Vic Smith wrote:

I've read that older boats have flaky electrical systems and it's
often best to rewire them to modern standards right off the bat.

It isn't that obvious, nor is it that easy to do. The wiring worked
perfectly OK until we got a radio that required more power.

Thanks for writing some of your experiences. I notice that most
of them are wiring and installation issues, and that's good to know.
I suspect Skip is having some of the same issues.

Not knowing anything about marine engine installations, it's still
surprising to me that an alternator bracket should break, and
I'll be looking for that kind of weakness if it applies to my boat.
Was the bracket corroded?

I don't know whether the bracket was corroded or not - I don't go into
the engine room. He also was down in the engine room one spring and
put his hand on the exhaust elbow and found it had a big hole in it.
So he replaced it of course, and a friend suggested that he go to a
plumbing supply house and get a stainless elbow and just have the
nipples and or connections put in at the right places. Cheaper than
from a marine supply house. So he did that and has it as a spare.

Was the throttle cable binding before it broke? I've seen automotive
e-brake and clutch cables break with no warning, so maybe fatigue
does them in and they should be changed out on some sort of schedule.

We didn't see that it was binding. It broke near to the binnacle end.
It was VERY tough material, and took him several hours to get a loop
into the end so that he could reattach it and get to a marina where he
could order a new one. The new one (which is now about 6 years old)
is still so slippery that sometimes it won't hold a setting - the
engine keeps going slower and slower unless we catch it and push the
throttle forward again.

Every year he services the through hulls and he also does the winches
on a regular basis - also the windlass. He keeps an eye on the engine
- temperature and oil usage, transmission fluid, and cooling system.
We've also replaced life lines that appear corroded. He repairs the
sails and bimini curtains when they need it. We do know where the
emergency steering is, and he checks the rudder when the boat is out
of the water. But we are too cheap to replace stuff that is working
OK.

Our boat (built in 1979) was a pretty plain vanilla boat when we got
it - it had the original engine (still does), a VHF radio, a corroded
and un useable electric windlass, depth sounder and wind instruments,
a couple of lightweight anchors (no chain rode to speak of), and
that's about it.

We added a newer radio, a SSB, autopilot, radar, and additional
battery bank (and replaced the old batteries when they started not
holding a charge), dinghy davits, radar arch, solar panels, a
windmill, a roller furling staysail, light activated anchor lights, a
manual windlass, a good heavy anchor and 300 feet of chain, and a
spinnaker pole (which Bob made). He's talking about getting a
spinnaker.