If there is anything more off-putting and just plain boring than a commercial about medications used to treat, say, chronic gastrointestinal maladies, it would have to be the disclaimer that follows, describing the medications’ side effects, which, in many cases, seem worse than the problem itself. Or how about the financial services companies that tell you how they can take your money, invest it for you, and deliver financial peace of mind for your retirement. Then they go and spoil it by saying something like, “Past performance may not be indicative of future performance” or something along those lines. In other words, they might lose your money for you. Of course, my personal favorite is the car dealership that tells you about this great deal followed by a disclaimer you either can’t hear or the words are spoken so fast you can’t understand them.
Now it’s my turn. Every year we put together WorkBoat’s Annual Construction Survey, a free service from those of us in the editorial department that lists the different shipyards around the U.S. and Canada, and what these yards are or have been working on. It appears in our March issue, and many people use it as a reference guide throughout the year. I write an introduction to the survey each year, as well, and usually include a disclaimer of sorts about why you see what you see in the survey. This year there was no room for it, so I am taking this opportunity to get it into the record.
So, here are some facts about the survey that need to be stated:
• The survey does not run by calendar year. It’s a 12-month period between March and February. (It’s a publishing thing.)
• The total number of boats in our survey is smaller than the actual number because not all boatyards wish to participate in the survey.
• Vessels appearing in the survey have come under contract, are under construction, or were delivered during that 12-month period.
• A vessel stays in the survey from contract until delivery. For example, let’s say a boat owner and boatbuilder sign a contract today for a new vessel to be delivered in late 2017. Therefore, the boat would be in the survey in 2015 (contracted), 2016 (building) and 2017 (delivered). Maybe we don’t know about the boat until it’s under construction in 2016. Then it would be in the 2016 and 2017 surveys.
• Some boatyards do not want to participate even though the boats going through their yards have been reported on during the past year. Even if we know about the boats, if the boat owner or builder asks not to be involved, we do as they wish.
• If you see a shipyard that has only one boat listed, it doesn’t mean that yard has only one boat in the yard. Normally, there are other boats, but those boat owners don’t want their boats publicized. This has been a point of concern for some boatyards that don’t want readers to think they have worked on only one boat over the past 12 months.
Look for our annual survey in WorkBoat’s March issue due out later this month.
