressive was ridiculous.

The next time I talked to her, she told me that I could get it covered much cheaper with a different policy, which I agreed to.

She cancelled the progressive policy.

I then got a bill from progressive for $84.

At no time ever did I tell her to add the boat to progressive. She simply did it and sent me a copy of the policy.

I emailed her to ask her why I got this bill since my old boat policy never changed. She told me that I owed it to cover the time she added it until the time she cancelled it.

I let her know I did not believe this was right. She called and said "well, you bought a boat and you needed it covered."

I don't think I should pay this, right?

Probably mostly depends how badly you want to use Progressive for other coverage. If you want to maintain policies with them, I don't imagine they're going to give up on the $84.

You might be able to bypass the agent and explain that, from your perspective, the policy was never authorized--just a data entry error--and see how that goes.

It's also questionable whether the statement at the core of it--"you bought a boat and needed it covered"--is correct. I don't know if boat insurance is mandatory, or if you could choose to take on the risk yourself and not have a policy at all.

I think I'd try contacting progressive directly, letting them know you were just shopping for premiums, and the agent added the policy in error.

OTOH, if they allowed people to say, "never mind, that was a mistake", seems like a big loophole. Every claim-free month, customer just cancels in arrears w/o paying. If they have a claim, just pay the bill.

From the way you've described things, it sounds as if you're justified in wanting the $84 back, but probably won't work out.

Oh geez. I went back and looked at everything and its worse (but got better).

I originally contacted her on the 12th and we talked about everything. The title was transferred on the 4th.

On the 13th she set up the insurance - back dated to the 4th. That's unacceptable.

I told her that if I had to pay this that I would be looking for another agent.

She then said "oh, I'll just call progressive and cancel it". She could have done this in the first place.

So, it has been fixed but I'm not a fan of this agent.

golddog:

I don't think having insurance is mandatory. Nobody else is carrying a note. It is not being operated. I could be wrong.

not on a boat in florida just on a car, and on the car it must stay on even if you want to not drive it for a time or they cancel your registration.

she was kind of right as you asked for coverage and she probably thought you should be covered immediately and did that. then found a cheaper one and let you go for that.
and being covered from the time you bought the boat if you found damage you would be covered or the company would say it was previous damage before coverage.
generally i dont insure things except for liability and use that money to put it in the stock market. though if you finance something that isnt an option.

I sent him a check for $7500 for the parts. This includes a trolling motor, fuel tanks, wiring, and pumps.

He finally sent me the trailer info so I'm sending another bill of sale to sign.

i didnt do bills of sale and just told the lady at the registration what i paid for it. she couldnt care less. that is only the hull. motor and stuff isnt taxed in florida so the whole cost of the boat is not subject to sales tax.

My appointment with the county finally arrived.

First of all, I have to say I'm a lot more anxious driving than I used to be. I go almost nowhere and today I had to drive quite a distance through a lot of traffic. Just not used to it anymore.

Anyway, I got to the tax office at my appointment time. There was a guard outside the door checking names.

The first line was to talk to the guard. Once he approved you, there was a second line that waited outside the door to get inside. Once inside there was another line to get to a person to give you a number. Then you sit in a chair waiting for your number to get called.

I will say there was 100% mask compliance and everything was spaced out really well. Plus, there was a lady wiping down everything after a customer left. Seemed as good as you could possibly get as far as pandemic stuff goes.

I think I mentioned that I called ahead of time to find out exactly what I needed to bring. The lady told me that I needed the boat title, and a bill of sale for the whole shebang. I had all of that.

So, I get to the lady at the window and explain what I'm doing and she hit me right away. "well, you don't have any proof of ownership for the trailer. You will need to come back." AARRGGHHHHH!!!!

I explained to her that I had called ahead just to prevent this sort of thing. She disappeared for about 10 minutes, then came back and gave me the thumbs up. Whew.

Not much to talk about after that. Wrote a painfully big check and got everything I needed.

wait till you get your gas bills. wide open throttle on 500 horses will burn about 50 gallons an hour.

registering vehicles in florida is expensive but they are really good at knowing what to do and helping you out not like some other states.

Fishing is not a cheap hobby.

tell me about it. i have more boats than toes and i got all my toes.

In pandemic news..........

The state is mandating that my wife get tested every two weeks. Two tests ago she didn't get any results back until 2 days before the last one was due. Not only that, but they just left a message saying her results were in and they would call back, but they never did. However, she got her results (negative) from her last test the next day.

The bait shop...... I know you guys hate it that I work there, and it is completely understandable. My reasons for staying are complicated. But, I always wear a mask there and it is, for all practical purposes, open air. There is a counter and a shrimp tank separating me and the customers. But, even though there is a city ordinance, mask wearing isn't common.

I got a text today from the lady that runs the bait shop (not the owner) wanting me to fill in a shift for another guy. Turns out both he and his wife have symptoms and are getting tested tomorrow. I haven't been in contact with him for 5 days but I know he has since gone in the shop several times.

The irony of this is this guy called the whole thing a hoax until he couldn't take that line anymore, then he was convinced that it would have been impossible for him not to have been exposed by now so he wasn't taking any sort of precautions. I kept a distance from him at all times.

I asked my manager if they were going to take any more precautions. The owner said that basically it would be impossible to enforce anything because it is too busy in the mornings (I work at night).

So, I let them know I won't be working there for a while.

Do "we" hate it that you work there, or is it just me? I can't remember completely besides writing at least 1 post myself coming down quite harsh on the topic.

I wouldn't say I "hate it" but I have a hard time imagining a scenario where the extra risk is worth it given the bit of info you've shared about your financial situation/recent history in this blog.

That being said, I have no idea what your real risk is staying there or how the alternative of not working there would affect you. I also am projecting some assumptions on the societal feedback you're getting where you live and trying to help balance that feedback if at all possible.

Right now we're dealing with desperately wanting to send our kids back to daycare. Working and taking care of them is really, really not fun. It's been several months and I'm not even going to go in to the work stuff I've dealt with (it's involved a solid month of almost daily communication (and corresponding fees) with a lawyer). The main reason we haven't given up keeping them home is that my wife's grandparents get to see them a bunch right now and the grandmother seems not to be willing to stop physically interacting with them once they go back.

We'll see...I guess it's something we have full control over since we can simply not let them see the kids. I feel like the max should be them seeing them outside, everyone (except 1 year old) masked-up and trying to stay several feet apart. And if hugging or anything like that, purell immediately. Then deal with winter when we get there. However, it seems that grandma will not/would not be ok with that scenario.

i would put the health of your kid above great-grandma and sending them to daycare is undoubtedly healthier than having them home with two parents working full time, imo. my kid is 22 months and developmentally behind due to epilepsy issues and our neurologist told us to get her back in daycare ASAP which we did. luckily her therapists continued to come. anyway risk is not a zero sum game and in my situation and the risk of morbidity of kids made it a no brainer to send her back.

same thing with biggerboat- if working at the bait shop gives him purpose and happiness in a depressing time the risk of covid- which is still very low for an extremely healthy 60~ yr old man, it's a no-brainer.

So this...

And this aren't necessarily mutually exclusive but they do seem at odds.

Grandma says she will have no purpose or happiness if she can't see them as she is now. So perhaps your advice would be for her to roll the dice. She is "only 65" but certainly has had health issues (pre-diabetes, hypertension, other things).

Also, when you say "very low" what do you mean? The risk of his getting covid, or having a significant result (death or long-term effect) if he does get it? The former is very unclear still and the latter, while somewhat unclear, is not a % I recommend any 60+ people roll the dice on.

Yes, I very much agree with this. We are very fortunate we can work from home and our kids are very healthy. I am not really sure there is much evidence for long-term adverse effects given that even if they are out of daycare for another year. I would be concerned the 4 year old wouldn't not jump into kindergarten super well. But this is moot since we are not doing this for another year. We're slowly going crazy.

This situation is completely different and, yeah, I'd get my kid back ASAP if I felt either had developmental type issues.

On top of all of this, I basically have almost no one I feel I can talk to. I feel I can afford almost no time to talk to friends so I only talk to my wife and our parents. Our parents are very supportive generally but are seemingly useless for figuring out this situation. It may partially (or mainly) be a generational thing but they are all extremely cavalier about a ~5-10% chance of death.

My concern with working at the bait shop has always been with how it translates into risk for the old folks your wife works with. They are the population getting decimated by covid. That said, I'm happy/sorry that you're not going to back to work for awhile. I hope you're able to get back in there soon.

Have you considered taking people out for fishing charters once you have the new boat or is that too much of a headache getting set up with permits and insurance and such?

There are so many levels of suck with this. This is one of the worst. I completely get where you are coming from on all of this.

At the facility my wife works at, it is almost total shutdown. The residents aren't allowed family to visit them, and all of the community areas are shut. So, they are basically confined to their rooms 24/7. Sometimes I wonder if that is worse than the possibility of getting it - which some are anyway since the staff is still bringing it in.

If it weren't for my wife, I wouldn't even consider not working. In fact, I probably wouldn't take half of the precautions I do now. Almost everything I do is because of her.

I've entertained being a captain but once the reality of it sets in I quickly dismiss it. It is hard work. And there is some pressure to ensure people catch fish. Not only that, but one of the captains here was one of the first people in florida to get covid.

There is such a huge spectrum of opinions with this pandemic, from "hoax" to "nobody should leave their home". As with almost everything political I'm somewhere in the middle. I understand the arguments for shutting everything down, but I also understand the arguments for not doing so.

Being in the middle brings heat from both extremes. I've been chastised for not doing enough, and I can't count how many times I've been mask-shamed. I get it from both sides.

The work situation is really causing a lot of anxiety. I don't feel good about staying and I don't feel good about leaving.

My sister owns a condo in my complex, which she is getting remodeled. However, she lives in Austin. She's having issues with the contractor and decided she needed to fly here. Two of the worst hotspots in the country right now are Austin and St. Pete. Add that to her being in a plane. We told her that she cannot come into our condo. Any socialization would be on the patio. She completely understood and has been really good about it.

Another anecdote- we are going to attend a birthday party for my wife's sister. There are a ton of back stories with her family, but it is really important that we try to make this happen. My wife told her mother that under no circumstance will we go inside her house. My wife's sister agreed since her husband is in a high risk group. Her mother is not onboard with any of this. It isn't because she's against stuff like this. She's just super impulsive and is completely incapable of sorting out consequences of her actions.

I mention these because what ultimately led to my decision to leave the bait shop was the fact that I would be a huge hypocrite demanding other people to take precautions when I wasn't willing to do the same.

I think the other thing that finally led to my decision was the marina owner's response to this.

She refuses to wear a mask. The non-baitshop employees never wear one. She has done the bare minimum in regards to covid. I asked if they were going to take more precautions due to one of her employees possibly getting it. Her answer was that there wasn't much she could do on the weekends since it is so busy.

Kinda pissed me off.

I've actually given this quite a bit of thought, probably because of reading your blog. It's certainly not productive but for some reason fairly fascinating to think of what an awful situation assisted living folk are in. I believe in some (maybe even many) individual cases, much more freedom is probably better for specific individuals.

However, if regulations are not as strict as possible, the risk of death within the next year skyrockets. I haven't tried to look at data specific to this group but I wouldn't be shocked if it's some kind of sick coinflip whether people in assisted living can even survive COVID. Still, if someone is in assisted living, the life duration and quality of future life they are risking is fairly finite. So throwing the dice is not only tempting but may actually be better. Especially if euthanasia was an option that could be baked into the equation. COVID sounds like a bottom tier way to go.

And that doesn't even get into the completely untenable legal ramifications for the places themselves.

None of our parents are at this stage yet, another way we are very lucky, but I still can't stop thinking about it sometimes.

Hoax is so far away from reality it is hard to keep in mind that a very significant amount of people think this.

What kind of situations are you being masked-shamed? That is completely ridiculous yet I understand psychologically people can't help themselves.

I do feel some awkwardness sometimes where I am involving wearing a mask or asking people to set curbside pickup stuff down rather than hand it to me. However, I just feel sorry for the people who haven't been able to simply change their automatic habit to something different but clearly more beneficial for themselves and society.

What are the benefits you get from working there? I don't mean this in a "there are no benefits what are you doing?!?!" I really want to know what you derive from it and how beneficial you view it being for you.

Good for you guys. She seems to very likely be making a bad decision. However, you don't have any control over it so hopefully it doesn't affect your relationship too much.

Yeah. As fate would have it, the portion of society least equipped to protect themselves and deal with the pandemic (psychologically, skill-wise) are the ones effected the most. Yay!

I applaud this decision. I have a hard time imagining you won't be able to go back at some point. If for no other reason it could be helpful to have some time not going and see how much it does or doesn't affect you. It may be revealing that you can sustain a decent life without that kind of job indefinitely. Or, it may become clear it's completely unsustainable for you and you need to either go back there or find something "half way" where the precautions are better and you are getting enough benefit.