I happen to work on boats, large family types and of a few commercial. I believe I can tell that there's a difference between a boat and a rocket, as boats seldom achieve zero gravity. They do however achieve the same sorts of over-budget fiasco, of the design-by-committee sorts of demise, by those which have never had to actually build, install and/or service a damn thing. In other words, you're in either of two categories of being a bean counter and/or a bean tosser. In either case, napkins and fancy product brochures are extensively utilized.

I on the other hand accommodate technical surveys and, I also accomplish a number of design/engineering tasks as well as providing constructive services, as those intended to source out and/or circumvent problems and to subsequently help resolve issues and NOT by way of sub-contracting everything out to others, where sometimes having to invent some rather creative work-arounds that others have never attempted let alone thought of, where often I'm coming into their imperfect picture after others have failed and/or given up, so that there's frequently missing or a lack of documentation as well as layers to uncover (quite often this is also on an exploratory "need to know" basis) before getting to the root of what's wrong, then most often I'm working against the clock, as in without sufficient time nor of the privilege of cost-plus solutions. So, in addition to figuring out what's wrong and how to actually fix it, I'm also having to contemplate new ways of efficiently accomplishing what others messed up in the first place and, most often of what others would require thousands of bucks and perhaps an extra week or two in delays, whereas I've been expected to accomplish all of that I can in a day or two, at something less than half the cost. Sometimes I even surprise myself (saving the day), by being not a forth of what it would have taken a typical shipyard to accomplish and, that's not bragging, just the sorry fact that many of our best shipyards have become so inefficient while remaining union benefitted, to the obsession of looking after their members to such an extent that shipyards are often bankrupted (apparently those unions and of their unemployed workers couldn't be happier).

I'm not actually anti-union but, expecting a customer to pay for three or four specialist as well as on-lookers when one capable individual is typically all that's needed, as well as paying for whatever else the shipyard feels it needs to tag on (such as parts and tool or equipment chasing) is a bit crude to say the least. Most often the so called shipyard worker is having to learn on the job and/or off being trained as well as being outfitted on your nickel and, mistakes are simply not mistakes, they're the results of absolutely unavoidably necessary actions that'll eventually make whatever happen (starting to sound an offal lot like NASA).

I guess, I'm of the old school, where you learn prior to and/or during off hours and, you self invest in the most typical of tools, equipment and supplies that's pertinent to accomplishing whatever it is that you do. For example, if you take pictures you must obviously own those cameras you utilize, as well as having the expertise of developing film and of producing prints of at least B/W formats and, you must understand from training and actual hands-on expertise of what certain spectrum filters accomplish and of what various lens configurations have to offer, not to mention knowing from actual experience the do's and don't of lighting and of what various films can tolerate (such as how much thermal stress and/or radiation) as well as what their image gathering exposure limits are. In other words, in just photography there's a lot to know, yet many of todays photographers own little of anything that's used on the job, nor have they any hands-on experience with the inner workings of film processing and printing, especially these days when your employer owned Hasselblad 4096 X 4096 digital imaging and of computer software is basically manipulating and thus accomplishing absolutely everything (a monkey can take great pictures).

In addition to photography, I happen to know a great deal about relatively technical systems and of a number of their interface options, of those that work reliably with little if any difficulty and, I've also had that opportunity to install as well as subsequently service the sorts of equipment and technology forced upon the vessel owner and/or self inflicted by those so easily impressed by editorials on a good number of topics (that's almost anything you can imagine). I've referred to these as "info-commercials", as their multi-page full bleed glossy photos and carefully scripted words of wisdom often promote upon specific products that have oddly been advertised by the very same publication or that of an associated publication, and/or they're crediting an undeserving individual while often excluding upon the real nitty gritty facts and otherwise somewhat lacking of a few little details, such as TRUTH.

At times I'm involved with a custom yacht, in other words NOT of a production boat that's merely being customized. Typically the pure custom yacht will run the owner twice the investment of acquiring a production yacht of similar size and capability and then having that customized. However, I'd say that 90% of these custom (one of a kind) yachts are running seriously amuck, by at least 4 times as costly and, I've known of a few exceeding 6 fold, as in taking a 2 million dollar option and making that into a 12 million dollar fiasco and, that's not even the worst part, as the worst is related to the fact that of these 90+% of custom yachts are often taking 2+ years to construct (I know of some exceeding 4 years and, that's not even including their original design phase), yet after all is said and done are pathetically inefficient, unreliable, as well as unsafe for human occupancy, some of them even smell poorly or exceptionally well depending on your perception of what's considered a bad odor, as well as for being downright costly as all holy hell to own and operate, often requiring a crew member or more in order to keep the damn thing afloat, let alone actually capable of going somewhere, even if that's having to go inefficiently and, about as unsafe as you can imagine as well as just plain and simply as being unstable as well (limited to fair weather, or else).

I actually believe those original Viking sailing ships were more stable and certainly overall a whole lot more safe for their passengers than of the vast majority of yachts we see today, they even looked better than some of the crap that's produced lately. I some how doubt that Vikings' utilized "$-engineering" and/or took advantage of every "good-buddy-back-door" opportunity for outfitting they could get there hands on.

Just because the designer/builder name on your yacht is sufficiently noble and your list of installments is impressive, that doesn't represent that there was even an educated guess as to factors of usage nor proper installation (what looks right is hardly establishing what's proper, nor how about serviceability). Toxic as well as highly flammable materials are typically involved just about everywhere, but then the noise and vibration levels are still excessive and, of almost anything anti-Titanic is simply a ruse, a pathetic sick joke upon even the intelligence level of this village idiot, so you can just imagine how horrifically pathetic this must represent itself onto a truly wise sort of individual such as yourself.

So, I've NOT seen it all, I've only witnessed 40 years worth of insanity and utter stupidity, some of which must have rubbed off on myself because, I still feel obligated to doing my best for these nice folks, even though I know that they've been badly snookered into believing in what they have for a boat is actually worth the price, worth the moral rational pretext that all is some how good and proper with the world and with their life, almost exactly like how Walter Cronkite must feel whenever he thinks back over these Apollo missions, knowing that he's been snookered but, what the hell can you do but go with the flow.

If asked, and if being paid to do so, I too can out-spend the next guy and, that includes making mistakes that I can blame others for. If asked to outfit with trendy crap and to over-outfit with anything and everything that comes along, even if it's after the fact and terribly inefficient, as well as unreliable, not to mention unsafe and unnecessarily complex to utilize, as I can certainly do that, just not with any clean conscious and, certainly not without having to ignore moral considerations towards what could have been and/or should have been accomplished in the first place. The best proffit insurance a shipyard can have is a friend of the yacht owner making suggestions, as that'll nearly always double the contract if not place it into a cost-plus mode or perhaps commode.

I believe this same analogy goes toward the past decades of NASA, but that's just another opinion of a certified village idiot. I mean, of my seeing what's most likely represented as being artificial as situated on the surface of Venus is certainly not worth dying for, even if that's discovering there's other life NOT as we know it, as our lives will not likely change much if any. Unless we consider the positive aspects, as then there's all sorts of "can do" revelations and of the prospects of advancing upon the human quest for knowledge, not to mention safe haven should certain warlords get their dirty little hands on some of those really nasty buttons that'll make even visible WMDs look like cap-pistols.