Hello Michael,

The quotation following this message was forwarded to me by Georgs
Kolesnikovs, and by no small number of folks on the TW list.  This
follow-up note is being offered mainly to clarify a few possible
misconceptions.

In order to be completely factual, during the past four months we have
exchanged 53 email messages, many of which have been considerably longer
than a few lines, and which have to date required more than a few hours of
my time.

As I mentioned by phone last night (Please excuse me for calling you so
late...!!), I am sending you a full refund today.  I am not deducting
anything for the time I have spent on this project to date.  Of interest to
you perhaps is that I have drawn a nice profile and plan for your 64 foot
power trimaran.  As I had mentioned by phone, I am forwarding that drawing
today, at no cost to you.

I truly must apologize for any misgivings you may hold in having done
business with me, and I do hope that this gesture in some way helps to
restore your faith, if not in me, then certainly in the process of design
itself.  I have always been very much consumed by being somewhat
over-committed, and while this fact is not being offered in any way as an
excuse, it is nevertheless true.  It is the unavoidable consequence of
trying to make a living doing design work.

To address one comment you made during our phone conversation, my design
work does not make me rich by any stretch of the imagination.  My work, on
which I spend nearly 10 hours a day including weekends, earned me wages of
just over $20k last year, plus another $9k of distributions.  If I count
all the hours I spend actually being at work, I did not quite make minimum
wage last year.  The gross earnings of my business were higher of course,
however the cost of doing business is also quite significant.  For example,
many of the drawings generated here are done by people who work for me, and
of course that cost comes directly out of overall earnings. In the years to
come, I don't see any of this this changing appreciably.  If for any reason
there is any doubt about the above, I will be pleased to show you my books.

The time required to communicate, to answer many peoples' seemingly endless
preliminary questions about boats and about boat design, to provide
estimates, and to keep the business side of things alive here, takes fully
two thirds of my actual working hours.  That time is never compensated for,
but it is time which nevertheless must be spent in order to generate new
business.

I document all of the time spent toward achieving the design work required
on each project here.  It is not uncommon to discover, when all is said and
done, that I have given away some 10% of the hours on each design.  Those
are hours which may have been spent answering those preliminary questions,
or hours spent for research, or hours spent on billing and other mundane
tasks that I cannot rightfully bill out as being chargeable hours.  Should
any doubt exist, the documentation for this is quite available.

Of course by now you no doubt imagine that I must be completely nuts to
keep doing this....

The fact is, I like boats!  I have an insatiable curiosity about boats,
what makes them work, and then what makes them work better...  plus I
really enjoy the process of creating solutions for people, doing it well,
and providing a result that is both correct in an engineering sense, and is
aesthetically satisfying.  A fellow designer once said, "If I won the
lottery, I mean the big jackpot, I'd just keep designing boats 'till it was
all gone."  I used to think he was crazy, but now I see that I am no
different.

After no small number of years, my design business has no assets other than
a computer, a drawing table, some lamps, and a few pens and pencils.  The
only true "asset" I have is the good will I have worked toward generating
among my clients and in the public eye.

Unfortunately, the damage done to that primary asset in five minutes of
your time may very likely have overcome all the various efforts I have put
into the TW list to date  The time that I've put into the TW list in the
past has been donated at no cost of course--possibly amounting to well over
a weeks' worth overall during these last few years.  Certainly this is not
a complaint, as the time was freely given.  In spite of the excellent
information available through the TW list, for some time now due to time
constraints, I have been unable to participate, and I cannot foresee having
the time to do so in the future.

The lesson in all of this for me is that I cannot take on small, short
duration consulting projects, unless they have the potential to become
complete boat design projects.  This lesson has been especially difficult
for me to learn, mainly because I usually find it impossible to say no to
an interesting project.

Sincerest apologies here for any time you may have lost toward achieving
the imaginings for your trimaran.  If the drawing I'm sending you provides
any inspiration, then all to the good!! You may use the drawing without
copyright restriction.

I will also be posting your drawing online with a brief description of the
concept.  It will be accessible via: http://www.kastenmarine.com/power.htm
sometime late this week.

I hope you build your power trimaran!!  I think it will be a neat project.

Best regards,
Michael Kasten

Kasten Marine Design, Inc.
redpath@olympus.net
http://www.kastenmarine.com

PS--I am forwarding this note to the TW list.  This is NOT a "commercial"
post to the list.  It is a reply to an accusation--one which unfortunately
does contain a bit of truth.

------------begin quote------------------

Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 08:03:07 -0500
From: "Michael D. Rowe" Kanani@compuserve.com
Subject: TWL: Michael Kasten

Message text written by Charles Vollum

http://www.xsw.com/boojum/construction/c20000305<

Followers of Boojum's progress might want to consider the following
cautionary tale.

Early in November, 1999, I sent Michael Kasten $500 for one day's worth of
sketching and head scratching about what a long-distance cruising power
trimaran might to look like.  All I have gotten in the past four months is
a couple of two-sentence e-notes, a statement about a large commission
coming in, and an offer to charge only for an unspecified amount of work
completed.

I don't doubt that Michael Kasten has many happy clients, but I am not one.

Michael Rowe

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Kasten redpath@olympus.net
SNIP

seemingly endless

I must admit to being on of these people...

My recent, brief encounter with Mr. Kasten was, actually,
BETTER than I
was expecting.

I sent Mr. Kasten an email regarding one of his designs,
indicating that I was
beginning preliminary investigation into the possibility of
new boat in a few
years.

My question could have been answered in one or two
sentences, but Mr. Kasten
replied within a few hours with a very detailed and
informative response.  No big sales
pitch, no pressure, just a thoughtful response to my inquiry
with an explanation of his services.

Mike Tellup
IV Roman - 34 Mainship II
Havre de Grace, MD