Boat Maintenance.

Its that time of the year again–I am finally starting to see the end of the tunnel and getting excited about the up in coming boating season, and looking at upcoming boat maintenance for this years boating season. I own a 245 CHawk, an old(er) 33ft sportfisherman and a 25ft Harkers Island workboat–so that is a lot of boats to keep up–and a lot of elbow grease. Typically I really enjoy working on my boats in the spring—it gives me that chance to personally inspect anything I may have neglected or missed from the previous season (without the constant worry that I missing some spectacular fishing while doing repairs!) and to know at what real operating state my boats are running at all times to keep my confidence level up in them when things turn south. As I begin pricing out products for the upcoming haul outs–the question comes to mind—-who actually works on their own boats anymore?? Out of all the readers out there who enjoy the Hull Truth—do you handle any of your own boat repairs?? Do you lay small fiberglass patches?? Do you inspect, pull and install your own thru-hulls? Do you paint your own bottoms?? Install your own shaft/rudder zincs?? Or do you just let the boat yard do all the work and cut them a check—-or do you do it to save money, or is it for personal satisfaction of a job well done?? Where do you buy your supplies?? West? local? the boatyard??
I am itching to get going as I am tired of sitting in the house now and wonder how everyone else in the world handles these annual tasks….I look forward to reading the responses.