On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:19:33 -0400, DSK wrote:

Frank Boettcher wrote:



... Came
to the conclusion that a P-23 or anything in its class is more of a
"launch, arrange for some temp dockage and leave it in an area that
you can come back to for a number of weeks at a time or the good part
of a season" Or launch, sail for a week or so then pull it but leave
it in the area, dry. It is not a drive to the lake, go through the
trouble of launching and retrieving for a couple of hours sailing.


Agreed... and this can be a nice way to use the boat,
particularly if you already have the locations. OTOH it
leaves you with more of the worst of both worlds... you
still have to do trailer maintenance, the boat is far from
home much of the time instead of in the driveway, it needs
anitfoulding & zincs etc etc.

Ture, but net total cost of ownership not as bad. It can still winter
at home and most of the off season maintenance can be done at that
time. Including bottom painting if you can believe the folks on the
forum (some fairly clever ways to get to everything while still almost
on the trailer).

Remembering what I paid for dockage, haul out and other maintenance,
insurance and upgrades on my in the water boats and comparing it, the
trailerable is still favorable by a bunch. Plus the yearly running
from hurricanes.

And if I want to sail Southwest Florida this year, The Upper gulf
next, the Keys one winter, Kentucky lake one fall, Do a Tenn Tom trip,
watever, I'm not faced with a lengthy water trip just to get to the
starting point.

At least that is how I've built it up in my mind.

BTW zincs? with no metal in the water?




I've also looked with interest at Seaward 26RK (interesting keel
config, but a might too heavy to be hauling around. Also somewhat
pricey)

IMHO the Seaward line is not as well built as they like to
pretend, and they employ the most mendacious salespeople I
have seen outside a used car lot........

I actually wouldn't know since they did not even return my email
asking for a displacement number on a particular configuration.







Have you checked out a Beneteau 235 or 211? I happen to like
the flush-deck 21 footer and it's surprisingly roomy inside.

Haven't yet; probably will in this quest.




Is this the "semi" part of semi-retirement?

Yes, but woodworking is also a passion so if it is possible to
supplement pensions, and investment income by doing what I like, I can
see no reason not to head in that direction. The trick is to keep it
from becoming a "job".

I find it much
more lucrative to keep punching the clock for the same
people I worked for before, only less often for more money.


I ran a fair sized manufacturing operation. There is no part time
option. While I enjoyed it for the most part, it was 60-70 hours a
week of high pressure. I'll stick to messing around in the wood shop.



... But if the right deal came
along......


The "deal of a lifetime" comes around about once a week. I'm
keeping my eyes peeled!

DSK