wrote:

I have been drawn to the idea of buying a boat, because of the
independant lifestyle it brings. Here are some rather ignorant
questions, and I would be very grateful to anyone who takes a few
minutes to answer one or all of them:

a) How big a boat is required to go from New York to England (about
3750nm)?

13.5'. Although I don't recommend it.

http://www.clevelandmemory.org/manry/video.html

DT

wrote in news:1174314095.430596.35240
@d57g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

c) Do any of you live on your boats?


Ahh....another great time to repost my:

LIVEABOARD SIMULATOR - Before you make the BIG mistake!


Just for fun, park your cars in the lot of the convenience store
at least 2 blocks from your house. (Make believe the sidewalk is a
floating dock between your car and the house.


Move yourself and your family (If applicable) into 2 bedrooms and 1
bathroom. Measure the DECK space INSIDE your boat. Make sure the
occupied house has no more space, or closet space, or drawer space.


Boats don't have room for "beds", as such. Fold your Sealy
Posturepedic up against a wall, it won't fit on a boat. Go to a hobby
fabric store and buy a foam pad 5' 10" long and 4' wide AND NO MORE
THAN 3" THICK. Cut it into a triangle so the little end is only 12"
wide. This simulates the foam pad in the V-berth up in the pointy bow
of the sailboat. Bring in the kitchen table from the kitchen you're
not allowed to use. Put the pad UNDER the table, on the floor, so you
can simulate the 3' of headroom over the pad.
Block off both long sides of the pad, and the pointy end so you have
to climb aboard the V-berth from the wide end where your pillows will
be. The hull blocks off the sides of a V-berth and you have to climb
up over the end of it through a narrow opening (hatch to main cabin)
on a boat. You'll climb over your mate's head to go to the potty in
the night. No fun for either party. Test her mettle and resolve by
getting up this way right after you go to bed at night. There are lots
of things to do on a boat and you'll forget at least one of them,
thinking about it laying in bed, like "Did I remember to tie off the
dingy better?" or "Is that spring line (at the dock) or anchor line
(anchored out) as tight as it should be?" Boaters who don't worry
about things like this laying in bed are soon aground or on
fire or the laughing stock of an anchorage.... You need to find out
how much climbing over her she will tolerate BEFORE you're stuck with
a big boat and big marina bills and she refuses to sleep aboard it any
more.....


Bring a coleman stove into the bathroom and set it next to the
bathroom sink. Your boat's sink is smaller, but we'll let you use the
bathroom sink, anyways. Do all your cooking in the bathroom, WITHOUT
using the bathroom power vent. If you have a boat vent, it'll be a
useless 12v one that doesn't draw near the air your bathroom power
vent draws to take away cooking odors. Leave the hall door open to
simulate the open hatch. Take all the screens off your 2 bedroom's
windows. Leave the windows open to let in the bugs that will invade
your boat at dusk, and the flies attracted to the cooking.


Borrow a 25 gallon drum mounted on a trailer. Flush your
toilets into the drums. Trailer the drums to the convenience store to
dump them when they get full. Turn off your sewer, you won't have
one. This will simulate going to the "pump out station" every time the
tiny drum is full. 25 gallons is actually LARGER than most holding
tanks.
They're more like 15 gallons on small sailboats under 40' because they
were added to the boat after the law changed requiring them and there
was no place to put it or a bigger one. They fill up really fast if
you liveaboard!


Unless your boat is large enough to have a big "head" with full bath,
make believe your showers/bathtubs don't work. Make a deal with
someone next door to the convenience store to use THEIR bathroom for
bathing at the OTHER end of the DOCK. (Marina rest room) If you use
this rest room to potty, while you're there, make believe it has no
paper towels or toilet paper. Bring your own. Bring your own soap
and anything else you'd like to use there, too.


If your boat HAS a shower in its little head, we'll let you use the
shower end of the bathtub, but only as much tub as the boat has FREE
shower space
for standing to shower. As the boat's shower drains into a little pan
in the bilge, be sure to leave the soapy shower water in the bottom of
the tub for a few days before draining it. Boat shower sumps always
smell like spent soap growing exotic living organisms science hasn't
actually discovered or named, yet. Make sure your simulated V-berth is
less than 3' from this soapy water for sleeping. The shower sump is
under the passageway to the V-berth next to your pillows.


Run you whole house through a 20 amp breaker to simulate available
dock power at the marina. If you're thinking of anchoring out, turn
off the main breaker and "make do" with a boat battery and
flashlights. Don't forget you have to heat your house on this 20A
supply and try to keep the water from freezing in winter.


Turn off the water main valve in front of your house. Run a hose from
your neighbor's lawn spigot over to your lawn spigot and get all your
water from there. Try to keep the hose from freezing all winter.


As your boat won't have a laundry, disconnect yours. Go to a boat
supply place, like West Marine, and buy you a dock cart. Haul ALL
your supplies, laundry, garbage, etc. between the car at the
convenience store and house in this cart. Once a week, haul your
outboard motor to the car, leave it a day then haul it back to the
house, in the cart, to simulate "boat problems" that require "boat
parts" to be removed/replaced on your "dock". If ANYTHING ever comes
out of that cart between the convenience store and the house, put it
in your garage and forget about it. (Simulates losing it over the
side of the dock, where it sank in 23' of water and was dragged off by
the current.)


Each morning, about 5AM, have someone you don't know run a weedeater
back and forth under your bedroom windows to simulate the fishermen
leaving the marina to go fishing. Have him slam trunk lids, doors,
blow car horns and bang some heavy pans together from 4AM to 5AM
before lighting off the weedeater. (Simulates loading boats
with booze and fishing gear and gas cans.) Once a week, have him bang
the running weedeater into your bedroom wall to simulate the idiot who
drove his boat into the one you're sleeping in because he was half
asleep leaving the dock. Put a rope over a big hook in the ceiling
over your coffee table "bed". Hook one end of the rope to the coffee
table siderail and the other end out where he can pull on it. As soon
as he shuts off the weedeater, have him pull hard 9 times on the rope
to tilt your bed at least 30 degrees. (Simulates the wakes of the
fishermen blasting off trying to beat each other to the fishing.)
Anytime there is a storm in your area, have someone constantly pull on
the rope. It's rough riding storms in the marina! If your boat is a
sailboat, install a big wire from the top of the tallest tree to your
electrical ground in the house to simulate mast lightning strikes in
the marina, or to give you the thought of potential lightning strikes.


Each time you "go out", or think of going boating away from your
marina, disconnect the neighbor's water hose, your electric wires, all
the umbilicals your new boat will use to make life more bearable in
the marina.
Use bottled drinking water for 2 days for everything. Get one of those
5 gallon jugs with the airpump on top from a bottled water company.
This is your boat's "at sea" water system simulator. You'll learn to
conserve water this way. Of course, not having the marina's AC power
supply, you'll be lighting and all from a car battery, your only
source of power. If you own or can borrow a generator, feel free to
leave it running to provide AC power up to the limit of the generator.
If you're thinking about a 30' sailboat, you won't have room for a
generator so don't use it.


Any extra family members must be sleeping on the settees in the main
cabin or in the quarter berth under the cockpit....unless you intend
to get a boat over 40-something feet with an aft cabin. Smaller boats
have quarter berths. Cut a pad out of the same pad material that is no
more than 2' wide by 6' long. Get a cardboard box from an appliance
store that a SMALL refridgerator came in. Put the pad in the box, cut
to fit, and make sure only one end of the box is open. The box can be
no more than 2 feet above the pad. Quarter berths are really tight.
Make them sleep in there, with little or no air circulation. That's
what sleeping in a quarterberth is all about.


Of course, to simulate sleeping anchored out for the weekend, no heat
or air conditioning will be used and all windows will be open without
screens so the bugs can get in.


In the mornings, everybody gets up and goes out on the patio to enjoy
the sunrise. Then, one person at a time goes back inside to dress,
shave, clean themselves in the tiny cabin unless you're a family of
nudists who don't mind looking at each other in the buff. You can't
get dressed in the stinky little head with the door closed on a
sailboat. Hell, there's barely room to bend over so you can sit on the
commode. So, everyone will dress in the main cabin....one at a time.


Boat tables are 2' x 4' and mounted next to the settee. There's no
room for chairs in a boat. So, eat off a 2X4' space on that kitchen
table you slept under while sitting on a couch (settee simulator). You
can also go out with breakfast and sit on the patio (cockpit), if you
like.


Ok, breakfast is over. Crank up the lawnmower under the window for 2
hours. It's time to recharge the batteries from last night's usage and
to freeze the coldplate in the boat's icebox which runs off a
compressor on the engine. Get everybody to clean up your little hovel.
Don't forget to make the beds from ONE END ONLY. You can't get to the
other 3 sides of a boat bed pad.


All hands go outside and washdown the first fiberglass UPS truck that
passes by. That's about how big the deck is on your 35' sailboat that
needs to have the ocean cleaned off it daily or it'll turn the white
fiberglass all brown like the UPS truck. Now, doesn't the UPS truck
look nice like your main deck?


Ok, we're going to need some food, do the laundry, buy some boat parts
that failed because the manufacturer's bean counters got cheap and
used plastics and the wife wants to "eat out, I'm fed up with cooking
on the Coleman stove" today. Let's make believe we're not at home, but
in some exotic port like Ft Lauderdale, today....on our cruise to Key
West......Before "going ashore", plan on buying all the food you'll
want to eat that will:
A - Fit into the Coleman Cooler on the floor
B - You can cook on the Coleman stove without an oven or all those
fancy
kitchen tools you don't have on the boat
C - And will last you for 10 days, in case the wind drops and it takes
more time than we planned at sea.
Plan meals carefully in a boat. We can't buy more than we can STORE,
either!


You haven't washed clothes since you left home and everything is
dirty. Even if it's not, pretend it is for the boater-away-from-home
simulator. Put all the clothes in your simulated boat in a huge
dufflebag so we can take it to the LAUNDRY! Manny's Marina HAS a
laundromat, but the hot water heater is busted (for the last 8 months)
and Manny has "parts on order" for it.....saving Manny $$$$ on the
electric bill! Don't forget to carry the big dufflebag with us on our
"excursion". God that bag stinks, doesn't it?....PU!


Of course, we came here by BOAT, so we don't have a car. Some nice
marinas have a shuttle bus, but they're not a taxi. The shuttle bus
will only go to West Marine or the tourist traps, so we'll be either
taking the city bus, if there is one or taxi cabs or shopping at the
marina store which has almost nothing to buy at enormous prices.


Walk to the 7-11 store, where you have your car stored, but ignore the
car.
Make believe it isn't there. No one drove it to Ft Lauderdale for you.
Use the payphone at the 7-11 and call a cab. Don't give the cab driver
ANY instructions because in Ft Lauderdale you haven't the foggiest
idea where West Marine is located or how to get there, unlike at home.
We'll go to West Marine, first, because if we don't the "head" back on
the boat won't be working for a week because little Suzy broke a valve
in it trying to flush some paper towels. This is your MOST important
project, today....that valve in the toilet!! After the cab drivers
drives around for an hour looking for West Marine and asking his
dispatcher how to get there. Don't forget to UNLOAD your stuff from
the cab, including the dirty clothes in the dufflebag then go into
West Marine and give the clerk a $100 bill, simulating the cost of
toilet parts. Lexus parts are cheaper than toilet parts at West
Marine. See for yourself! The valve she broke, the
seals that will have to be replaced on the way into the valve will
come to $100 easy. Tell the clerk you're using my liveaboard simulator
and to take his girlfriend out to dinner on your $100 greenback. If
you DO buy the boat, this'll come in handy when you DO need boat parts
because he'll remember you for the great time his girlfriend gave him
on your $100 tip.
Hard-to-find boat parts will arrive in DAYS, not months like the rest
of us. It's just a good political move while in simulation mode.


Call another cab from West Marine's phone, saving 50c on payphone
charges.
Load the cab with all your stuff, toilet parts, DIRTY CLOTHES then
tell the cabbie to take you to the laundromat so we can wash the
stinky clothes in the trunk. The luxury marina's laundry in Ft
Lauderdale has a broken hot water heater. They're working on it, the
girl at the store counter, said, yesterday. Mentioning the $12/ft you
paid to park the boat at their dock won't get the laundry working
before we leave for Key West. Do your laundry in the laundromat the
cabbie found for you. Just because noone speaks English in this
neighborhood, don't worry. You'll be fine this time of day near noon.


Call another cab to take us out of here to a supermarket. When you get
there, resist the temptation to "load up" because your boat has
limited storage and very limited refridgeration space (remember?
Coleman Cooler).
Buy from the list we made early this morning. Another package of
cookies is OK. Leave one of the kids guarding the pile of clean
laundry just inside the supermarket's front door....We learned our
lesson and DIDN'T forget and leave it in the cab, again!


Call another cab to take us back to the marina, loaded up with clean
clothes and food and all-important boat parts. Isn't Ft Lauderdale
beautiful from a cab? It's too late to go exploring, today. Maybe
tomorrow.... Don't forget to tell the cab to go to the 7-11 (marina
parking lot)....not your front door....cabs don't float well.


Ok, haul all the stuff in the dock cart from the 7-11 store the two
blocks to the "boat" bedroom. Wait 20 minutes before starting out for
the house.
This simulates waiting for someone to bring back a marina-owned dock
cart from down the docks.....They always leave them outside their
boats, until the marina "crew" get fed up with newbies like us asking
why there aren't any carts and go down the docks to retrieve them.


Put all the stuff away, food and clothes, in the tiny drawer space
provided. Have a beer on the patio (cockpit) and watch the sunset.
THIS is living!


Now, disassemble the toilet in your bathroom, take out the wax ring
under it and put it back. Reassemble the toilet. This completes the
simulation of putting the new valve in the "head" on the boat. Uh, uh,
NO POWERVENT!
GET YOUR HAND OFF THAT SWITCH! The whole "boat" smells like the inside
of the holding tank for hours after fixing the toilet in a real boat,
too! Spray some Lysol if you got it....


After getting up, tomorrow morning, from your "V-Berth", take the
whole family out to breakfast by WALKING to the nearest restaurant,
then take a cab to any local park or attraction you like. We're off
today to see the sights of Ft Lauderdale.....before heading out to
sea, again, to Key West.
Take a cab back home after dinner out and go to bed, exhausted, on
your little foam pad under the table.....


Get up this morning and disconnect all hoses, electrical wires, etc.
Get ready for "sea". Crank up the lawn mower under the open bedroom
window for 4 hours while we motor out to find some wind. ONE
responsible adult MUST be sitting on the hot patio all day, in shifts,
"on watch" looking out for other boats, ships, etc. If you have a
riding lawn mower, let the person "on watch" drive it around the yard
all day to simulate driving the boat down the ICW in heavy traffic.
About 2PM, turn off the engine and just have them sit on the mower
"steering" it on the patio. We're under sail, now. Every hour or so,
take everyone out in the yard with a big rope and have a tug-of-war to
simulate the work involved with setting sail, changing sail, trimming
sail. Make sure everyone gets all sweaty in the heat.
Sailors working on sailboats are always all sweaty or we're not going
anywhere fast! Do this all day, today, all night, tonight, all day,
tomorrow, all night tomorrow night and all day the following day until
5PM when you "arrive" at the next port you're going to. Make sure
noone in the family leaves the confines of the little bedroom or the
patio during our "trip". Make sure everyone conserves water, battery
power, etc., things you'll want to conserve while being at sea on a
trip somewhere. Everyone can go up to the 7-11 for an icecream as soon
as we get the "boat" docked on day 3, the first time anyone has left
the confines of the bedroom/patio in 3 days.


Question - Was anyone suicidal during our simulated voyage? Keep an
eye out for anyone with a problem being cooped up with other family
members. If anyone is attacked, any major fights break out, any
threats to throw the captain to the fish.....forget all about boats
and buy a motorhome, instead.


Larry
--
Message for Comcrap Internet Customers:
http://tinyurl.com/3ayl9c
Unlimited Service my ass.....(d^

wrote in news:1174314095.430596.35240
@d57g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

b) If I wanted to learn more about boating, is there a book available
by someone who captures what it is like to be at sea, and describes
the pros and cons of boat life?


If you REALLY want to learn about boating, don't buy any books....

Now, what you do is to walk the docks of your local marina and strike up
pleasant conversations with boat owner/captains. Whatever skill you
have, he needs, desparately. Painting, sanding, plumbing, electrical,
diesel engine, heat and air, electronics, rigging, welding, any
mechanical skills will be MOST welcome, and jealously coveted once he
gets to know you better and finds out your are trustworthy, don't drink
up every beer you see and are a great help. Fun to be around is also a
big plus.

Every boater you ever meet who makes less than $250K/year needs whatever
skills you can muster. Concentrate your starting efforts on befriending
and helping one of them. Pick the one who seems to need you the most AND
GOES SAILING OFTEN, not just works every moment at the dock. After all,
you wanna go SAILING/BOATING, right?

They are very used to paying through the nose for everything they get,
especially anything related to their boat. They will offer you money.
REFUSE IT, gently but firmly. Allow them to buy lunch/dinner/take you to
the yacht club for a few beers...but no money changes hands. "No thank
you. If you want to pay me, just take me with you." Notice how this
makes an astonished look on his face, which then turns into total
disbelief as he has just found someone to sail with! Every sailor you
ever meet is shorthanded. Not many REALLY want to become hermits and
sail out alone, which is a helluva lot of WORK, not to mention dangerous.

Ok, so you do woodworking and plumbing and some electrical. He's found a
goldmine! Just offer to help him do what he needs done. I've been
wheedling my way aboard boats since I was a teenager, just this way. I'm
61 and still boating and helping any time I want. I don't need a boat.
I have 4 of them, from 32' to a 41' Amel Sharki French ketch. My friend
Dan sold the Hatteras 56 motor yacht a couple of years back, dammit, but
we're still great friends. Motor or sail, they all constant maintenance
headaches.

If you're a genuine nice guy willing to do some work on the boat with
your personal skills, you'll very soon find yourself boating with an
experienced yachtsman (or very soon MANY in various boats). You'll gain
skills the old fashioned way, hands on experience none of the books can
give you. Sailing isn't really rocket science and you can learn the
"lingo" and terminology and what the bits are called fairly rapidly. Use
the books to learn to tie knots from memory...most helpful at sea.

Word of you, in spite of your captain's vain attempt to hide you from the
others, will soon spread and as you are going down the dock with your
toolbox towards S/V "Wrecked Boat", don't be alarmed when other captains
wish to befriend you. A marina is like an overpriced trailer park full
of great neighbors. It's an odd mix of those that are truly rich, and
those that want to look that way. But, you'll find few that are really
unfriendly. I just stay away from those. Most are hermits so that's
easy.

If you have the time, and you must MAKE the time, to go to some exotic
port with them, you'll have the time of your life....or maybe lose your
life as this IS a risky adventure. DEMAND NOTHING. It's HIS boat.
Unless you are specifically invited to bring a guest, don't ask him. I
view my status as CREW, not a guest. It works very well.....

Give this a try for a year or two before making a big mistake and
visiting the slick-talking boat broker and buying a white elephant you
may regret. Sailing free isn't a sin, last time I checked, but I don't
check too often. It's a great time, even if I'm not learning much any
more. I love playing in the bilge, anyways, and I don't have to pay for
the bilge or the parking spaces it docks against.

NOTHING beats taking the CAPTAIN's VISA card to West Marine to buy
stuff....(c;

Larry...3rd Mate, Deck and Engineering
S/V "Lionheart"

When my captain bought me a hat that said "Captain Larry" on it, I told
him he just wanted to shift the blame to me if anything happened....(c;

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:48:02 +0000, Larry wrote:

wrote in news:1174314095.430596.35240
:

b) If I wanted to learn more about boating, is there a book available
by someone who captures what it is like to be at sea, and describes
the pros and cons of boat life?


If you REALLY want to learn about boating, don't buy any books....

Now, what you do is to walk the docks of your local marina and strike up
pleasant conversations with boat owner/captains. Whatever skill you
have, he needs, desparately. Painting, sanding, plumbing, electrical,
diesel engine, heat and air, electronics, rigging, welding, any
mechanical skills will be MOST welcome, and jealously coveted once he
gets to know you better and finds out your are trustworthy, don't drink
up every beer you see and are a great help. Fun to be around is also a
big plus.

Larry,
This is by far the best advice anyone could hear. Congratulations on a
great posting and for taking the time to think about and write these
words to someone you will probably never meet.

Somehow, from reading your postings when I get near the web over the
past few years I had somehow imagined you to be possibly in your mid
forties. Hell! You are two years older than me.

cheers and thanks
Peter Hendra

Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Larry,
This is by far the best advice anyone could hear. Congratulations on a
great posting and for taking the time to think about and write these
words to someone you will probably never meet.

You're quite welcome. Some of them bark quite loudly, especially yelling
at the crew, shouting orders, in a race...but they don't hardly ever
bite. Even then, it's all in good fun because Captain Blythe will take
his crew to dinner and party, especially if the terrified crew (plus the
boat's awful handicap) should result in a win!...(c; (It is fun crewing
on a big, slow, clunky cruiser with a big party going on. Other crews
laugh as they easily pass us and wonder why we're all smirking and
smiling. They, obviously, haven't checked the race webpage to find out
what the old, slow girl's handicap is. Hell, in order to beat us, they
have to arrive two DAYS before we do!...(c;


Somehow, from reading your postings when I get near the web over the
past few years I had somehow imagined you to be possibly in your mid
forties. Hell! You are two years older than me.

I'm 61. Cap'n Geoffrey's 68, going on 29 after a few ales. We get along
fabulously. I was introduced to him by another boater I was helping at
the time, as me and the other guy were casually cruising the docks
looking for someone to offer us free beer. We've been friends ever
since.

Cap'n call me. Says, "There's something on the chart table. Can you
figure out how to hook it up? I got it at the Miami Boat Show." "It" is
some new electronic gadget I can easily hook up....of course, assuming we
can find a suitable space to mount its display/input
device/mic/printer/plotter/drafting-table-sized marking device. We might
have to dismount something that's 2 years old the "new" wore off of, but
we'll make it fit. Cap'n is a fine wood craftsman. He's responsible for
the custom cabinetry/mounting of anything new. I'm responsible for its
electronics/electrical integration and software integration.

I KNOW better than to say, "We already have one of these from XXXXXX.
Why do we need two?" He always looks so disappointed, so we have several
chartplotters (Garmin, Raymarine, Yeoman), compasses (B&G, Raymarine
(both the compass sensor and smart heading sensor), GPS (Garmin,
Raymarine WAAS-GPS), etc. As long as I don't have to pull another cable
through the Nav to Helm wireway that's stuffed, I'm fine with it.

The only thing Navy has we don't is weaponry. SHHHH....keep him away
from boatshow weapon salesmen!

Peter, you don't need a boat. There are PLENTY of boats to play
with/on/out of sitting on docks all over. Unless you just HAVE to have a
family cruiser to take the kids out on, something none of the yachties
want on their boats I know, spending all that cash on boats and upkeep is
unnecessary. If you want to cruise around in some really nice yachts,
you need a pleasant captain who, like my friend, would love to have
someone he can trust to get her ready-for-sea...and pilot her most of the
time...so he can enjoy his guests and family...rather than being strapped
to the wheel all the time. I don't have that kind of money. I like my
position aboard.....

NOTHING beats taking the CAPTAIN'S VISA card to West Marine on a Saturday
morning for a "few parts and replenishment spares".....(c;


cheers and thanks
Peter Hendra


Cheers! Boddington's ok?....my favorite.


Larry
--
Message for Comcrap Internet Customers:
http://tinyurl.com/3ayl9c
Unlimited Service my ass.....(d^

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Larry,
This is by far the best advice anyone could hear. Congratulations on a
great posting and for taking the time to think about and write these
words to someone you will probably never meet.

You're quite welcome. Some of them bark quite loudly, especially yelling
at the crew, shouting orders, in a race...but they don't hardly ever
bite. Even then, it's all in good fun because Captain Blythe will take
his crew to dinner and party, especially if the terrified crew (plus the
boat's awful handicap) should result in a win!...(c; (It is fun crewing
on a big, slow, clunky cruiser with a big party going on. Other crews
laugh as they easily pass us and wonder why we're all smirking and
smiling. They, obviously, haven't checked the race webpage to find out
what the old, slow girl's handicap is. Hell, in order to beat us, they
have to arrive two DAYS before we do!...(c;


Somehow, from reading your postings when I get near the web over the
past few years I had somehow imagined you to be possibly in your mid
forties. Hell! You are two years older than me.

I'm 61. Cap'n Geoffrey's 68, going on 29 after a few ales. We get along
fabulously. I was introduced to him by another boater I was helping at
the time, as me and the other guy were casually cruising the docks
looking for someone to offer us free beer. We've been friends ever
since.

Cap'n call me. Says, "There's something on the chart table. Can you
figure out how to hook it up? I got it at the Miami Boat Show." "It" is
some new electronic gadget I can easily hook up....of course, assuming we
can find a suitable space to mount its display/input
device/mic/printer/plotter/drafting-table-sized marking device. We might
have to dismount something that's 2 years old the "new" wore off of, but
we'll make it fit. Cap'n is a fine wood craftsman. He's responsible for
the custom cabinetry/mounting of anything new. I'm responsible for its
electronics/electrical integration and software integration.

I KNOW better than to say, "We already have one of these from XXXXXX.
Why do we need two?" He always looks so disappointed, so we have several
chartplotters (Garmin, Raymarine, Yeoman), compasses (B&G, Raymarine
(both the compass sensor and smart heading sensor), GPS (Garmin,
Raymarine WAAS-GPS), etc. As long as I don't have to pull another cable
through the Nav to Helm wireway that's stuffed, I'm fine with it.

The only thing Navy has we don't is weaponry. SHHHH....keep him away
from boatshow weapon salesmen!

Peter, you don't need a boat. There are PLENTY of boats to play
with/on/out of sitting on docks all over. Unless you just HAVE to have a
family cruiser to take the kids out on, something none of the yachties
want on their boats I know, spending all that cash on boats and upkeep is
unnecessary. If you want to cruise around in some really nice yachts,
you need a pleasant captain who, like my friend, would love to have
someone he can trust to get her ready-for-sea...and pilot her most of the
time...so he can enjoy his guests and family...rather than being strapped
to the wheel all the time. I don't have that kind of money. I like my
position aboard.....

NOTHING beats taking the CAPTAIN'S VISA card to West Marine on a Saturday
morning for a "few parts and replenishment spares".....(c;


cheers and thanks
Peter Hendra


Cheers! Boddington's ok?....my favorite.


Larry
--
Message for Comcrap Internet Customers:
http://tinyurl.com/3ayl9c
Unlimited Service my ass.....(d^

I had a deal somewhat like that for 5 years, although on a more modest
scale.
At some point you just want be be your own captain...especially if you want
to try new cruising grounds and the boat owner is happy with 3 hour cruises
in your harbour.

"Don White" wrote in message
...
I had a deal somewhat like that for 5 years, although on a more modest
scale.
At some point you just want be be your own captain...especially if you
want to try new cruising grounds and the boat owner is happy with 3 hour
cruises in your harbour.

I also had a deal like that on a Cape Dory 36, but the owner got to old for
it, his words, but actually it was all of the maintenance. He sold it and
went smaller to a little Fisher 25 motorsailer. A year later he came up with
cancer and put the boat on the market. I have had my little ship, the
biggest little cruiser, for 11 years now.

Leanne
s/vs. Fundy

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:56:07 +0000, Larry wrote:


Peter, you don't need a boat. There are PLENTY of boats to play
with/on/out of sitting on docks all over. Unless you just HAVE to have a
family cruiser to take the kids out on, something none of the yachties
want on their boats I know, spending all that cash on boats and upkeep is
unnecessary. If you want to cruise around in some really nice yachts,
you need a pleasant captain who, like my friend, would love to have
someone he can trust to get her ready-for-sea...and pilot her most of the
time...so he can enjoy his guests and family...rather than being strapped
to the wheel all the time. I don't have that kind of money. I like my
position aboard.....

NOTHING beats taking the CAPTAIN'S VISA card to West Marine on a Saturday
morning for a "few parts and replenishment spares".....(c;

Larry

Hi Larry,
Agreed if going sailing is all you wish to do. Personally, what I like
most about owning my own boat is the wonderful sense of freedom it
affords me. I can go where I want to, when I want to; dollars and
weather and the the bloody pirates and such scum aside.

After years of working to pay mortgages, raising children etc, I love
the freedom of looking out of my office window on a difficult day
(when I work) and thinking. Well, if I don't want to do this there is
simply nothing to stop me just raising the anchor and going somewhere
else. I am not answerable to anyone apart from wife (for the time
being anyway) friends and the obligation to the current work
contract/sense of professional responsibility.

cheers
Peter

Peter Hendra wrote in
news
Personally, what I like
most about owning my own boat is the wonderful sense of freedom it
affords me. I can go where I want to, when I want to; dollars and
weather and the the bloody pirates and such scum aside.


I'm not quite so optimistic about it. Boating on a sailboat over 10'
long is very burdensome. There's always something wrong with them,
something that needs immediate attention...and immediate money. BOAT =
Bring Out Another Thousand (pounds, dollars, rupees, etc.). Those that
can afford them that I know, are all saddled with chasing the dollars to
keep them. Oh, there are a few true hermits who don't seem to need
money. Their boats look it. More power to them.

A boat is a LOT of WORK!...especially YOUR boat, the one with the clogged
injector, stopped up head, leaky (pick anything that can leak here),
broken (pick anything that can break here). I don't think it's a lot of
freedom, at all.

Doing it my way has a great advantage, the freedom to walk away without
worry. Some times I don't go to the docks for weeks, sometimes months.
I don't HAVE to check on boats I don't own. THAT's freedom!

Larry
--
Message for Comcrap Internet Customers:
http://tinyurl.com/3ayl9c
Unlimited Service my ass.....(d^

In article ,
Peter Hendra wrote:

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:56:07 +0000, Larry wrote:


Peter, you don't need a boat. There are PLENTY of boats to play
with/on/out of sitting on docks all over. Unless you just HAVE to have a
family cruiser to take the kids out on, something none of the yachties
want on their boats I know, spending all that cash on boats and upkeep is
unnecessary. If you want to cruise around in some really nice yachts,
you need a pleasant captain who, like my friend, would love to have
someone he can trust to get her ready-for-sea...and pilot her most of the
time...so he can enjoy his guests and family...rather than being strapped
to the wheel all the time. I don't have that kind of money. I like my
position aboard.....

NOTHING beats taking the CAPTAIN'S VISA card to West Marine on a Saturday
morning for a "few parts and replenishment spares".....(c;

Larry

Hi Larry,
Agreed if going sailing is all you wish to do. Personally, what I like
most about owning my own boat is the wonderful sense of freedom it
affords me. I can go where I want to, when I want to; dollars and
weather and the the bloody pirates and such scum aside.

After years of working to pay mortgages, raising children etc, I love
the freedom of looking out of my office window on a difficult day
(when I work) and thinking. Well, if I don't want to do this there is
simply nothing to stop me just raising the anchor and going somewhere
else. I am not answerable to anyone apart from wife (for the time
being anyway) friends and the obligation to the current work
contract/sense of professional responsibility.

I do a lot of my "regular" work from my boat.. good, fast
connection. Sometimes, I just stow all the crap and have a sail for a
couple. Works wonders.
--
Capt. JG @@
www.sailnow.com