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Low buck projects- Let's see 'em!

858K views 2K replies 341 participants last post by  pdqaltair 
#1 ·
In this forum, we've seen big projects on small boats and small projects on big boats- let's see the cheap projects! Show us what you have done on your boat on a budget.
Here's the rules:

1) Gotta be under $100 US, or equivalent currency.

2) You must have done it yourself. Although, if you found someone to work on your boat for less than $100, feel free to post contact info.

3) bonus points will be given for elegance and ingenuity.

Here's one of mine:

I needed a cockpit table. Well, I, personally, didn't need a cockpit table, but the admiral did, and I need a warm place to sleep, so you can see how the stars aligned on this one. I sussed out commercially available, marine priced cockpit tables and promptly gagged. So, I thought to myself, "self, you could make it yourself for a lot less." One problem. Well, four actually. I have limited woodworking skills, limited woodworking tools, and limited time. oh yeah, and I am cheap.
So, I went to plan "c".

I spent some time eyeballing the cockpit in question:


Then I moseyed into action. I bought one of these for $29.99


A frenzy of measuring, remeasuring, cutting, screwing, drinking, varnishing, etc. later, and this is how it finished up:



Let's see yours.
 
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#145 ·
I do all my own work including the rope work. I found a book and decided I could do it with a little practice. Thank you for the complement!

P.S. It you don't use a serving mallet you will never be able to get enough tension on the rope, not to mension blisters!
 
#147 ·
Tired of searching for that air horn when "grand-pa" in his 28 foot stink boat starts heading for you while he is busy watching little Joey bounce around on the tube he is pulling at 6 knots while kicking up a 4 foot wake and making ever widening circles?
Try this 12V 118Db air horn solution:
Bad Boy Air Horn Harbor freight $39.99
Bad Boy™ Air Horn
Single push sealed start switch Tractor Supply $9.99
Conduct-Tite Starter Switch, Push Button, Sealed - 1042102 | Tractor Supply Company
X feet of wire, leads for attaching to your DC panel.
I drilled a hole in the cockpit for the switch, wired it to the DC panel and ran the wires for the air horn inside the cabin to beneath the base of the mast (deck stepped). Drilled, pushed and sealed the wires and mounted the horn to the vang on the mast foot.
Needed the horn last weekend. We all had a good laugh as 8 people in the stink boat fell out of their seats and changed their focus from little Joey to that big sailboat with the huge white sails 30 yards in front of them when grand-pa swerved.
I've used this air horn on my motorcycle to keep the soccer moms and high school texters at bay, works equally as well in that application.
 
#409 ·
Re: Cigar boxes

Some use of cigar boxes. I think we paid about $8. The first one is storage for our handkerchiefs. The second one is for shaving needs.
I like that. I have a few boxes that I use to store razor blades (double edge, all I use unless I have time to use my straight) and another razors, but they are not mounted. They make great general small item storage, and my local smoke shop gives them out for free. I feel guilty picking them up as I have not smoked any thing since like 1980, but he would not accept any money. Almost made me want to start again. I mount a bit of foam free from work on one side to keep the items from shifting around.

Are you a member over at badgerandblade? I have the same handle over there.
 
#149 ·
The cover that came with our Lifesling didn’t take long to deteriorate in the Florida sun. The hard shell that they sell for these was way too much. So the Admiral sewed one herself and even included the instructions:
 

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#150 ·
I got a good deal on a like new mainsail for my boat BUT it needed battens..If I bought them they would be standard sizes(close to fit) and would cost between 80 and 100 dollars...So I bought some batten stock in 12 ft lengths for 15 dollars and purchased end caps for less than 10 bucks and made custom ones
The reason:

The results:
 
#152 · (Edited)
I needed a place to mount my spear gun. The Admiral had some extra Velcro straps lying around from another project plus a couple of screws.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the curtains seen in the second pic were also made on board for less than $100 for 10 ports plus a couple of pillows out of the spare material.
 

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#153 ·
Engine lift

When we got our Solar Stik we needed a new dinghy engine lift. We didn't want to pay a lot of money for one, so we came up with our own using a single tube and some line. We had a local T-Top maker in the area so we got a piece of aluminum tubing with some scrap fittings welded on. Plus we had them bake the flat mounting plate that was from scrap. Total for the aluminum was about $30. For the rest of the blocks and line, I think maybe another $40 (I can't remember it was too many beers ago).

The tube is attached via a quick release pin so we take the whole thing down and stow when not in use. We used to leave it on the Stik, but we learned that is not a good idea when it is in vicinity of a wind gen that has flexible blades in high winds, but that is another story.

Plus not pictured, we made an engine mounting board for our stern rail out of scrap starboard from a salvage yard.
 

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#156 · (Edited)
First off. This is a great thread. There are some terrific ideas here and I plan to use a few of them.

I spend about $700-$900 every six months on professional re-wax of my blue gelcoat'd boat. Drives me nuts because I like doing almost everything myself, but I simply can't take a couple of days off work and family to break my back waxing the boat. I've tried every wax known to man, so you exotic wax'ers need not respond. I was almost willing to sell my soul to the devil in order to find something that would work.

Simple solution. $75 bought me the PoliGlow kit. First step is a spray bottle concentrate scrub (very simple). It de-oxidizes and removes existing wax and grime. I then applied 4 coats of a crazy simple application of PoliGlow, which by the time you complete the length of the boat is ready for the next coat. OMG (that stands for Oh my God), the shine is absolutely crazy from near or far.

There will likely be naysayers responding to the use of this kind of product. If you haven't used it, keep your comments to yourself. If you have used it and aren't happy, just keep this in mind. I'm so sick of failing waxes that I've considered spending upwards of $30,000 at the boatyard to paint the boat. Even if it does fail, it'll cost me a fraction of that $30k to strip it and do over. I'm an acrylic'holic!
 
#159 ·
Handrail covers. Less than $100 in fabric and materials. Used a standard Singer sewing machine with straight and zig-zag (old/heavy duty). I just made the pair this weekend.

Next will be coaming cover; hatch covers, and "stack-pack". The pack will cost about $300 in materials.
 
#161 ·
Completed the Tortuga Triangle Trip in May, GPS worked without issue. Back light worked for Nav at night, almost a little too bright. Found the company out in California that supplied the multi-pin power connector and made a 12 volt power cable. It save the batteries for emergency use. I took both units and compared their performance, not much difference, both lead to G1 at the North channel to Key West.... Could add the NEMA computer interface to the cable in the future.
 
#162 ·
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