Jock is as proud of one aspect of the slip as he is of his boat designs: "While I was there I produced more than 1,100 slipping plans of boats that we slipped at Battery Point." "Every boat had its own, very accurate slipping plan because I consider it to be one of the most responsible jobs in the industry - hauling other people's boats out of the water." "We had a sketch of the profile which is most important. A lot of yards seem to think every boat has a straight keel. They rig the slip straight and say, 'we'll pack her up when we get her out of the water' but in the meantime they could have done a lot of damage, depending on the age and condition of the boat." Consequently the yard has an enviable record for safety. Muir's picked up a lot of slipping business when Purdon and Featherstone's slip went out of business - not that Jock welcomed the demise of the historic slip." "When I was young I never thought I'd see the day when P & F's big shed was pulled down, which was on the site of the present public jetty at Battery Point." Out of this Jock has some advice for all boat owners: "While your boat is out of the water on the slip, get a copy of the slipping plans and then keep it on board as part of the ship's papers for future slipping - wherever it might be. The slipping plans are in effect a profile of the boat showing exactly where the beams and arms of the slip should go plus drawings of the boat in sections. "It is particularly important to have slipping plans for modern boats which can tip off easily if the slipway is not properly prepared. Until I retired in 1987 as managing director of Muir's Boatyard, I prepared 1,00 slipping plans for various craft up to 75-feet in length." It is Jock's view that the future of the wooden boatbuilding industry is tentatively balanced, but on its present course will almost certainly be killed off: "Boatbuilding on a commercial scale nowadays has almost died and it will certainly never revive while the sales tax is so high. I think even if the tax were removed, it is almost too late to save. It was virtually a way of life and there is hardly anyone left who can pass on those skills." "I really think wooden boatbuilding, as we know it, is all but finished for the forseeable future and it is a sad situation because it was Tasmania's first industry and has remained one of her most famous. It has become too expensive to employ people in the industry and almost impossible to put on apprentices but we still have the natural facilities for it to continue."