"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...

Don't buy anything until you NEED to buy something. Rid yourself of your
female shop until you drop mentality.

Here's what you need to do.

1) Give the boat a good cleaning inside and out. Inspect everything real
good while you clean and polish.
2) Move aboard and attempt to stow all the unnecessary crap that most
women feel they can't live without.
3) Put the remaining 90% that won't fit into storage.
4) Stock up on food and make sure your stove has plenty of fuel.
5) Then learn how to sail the boat.
6) Start a list of things that are broken, don't work well enough to suit
your needs, are worn to a dangerous or unserviceable point, etc. Buy all
the Coast Guard required safety things like life jackets, flares etc.
7) Replace things as needed depending upon how and where you cruise and
anchor.
8) If you don't have a nice little rowing dinghy you need to buy one. For
you a Walker Bay 8 would probably be just the ticket. Avoid inflatables as
they tend to get a flat tire at the worst of times and you can't row the
dammed things in anything but a flat calm even when they don't have a
flat.
9) Make sure you have no fewer than three serviceable anchors and rodes.
Learn how to use them properly.
10) Buy a new GPS if the boat doesn't already have one. Get the kind that
displays a chart.

In other words don't go out and spend 15 grand just for the sake of
spending fifteen grand. Wait until you learn enough to spend it on things
you really need. And to discover what you really need you must first use
the boats as you intend to use it.

Oh, and don't listen to the others who responded. They can't see the
forest through the trees. Few, if any, are long term, liveaboard cruisers
like me.

Wilbur Hubbard



I would second most of Wilbur's advice, though you might have trouble
fitting a Walker Bay 8 on deck. Towing a dink is okay in protected waters,
but for any real passage-making, it should be properly stored on deck,
upside down where it can't hold water. You may, or may not, have the
available space on that boat where it will both fit and not hinder crew
movement. And, of course, I would have to dismiss the advice not to listen
to advice from other posters. And finally, what Wilbur considers
"unnecessary crap that women feel (we) can't do without" is more necessary
than he comprehends. We do have to remain women, after all.