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I recently bought a 1975 Bristol 27. We motored it from Chicago to Milwaukee (about two 10 hour days). At the end of the first day the motor stalled a few times trying to get into gear, and smoked a bit. I have been dealing with a leaky head, and a lot of unknown rigging. So, yesterday we motored out of our mooring and after a few minutes the motor revs started oscillating. I turned quickly and went back to the mooring. Now after the worry of moving an unknown boat a long way, and dealing with a bunch of other new-old boat things, I am at a point that I don't have any confidence in the boat.
Have you ever felt like you can't trust your boat, and it scarred the crap out of you?
As I understand it, towing is covered in service areas within about 25 to 30 miles of the tow base, but 50 to 100 or more miles with the $157 Boat US plan...
$12 plan covers up to $150 per incident in towing for inland/fresh
$18 plan covers up to $150 per incident for coastal or inland/fresh
$34 plan covers semi-unlimited inland/fresh (only half of cost if from your mooring/slip)
$125 plan covers semi-unlimited coastal (service area about 25-30 miles from towing base) (only half of cost if from your mooring/slip)
$157 plan covers more or less unlimited coastal and inland, including from your slip, tow area extended in SoCal, exact max tow range depends on who is towing you
Towers charge round trip cost and the Boat US site gives example full-price rates of $250 or $275 per hour.
Getting anything but the unlimited plans is IMHO quite silly. I look at TowBoat US/SeaTow much the same way I look at AAA for cars. Nice to have when you need it, cheap at that too.... if you use it once, it will pay for itself for several years easily.
Just remember the SeaTow/TowBoat US guys charge from the TIME THEY LEAVE THE DOCK, to the TIME THEY GET BACK TO THE DOCK.... IMHO, the TowBoat US service terms are far better than SeaTow's, but YMMV.
I carry the $34 variety here on Lake Michigan and as I mentioned earlier, it saved me over $500 in June when my Volvo quit 2-3 miles offshore on a calm day. The OP should only need the $34 plan if sailing out of Milwaukee, but check with BoatUS to be sure.
Fixing things that break will give you a way better understanding of how your boat works and your confidence in being able to deal with situations when they happen will continue to grow. You'll get to a point where if you feel something unusual or hear a strange noise, you will have the confidence to say "OK I can leave that and fix it later" or "I know what that is, let's take care of it now". So breakdowns are not all bad news.
And the more you sail the faster your confidence in your own competence will grow and that is easily as important as confidence in your vessel. It is important to know that whatever goes wrong, you can deal with it.
I have a new to me boat too, and I’ve experienced the water pumping going out, as we moved the boat form Key Largo to my home in ST Augustine. Tow Boat US with their Boat US unlimited plain was the ticket... One phone call and within 60 minutes we were at a dock, and a mechanic was called and parts where ordered within two hours. The only headache was being delayed 48 hours, but the cold beer at the tiki bar help ease the pain.
The good news is there are allot of older boats out there that with today’s economy can be picked up cheap. The bad news is some/many of them will need to be repowered, and that expense should be counted on when buying the boat.
I have to say anyone who thinks getting a boat surveyed will tell them all its problems (especially motor ones ) is the ultimate optimist. If you persrvere with getting the boat running well by yourself you will A/ know your boat as well as you need 2to and B/ have a really reliable boat , something that is more luck than good judgerment if you buy another one (even a new one!) I have expeienced the feeling of losing faith in my boat but it comes back really quickly after a great days cruising. (not including the one that sank at the start of our xmas holiday!)
While I'm sure most won't agree, I'll have to say I do..
I just purchased a boat that way.
We cannot count on some stranger (professional or not) to "ID" all possible problems/issues with an older boat. We have to make that determination on our own, and negotiate a price that is suitable for buying an older boat. And much could be the same for buying a newer boat, cause' we truly do not know how the motor has been taken care of and if it has been run aground, or other.
A good survey at least gives you a baseline for what you need to fix or look at on a boat. It won't catch everything, but it is certainly better than nothing at all.
Very well said. When we bought our boat, last year, we used a surveyor from my days as a broker. Paul is good, but I wasn't too surprised to subsequently find a few things that he had missed. Nothing serious; and it is the nature of the beast.
I don't know what things are like on the east coast, but in BC, don't even waste your time asking a surveyor to look at rigging. For liability reasons, most of them won't go there.
A lot of our major expenses have been related to rigging, but I have been lucky enough to work with a rigger who I have known for awhile and fully trust.
I would advise the OP not to be too discouraged. At the same time, I would also advise him that during his first year of ownership, he can plan on spending the equivalent of his purchase price on repairs and improvements. This held true for us. The surprise for me was when I compared notes with our sailing buddies; and found that it also held true for everyone of them.
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