As Far as Boats are Concerned What are Your 3 Biggest Headaches ?

[atoll]

1#pulling women
2#entertaining pulled women
3#having boat large and shiny enough to pull women..............

[sck5]

Now I have head envy. That head with all the plumbing exposed and attached to the bulkhead where it is easy to see and get at is what I want when I grow up. All my plumbing is under and behind things that make it very hard to work on. I have head envy.

[cwyckham]

Previous owner
Owner before that
Owner before that

One day, I will be the previous owner, and the next owner's gonna hate me, too!

[Bash]

1. bird droppings on deck
2. bird droppings on dodger
3. bird droppings on bimini

[Lancerbye]

I feel blessed. However I enjoy working on problems. The only real problem I have is getting older and having to struggle with the outboard for the dinghy.

[bobofthenorth]

The generator - If I could have half the hours of my life back that I have spent working on generators I'd live to be 150.

The dinghy outboard - it only wants to rev up if the choke is pulled out and the choke is too loose to stay out so I have to try to hold the choke on and steer at the same time (try it sometime - its not possible)

[Astrid]

Plumbing
rust and galvanic corrosion, painting (steel hulled boat)
Electrical issues.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by sck5

Now I have head envy. That head with all the plumbing exposed and attached to the bulkhead where it is easy to see and get at is what I want when I grow up. All my plumbing is under and behind things that make it very hard to work on. I have head envy.

I actually nearly glued my head to the bulkhead. Thats what happens when your replacing the head liner and the glue gets in your hair.

[cruiser6003]

Great question, and some great responses so far.

I must agree with:
1. Previous Owner(s) - Sorting out the rats nest of modifications to every system
2. Humidity control - for everything
3. Annoying window leaks

[sww914]

The head! We just bought a c-head but haven't installed it yet.
Deck leaks, teak decks. Every time it rains we fix 90% of them which will eventually diminish to some measurable leakage.
Everything the previous owner ever tried to fix-
Who in the hell is stupid enough to put 4 splices in a wire that's 18" long and exposed to weather 20' up the mast?
Hydraulic steering

[matauwhi]

G'day, mates.
1. Always having to be tuned into the weather today, tomorrow and....
2. Always having to be tuned into the weather today, tomorrow and....
3. Always having to be tuned into the weather today, tomorrow and....

A tip on the heads, Groco Model K-H, very minimal attention required over the years. Cheers.

[w1651]

That would be PO he didn't fix anything he rigged everything
then the sea cocks(He really liked Home Depot)
then the head. I don't know how he could stand it and he never fixed it.

[Valkyrie654]

Plumbing, it seems that the domestic water supply is always leaking somewhere, usually where it takes a contornist midget to get to it.
Refrigeration, I know more about fixing it than I ever wanted to know.
Painting! I will always be painting our steel boat, but at least I don't have to worry about running into things in the dark of night. Or out of control power boats crashing into us in marinas. We survived that one with only a few dents in the plating, anything else would have been sunk at he dock!

[peghall]

"...why can't some one come up with a toilet macerator that can last. Admittedly our toilets get more use than most, but I still can't understand why there isn't something with a little more grunt and less inclined to get blocked or something caught around the blades."

There is--several in fact...but they cost more than charter companies want to spend...they'd rather buy the cheapest toilets and then spend 3-5x the cost of a good toilet repairing/replacing the cheap toilets. But that's also true of most owners.

There's a whole forum devoted to sanitation and plumbing...you'll find a lot of helpful information about how to solve and--better yet, how to PREVENT--"pottie" and odor problems in the discussions there.

[David M]

1. The money.
2. The maintenance.
3. The lack of time to enjoy the boat.