[wind_magic]

I think living on a boat can be inexpensive, but it means doing a lot of work yourself, which very few people actually do - people say they want to do things themselves, even read up on how to do it themselves, even waste money buying tools to do it themselves, but then when the day comes most people will find some lame excuse not to do it and pay the $$$$$$$.

You CAN find a sand bar and wait for the tide to go out, careen your boat over and get your ass out there and work on the bottom without ever handing anybody a single zinc penny to do anything for you, but its a rare and salty sailor who will actually do that. In the end, most will pay the $$$$$$$ and have the boat put on the hard for them, or even pay someone else to do the work for them - you pay for every one of those little conveniences, and in boat world you often pay BIG.