We live two hours from the boat. It really is tough to do much time consuming work when we are that far away. Also we always forget something and then need to go to the hardware store or West to buy something. The 40' boat is a lot of work, but when you add a four hour round trip, paying my daughter's 23 year old well muscled ex boyfriend to do the painting and waxing, it seems like a no brainer to me.