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True cost of boats
Our boat should finally be going in tomorrow. I thought I'd better
sit down and list everything done over the last month for future reference and as a warning to anyone contemplating similar folly. If anyone is interested, click he http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Boat20.htm#Done This was in no way a project boat or a fixer upper. She had a good survey and was clean and well cared for although her former owner was a little hazy about proper marine practice and (evidently) the location of marine supply stores. This list just gets us a motorboat. I haven't even looked at the rig yet. -- Roger Long |
I'm going to ask and answer the obvious first question: What if we had
known? We would have probably bought a $7500 boat to fit our budget and then ended up with a boat too small to get used much in our circumstances. In that way, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I also love the boat. Naive optimism can be a wonderful thing. What if we had bought a $30,000 boat of the same size? I did some consulting straightening out a $3,000,000 yacht that had some sillier things on it than this boat. We probably would have ended up spending another $30,000 of time and money. I think there is an immutable law of the universe, like conservation of energy, at work here and you try to dodge around it at your peril. -- Roger Long |
"Roger Long" wrote in
: to dodge around it at your peril. I think the title of the thread needs to be changed: "True cost of PERFECTIONIST'S boats" is more appropriate. Plastic fittings above the waterline don't need replacing with bronze and amazingly-priced bronze ball valves. There's lots of other niggling examples of nonsense in your list. But, it had to be a perfectionist's boat, not just a pleasure boat. Everything had to be perfect, not just functional and safe. I bet the yard owner was smiling from ear to ear every time you found some other niggling little defect for him to tear it all apart for....(c; |
"Roger Long" wrote in message ... Our boat should finally be going in tomorrow. I thought I'd better sit down and list everything done over the last month for future reference and as a warning to anyone contemplating similar folly. If anyone is interested, click he http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Boat20.htm#Done This was in no way a project boat or a fixer upper. She had a good survey and was clean and well cared for although her former owner was a little hazy about proper marine practice and (evidently) the location of marine supply stores. This list just gets us a motorboat. I haven't even looked at the rig yet. -- Roger Long Any real sailor lives aboard and does not pay marinas but rather travels and anchors or moors out and considers the fact that he/she is saving a couple grand or more a month on rent, utilities, taxes, autos etc. I've lived aboard my fine yacht for twenty years. Do the math. My yacht hasn't cost; she's saved me almost half a million dollars. CN |
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
Plastic fittings above the waterline don't need replacing with bronze and amazingly-priced bronze ball valves. They do here in the northeast if they are very close as these were and you plan to sail late in the season. I'm perfectly happy with plastic farther up and left several but these only needed an inch of sinkage to be right in the zone where freezing and cracking is most likely. It's sunk a number of boats. If I was farther south, I would have left them. As for the valves, it's a sailboat and these fittings are located under seat lockers where it would be very hard to drive in a plug. If the hose lets go, I'd still like to be able to sail on either tack. By the time you realized that the boat was getting heavy, these would be underwater fittings anyway. I can just reach the lever on the valve to close it. Anything else would be tough. Believe me, this boat is far from perfect. -- Roger Long |
"Larry W4CSC" wrote
I think the title of the thread needs to be changed: "True cost of PERFECTIONIST'S boats" Gee, I just went through the list again myself. If you toss out the optional things like the engine water alarm and if I'd just slapped in a single bilge pump it still wouldn't change the bottom line very much. If the boat had a stronger keel bottom and didn't have a flexible stuffing box, I would have just put in a basic bilge system. The water's pretty damn cold up here and you really want to stay afloat. I bet the yard owner was smiling from ear to ear every time you found some other niggling little defect for him to tear it all apart for....(c; No, aside from normal commissioning things like painting the bottom, I only owe the yard for about six hours work. I did all this myself so the yard isn't smiling. My point was that, if you are not in a position to do it yourself, it's going to add up fast. It is true that I bill out $15 more than the yard but my work is project based and this came at a good time. I also wanted to do it myself because I enjoyed it and I now know my boat in a way I never would otherwise. I originally thought I was pretty clever exchanging a $75 sump system for several $125 through hulls and the labor of replacing them. I misjudged how much modifying all the plumbing would be in just material cost. OTOH, the old hose was carrying water but was all crap that would need replacing soon anyway. Everything was rough and plugged from years of use and I was going to be unplugging it constantly. Ending up with only two seacocks to open and close when getting on and off the boat is a nice plus. Changing out the gate valves was required by survey and insurance. When I took them apart, they looked perfectly good but this is a fresh water boat that spent very little time in electrically active marinas. Looking at the design, I can see why they are vulnerable. BTW these gate valves are in great conditions. Maybe we can work out a deal:) -- Roger Long |
Roger Long wrote:
Our boat should finally be going in tomorrow. I thought I'd better sit down and list everything done over the last month for future reference and as a warning to anyone contemplating similar folly. If anyone is interested, click he http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Boat20.htm#Done This was in no way a project boat or a fixer upper. She had a good survey and was clean and well cared for although her former owner was a little hazy about proper marine practice and (evidently) the location of marine supply stores. This list just gets us a motorboat. I haven't even looked at the rig yet. Wow, I wish I had as much time in the last year to do on my boat as much as you've done in, what has it been, two months now?? -- Stephen |
Stephen Trapani" wrote in message
... Wow, I wish I had as much time in the last year to do on my boat as much as you've done in, what has it been, two months now?? Just one month but it feel like three. One thing that helped was that the fuel pump was back ordered. Since the boat was stranded in a place where I could park my car right next to it, it didn't bounce around, and parts and materials were just 100 feet away, I went ahead and did a lot of things I'd planned to do later. -- Roger Long " |
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