I'm Walking Away from my Boat

[bobofthenorth]

$3000 - $4500 per week to charter my boat in the PNW - I paid just under $100,000 for her and 2 years later I may have a total of $10k more in her and 11 months onboard over the course of those 2 years. So 45 weeks even at $3k per - I guess I can sink the old girl tomorrow and consider myself ahead of the game.

[captain58sailin]

Part of my problem is, I am so picky, I don't want anyone else working on my boat, but me, like the hose clamps, I won't settle for the zinc plated screw/stainless band kind, I don't even like to use the ones with the slots cut in them. I have the same problem as some of the previous posters in that regard, I don't have enough money to quit and work on my boat full time, and when I do get some time off, it is hard to get a lot done due to weather, prior commitments etc... not to mention the "Honey Do" list that is 4' long by the time I get home.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by jgbrown

Never trust a surveyor imo. I suspect you might have more sense than me, I should have walked away as well, then tried again. I bought a 'turn key' sailboat for a relative premium price as well, according to the seller and the surveyor at least she was ready to go. The 800+ dollar cost of the survey I consider entirely wasted money, I'd have been much better off using it as toilet paper.

I think that is the real nightmare scenario - inadvertently buying a project boat .

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Part of my problem is, I am so picky, I don't want anyone else working on my boat, but me, like the hose clamps, I won't settle for the zinc plated screw/stainless band kind, I don't even like to use the ones with the slots cut in them. I have the same problem as some of the previous posters in that regard, I don't have enough money to quit and work on my boat full time, and when I do get some time off, it is hard to get a lot done due to weather, prior commitments etc... not to mention the "Honey Do" list that is 4' long by the time I get home.

Exactly!!!

Well said. I'm retired though. Just a little different.

kind regards,

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by Larry Moran

This was the first thread I read, and this is my first post on CruisersForum.

I read the first page and the last two and promise to read the entire thread soon.
Advice I read seems very good and I'm glad to know that the OP returned to express
additional information.

We raced and cruised a C&C 26 on Lake Michigan for six years after cruising a Paceship Eastwind 25 for six years. We haven't owned a yacht since 1983 when we sold YOT II and I left to take photographs professionally at the America's Cup in Newport RI.

There's no question that the following are handy aboard any cruiser:

electrical genius
machinist
inventor
rigger
seaman
reader
navigator
sail repairer
people familiar with your boat or very similar boats
janitor
friends

If you don't have room for that many crew, you should develop many of the necessary skills yourself.

It's true that starting at a young age with dinghies and developing knowledge by sailing on a variety of boats before deciding own a boat for cruising is a BIG PLUS.

We never blew out a sail, never had an electrical or electronic failure. Perhaps those were miracles. At least 90% of our friends experienced such failures aboard their yachts.

You are a lucky, lucky sailor. My friend bought his 36 foot boat, got cheated at the boat yard, blew out main and headsail, had his boat slip its mooring and go aground causing all kinds of bottom damage including rudder and all within 2 years of purchase.

kind regards,

[MANLEYONE]

I'm a newbie here and this advice/lesson is for newbies. I was advised to get a Survey when buying a used boat; the cost's is about $500 but can prevent this type grief. I'm definitely not a know it all but this advice certainly made dollars and sense to Me.

[captain58sailin]

Surveyors are like boats, there are good ones and bad ones, and often if you do not have the experience, you will not find out until too late, which one you have.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Approx $3000 a week here for charter. Thats $156,000 a year, Its cheaper to own your own boat,

Not if you don't have the time to do the upkeep. Let alone use it.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Surveyors are like boats, there are good ones and bad ones, and often if you do not have the experience, you will not find out until too late, which one you have.

+1
....

[kthoennes]

I have very mixed feelings about surveyors. Skip a survey and you can buy a bad boat, a money pit. Get a survey, and sometimes you can still get a bad boat - and be out the cost of the survey. I know so many posters will stomp their feet about surveys like it's one of the Ten Commandments but in my experience they seldom make a real difference.

[S/V Antares]

I understand. I am sitting here in West Palm waiting impatiently for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas. I am ready to buy a house just to have something to Paint!

If you cannot fix your own boat issues you should get a daysailor or a model boat for the hot tub. You just do not get much for $ 80+ an hour anymore .

If you cannot fix your own boat you should rethink the whole concept. It is simply not that easy to go cruising. It is work.

Anyone venturing offshore that cannot bleed their own diesel or change the fuel filters is a fool.

You can know your own boat or be ready to pay someone to know all about it but they will not be there when the do do hits the fan.

[DumnMad]

When I got my survey I just asked him to check out the hull and the internal timbers for rot(he missed the borer but that just cost me a Borafume). I got an experienced engine man to go on the sea-trial and give it a bit of a thrashing. All was good.
The boat had been used as a weekender but needed a bit more to become a Live-aboard. Many little issues turned up like leaks through hatches, down masts, through bolt fixings. Toilet plumbing needed rearranging to stop smells. Hot water cylinder pressure tank buried under the floorboards was leaking.(The bilge pump would kick into gear during the night and being a newbe I would lie there wondering if the boat was sinking.) Water needed to be removed from diesel tanks, oil-change needed, and electrical charging system needed an expensive fix before we got new batteries. To live-aboard we needed a quality dehumidifier, some extra 240v wiring and plugs and the removal of black mold.
The surveyor wasn't wrong he just didn't live on board for a few months to work things out.

[captain58sailin]

One of the best ways I have found to learn about a boat was to clean it, from top to bottom, its good exercise and I often see things that I might miss if I am only boarding a vessel for a visit.

[MarkJ]

One of the best lessons I learned in business was "What would Kerry Do?"

Kerry Packer, Australia's richest man and he didn't suffer fools. He could sack people for no apparent reason and his swearing tirades were legendary.

But he knew when to cut a loss.

Ages ago I had a manufacturing company (yes, very funny for those that know what I "normally" did). I would sit in the office and wonder what Kerry would do if he burst through the doors and demanded to see the books.

No sentimentality, not philosophical works just F$&@ You give me the Books.

One day when I had owned the business long enough to know the books were correct I asked in my mind what Kerry would do. He "told" me to GET RID OF IT!"
I did. And at a nice profit.
But he was right. I could never have made money due to circumstances that "he" could see... Without sentimentality affecting his judgement.

If you change the theme of this from money to Happiness, then think: is it going to make you happy to keep this boat? Or is it better to cut your losses, flog it off to some dill, and buy a boat that will make you happy?

I know my answer.


All the best.


Mark

[jmcdboater]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

The typical charter fee for a week is more than my boat costs me in upkeep per year.

Amen, Kettlewell!
AND...... No quiet mornings sipping coffee on MY vessel, at anchor, or especially on a small adventure. Can go on so many more adventure's...(going around the bend to fuel up and pump out can be an adventure if you keep the proper frame of mind). Where land ends, life begins!