A picture is worth a thousand words

This article, by Damian E. Buckley, was published in Marina Operator International – Winter 1998 Did you photograph your marina today? No—nor did I. The weather wasn’t very good, it was a little overcast, the flowers weren’t out and the boats I wanted to include in my shot were not just so. I am sure that you have had days like that. I am not a photographer. However, what I do is take some sort of photograph, wither digital or regular, of most things in a marina when we are asked to evaluate a new property or take over an existing property. I take general shots, mostly of untidy areas, potential environmental problems, mudslides and sunken boats.

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Don’t let Profit Margins Slip

This article, by Dennis Kissman, was published in Marina Dock Age – February 1998 Do you ever get the feeling that your ships store, fuel dock and parts department are not contributing to your profitability as they did a few years ago? Just passing along the cost increase to the consumer is not enough. I have seen many marina operators look at the raw numbers without ever looking at the percentages between sales and cost.

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Off-Season Work Makes In-Season Profits

This article, by Damian E. Buckley, was published in Marina Operators International – Spring 1998 On the face of it, managing a marina can be a lot of fun. For a few months during the busy season, all the work, or lack of, that you have put into effect during the “off season” winter months will show. The non-cognoscenti often ask me what you do during the “off season”. When I pick myself up off the floor, I calmly answer a question with a question—what does a farmer do during the "off season"? Most people seem to relate to farmers and the life that they have. They understand that fields must be cared for in order that crops might grow. They understand that cows still need to be milked during the "off season.” They understand that buildings must be painted and maintained. They also understand that chickens lay eggs in the "off season.” The assumption that we all have an easy life in the "off season” is only slightly bewildering. What do we do during the "off season"

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Symbiosis and Marinas

This article, by Damian Buckley, was published in Marina Operators International – Autumn 1998 I had the opportunity to take my cousin with me on a recent trip to a marina. We had just taken over the management of the property and it was not visually attractive. It was messy, it was dirty, and some of the boats were of poor quality. My cousin Bill is a pre-eminent architect in Austin, TX and I was really relishing the visit because I thought that he would be able to give me some great architectural advice.

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Is Your Marina Running You?

This article, by Dennis Kissman, was published in Marina Dock Age – March 1998 With all the technology available to us with computers and the variety of software packages out there to make life easier, we need to step back and ask ourselves a basic question. Do you know more about your business today than you did five years ago?

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