Victoria Marine continues to recover from Harvey

Feb. 16--When Bob Ort repairs a boat at his business, Victoria Marine, he fights the weather no matter if it's cold, windy or hot.

Hurricane Harvey ripped a 25-by-155-foot steel awning from his 12,500-square-foot business warehouse. A thick metal beam hangs down, blocking the back entry, where Ort would pull boats inside to avoid the weather. The hurricane also tore off the edge of the roof, busted all his skylights and punched holes in the wall.

"When it's raining, it's falling on our heads while we're working on the boats," said Ort, 67, of Inez. "When it's cold, we're outside in the cold. If it's sunny and really hot, we're out in the heat. We have no shade anymore."

Almost six months after the hurricane, Ort is still taking the broken awning apart. He makes repairs when he has the money because he doesn't have insurance on the structure. Ort estimates his business sustained about $50,000 in damages.

"We're doing what we can do on a budget, a real low budget," he said. "We're doing it by the seat of my pants -- money in the pocket, then we do it."

When Hurricane Claudette struck Victoria in 2003, it tore off part of the warehouse's roof on the east side. A contractor told Ort repairs would cost about $20,000. His insurance company at the time said repairs would cost only $13,000, and gave him $9,000 for the work. A few months later, his premiums tripled, so he canceled his policy.

Ort used the insurance money to keep the business going then, so he didn't repair the roof right away. Three years ago, he finally repaired damage done by Hurricane Claudette and put in new structure purlins around the entire roof to be prepared for the next hurricane.

"We hoped that the next hurricane to show up wouldn't take the roof line, but it did anyway," he said.

Ort said it could take months before he's able to replace all the skylights, repair the roof and replace a portion of the awning. He does plan to have the beam hanging in front of the back entry removed in the next two weeks so he can bring boats inside to work on them.

"Rather than spend the money for the demolition company to come in and tear it all apart, we're saving that money to have to buy sheeting and cover at least the building and put these skylights back in," he said.

Ort's shop in the 8000 block of Houston Highway accommodates more than 60 boats, more than 100 boat motors, about 15 motorcycles, two snowmobiles, two golf carts and six motorhomes and campers.

Buzz Wilson, 64, of Austin, has a home in Olivia where he keeps his 18-foot bay boat. He has done business with Ort for eight years and had Ort install a power pole on the boat at the end of January.

Ort had the boat ready on a Saturday after he received the parts after 5 p.m. the Friday before.

"I saw his team that Saturday afternoon. These two guys were there and knew exactly what they were doing," Wilson said. "They're working under that beat-up, storm-ravaged awning."

Wilson said Ort is doing the best he can under his circumstances.

"That's what any hardworking man that respects his customers and business will do -- what he has to do," he said. "They were doing what they had to do to keep business going until they could figure out a better long-term solution."

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