Will this really ruin my life!

[buckeyesailor]

Let's assume, for the sake of arguement, that you are on a 40'-50' Hinckley....Brand spankin' new, a full tank of fuel and a box of Cubans....(cigars, not women).....

If worse comes to worse.....and it will.....

Head into the nearest harbor and announce that you can fix ANYthing with NOthing......odds are before the ice hits the first sundowner, you'll be knee deep in work that you have NO clue how to fix....

[wind_magic]

Cruising kitty: n. 1. the money you have to go cruising after you finally stop wasting it on your boat.

Boat crap is the enemy of a fat kitty ...

Kitty doesn't like you buying a flat screen television with his money ... kitty angry.

[bljones]

Look, Let's get the disclaimer out of the way up front:
I am a bottom - feeding cheap-ass scavenger who likes to buy everything at the bottom of it's depreciation curve.

On my boats, the equipment is in one of four states:
1. Deteriorated, clapped out, worn out, tired, just generally due for replacement, but not yet broken.
2. Broken.
3. Recently fixed and/or replaced.
4. Missing in Action.
and I am okay with that. That is the reason why I own a boat or two.

See, here's the thing, most people fix things so they can sail- I think I sail just to field-test whatever I fixed. Because I am a bottom-feeding cheap-ass scavenger, I generally assume that everything ain't gonna work. So I fix it. if I don't know how to fix it, I learn how, and then fix it. Or vice versa. and then re-fix it. or something.

To me, there is nothing more relaxing then getting out on the water, setting the sails, finding that sweet spot where the wheel is balanced, and then varnishing, hammering, wiring, splicing or just generally puttering. When I no longer have anything to fix or improve I will have to sell my boat.

[mackconsult]

The MacGyver factor is always a good skill to have .

[Cal28]

Originally Posted by wind_magic

Cruising kitty:

wind_magic

that's just too funny for words ...

spurted coffee all over the cabin

[imagine2frolic]

S.R.,

Are you just stirring up trouble?.. .......i2f

[BubbleheadMd]

Wind Magic-

That is one of the funniest photos I've ever seen. Great post.

BLJones-

I'm kind of like you, only not quite to that degree. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who believes in fixing-up instead of throwing-away. I typically like to keep and enjoy my things once they're fixed up instead of selling them though.

[marianclaire]

My $$$ are limited so I try to think of new purchases in “Days on the water units”. The less I spend the longer I can stay out. If I can not fix it, have a spare on board or live without it why is it on the boat. I will lose “days on the water” for good quality rigging or anchors but not for ice in my drink. Cheap rigging will ruin my life no ice wont. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[Omatako]

I believe in having modern technology on my boat so we have a fridge, deep freeze, flat screen TV, computer built into the chart table and will have a genset, watermaker, etc etc. and while it works it's great and it keeps the rest of the family happy.

But when it stops working, we all accept it as a natural consequence of being at sea and we live without it until I can fix it. Clearly I can't fix a TV that cashes in or, to be sure, the computer. But they're nice-to-haves. when they gone, they're gone.

Like some other posts above, I am also a committed fixer of things that I do understand. A lot of stuff like a genset for example is beyond my budget when new so I buy used non-functional ones for a song and make them work. I am busy with this project as we speak and also building my own watermaker which will end up costing me 10% of a factory unit.

So, Still, the naked truth is that on my boat, the time that comes free between fixing stuff that has stopped working and just pure maintenance (servicing engines etc, brightwork and so on) is filled with new projects from carpentry/joinery to mechanical stuff and electrical stuff. I never have to look far for something to do. In fact my list of stuff grows daily.

And often, especially with the carpentry/joinery stuff which for me is not a born-to talent, I do the same job more than once to get it exactly right.

[ericread]

Originally Posted by LittleWingCA

Near Mutiny:
Grounding:

First time sailing into San Diego harbor from Dana Point Ca. We were in the final hour of our 15 hour trip, with a handheld, map enabled, GPS attached to the helm, with the boat broker taking down the mainsail, telling me to just follow the channel bouys I saw, when we motored out of the channel south of the Coronado Bridge and grounded in soft mud south of the 32 st pier. Had I actually been watching the GPS map screen, I would have seen my plotted waypoints tell me the channel did a 90 degree right turn followed by a 90 degree left turn. In the end we had to get vessel assist to tow us off the mud bank as the tide continued to go out. Cost the boat broker $600.

I for one think you need these bells and whistles.

Yep, it gets really shallow south of the Coronado Isle bridge. If you get a chance to sail down to Chula Vista Harbor, you'll see a number of abandoned boads in the shallow waters to the west...

Eric