On Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:20:04 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jun 2015 06:49:59 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

Mine wasn't even that bad. I spoke to a fellow having, IIRC, a 52'
Little Harbor sail boat. He said he always had at least three systems
out of commission or partly working at any given time. No human could
get all his boat working per design.

===

Complexity of systems tends to increase exponentially with the size of
the boat, and that inevitably leads to increased maintenance
requirements. The right way to increase complexity however is to
build in some redundancy at the same time so that it's not necessary
to have everything 100% operational at all times. The alternative is
to go with the minimalist approach and forgo modern conveniences like
refrigeration and air conditioning.


Many years ago my wife and I used to "cruise" the coast of Maine in a
Muscongus Bay (often referred to as a Friendship) Sloop. We had a one
burner kerosene stove, water out of a "jerry can", and a magnetic
compass for navigation.

I don't remember ever having a "break-down".
--
Cheers,

Bruce