Second boat wisdom (or folly)

[Bazz]

A few years ago, I acquired my second sailboat. My first one was an old 1971 29' in moderate shape. My "school boat" I called it. For many years, I went to work on it, with it. Sailing, upgrading, learning. Wanted the best for it. Explored its limits. Did and redid just about everything within my skills and budget. A damn fine vessel now but, like any other, incomplete and unfinished. Victor Hugo (the writer) said that you never finish a novel, you abandon it. Same must be true for boats.

With this other one, I find that my attitude has somehow been reversed. She's 40 years old, only one owner, remarkably well kept. I find myself wanting to make it last, usable with as little intervention as possible. Kind of going into the stride of the first owner, which I never met. Probably never will. Seems like he abandoned this one, probably from lack of strength, old age. The thing that will all get us in the end.

My former motto was to make all systems as best and new as possible. Ultimate reliability. With this second one, it’s more like "how can I realistically make this or that safely last". I'm not quite sure how this turn of attitude came about. But it seems like I went from "best ship shape possible" to "good enough for now". I'm not sure how this fit in with good seamanship, but it just seems to me now that going, leaving, voyaging, is more about resilience and confidence than quality and excellence. I must say, I was never quite fond of "excellence". Best is the enemy of good and, often enough, it gets people hurt. Or, at the very least, prevents them from really living.

[boatman61]

If it ain't broke why 'fix' it.. just keep on top of any maintainance..

[Toccata]

Hello Bazz
Re excellence. I'm in the second year of a refit of a 20 year old boat. Most of the gear was "at the cheap end" when installed and is now worn out. The initial fitout was rough and ready. Full marks to the first owner, he had 20 years of use and basically retired from sailing as the boat wore out.

However, I am guilty of over engineering over restoring.
That said I am interested in your working definition of excellence. I'm not sure there is such a big gap between good enough and excellent.
Below is an example list of things where individually the price point difference may not be great, but added up over a whole restoration, it certainly can delay a project, by time and by $.
A cheap water pressure pump vs a really good one.
A cheap head vs a really good one
Fitting a piece of timber trim three times to get it "just right" vs once and it looks awful.
Bespoke stainless steel work vs off the shelf generic items.
I'm not particularly trying to make a point here, just looking for a working definition of excellent vs good enough, One that might guide a future reader/project to help them find the middle ground