You describe god ol’ Redneck Engineering perfectly there. The mud boats in the GoM was built to be simple to accommodate them.
Preventive maintenance is not the strong suite of most Indonesians, but the old saying “If it ain’t broke, why fix it” wasn’t invented by them.
Maybe because I have worked with both “3rd world villagers” and Rednecks for many years and I have great respect for their abilities to fix things.
I have also worked with highly educated people with no practical understanding, regardless of which “village” they came from,
As to the attitude of some Norwegians and other Westerners, I totally agree with you. I have seen this myself and also let them know my opinion of such attitudes. (As I have done on this forum)
Having lived in Asia most of my life, and worked with people of all races and nationalities I believe I’m able to judge for myself, thank you.