VolksCruising tenders...

Back when we were cruising the Med and West Africa in the early 90's, you hardly ever came across anyone with dinghies bigger than eight feet. As far as outboards went, 5HP or smaller was the fashion unless you had a sailboat larger than 60 feet...

At the time, we had a Bolger Tortoise which, at 6'5", was a bit smaller than most folks dinghies but seemed to carry as much gear/water/groceries as our friends who tended to all have Avon Redcrests or Bombard AX-2's and as our Tortoise rowed well we did not have to use an outboard.

For the record, all these years later, we're using a Tortoise (albeit a slightly longer one) after years of using various inflatable/deflatables and RIBs we were never quite happy with because truth be told I like to row and hate worrying that my inflatable or its outboard are going to get ripped off.

I mention this because if you're in the cheapseats or VolksCruising fraternity what dinghy you choose has a huge effect on your budget as well as your general happiness level. Plus being in the cheapseats mode the only way you're going to have a great dinghy is by getting lucky and finding one cheap or by building it yourself.

So, here's a list of some better than most dinghies you might want to check out...

• Chameleon A nesting dinghy by Danny Greene
• Tortoise & Stretched Tortoise by Phil Bolger
• Ruben's Nymph by Phil Bolger
• Origami & Fliptail two excellent folding dinghies by Wooden Widget
• Deckster a minimal footprint design (utilizes the Hobie Miriage drive)

None of these boats will set you back much over $500, two or three weekends of industrious wood butchery, and enthusiastic epoxy slinging.

As it happens, Wooden Widget has just come up with a new larger Fliptail which has me all sorts of excited as a nine-foot folding dinghy has a whole lot to offer. I expect you'll be hearing quite a bit more about this design in the not-too-distant-future...

Boats for not a lot...

Every once in awhile a reader drops me a line with a good deal he's seen on a boat and yesterday it was an Irwin up in New Haven...

... that was going for less than $3000 and, from the looks of the picture, a pretty good deal.

Of course, there's a catch. Every boat in the world that's for sale at any price has some lurking problem, issue, or something that needs to be fixed. It's just the nature of things that float.

In this case, I doubt seriously that if done right, any needful fixes or repairs could be done for a couple of thousand dollars. Done wrong, on the other hand, it would be a black hole for you to throw money into.

If you need help on the Right/Wrong thang I highly recommend Dan Spurr's  "Spurr's Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat" which I still find to be the best source for information on how to best fix up an old plastic boat...

Meanwhile, in my own backyard, there's a clean Hunter 30 with an engine (outboard) that works, wind generator and solar panel for $8K...

Lots of good boats for sale for not a lot of money these days.

About all wire not exactly being equal...

The current issue of WoodenBoat has a really good article about using galvanized wire for rigging...

I mention this because I just spent a kiss over $50 each for four new 1/2" stainless turnbuckles which, while cheap for stainless, it did not escape my notice that galvanized turnbuckles were a whole lot cheaper. Which underlines the fact that a galvanized rig is going to be cheaper for a stronger and longer lasting rig providing you do it right.

Just to disabuse you of the fact that I'm spouting nonsense, I should point out that Brion Toss makes a rather compelling case for galvanized wire in his "The Complete Riggers Apprentice" which everyone should have a copy of on their bookshelf.

The dollars and cents of DIY...

What a lot of folks forget when discussing cruising budgets is that the more self-sufficient you are the lower the cruising budget is going to be.

As much as I try to keep our food budget frugal and while saving ten cents a pound on carrots or eating cheaper cuts of meat does add up to a chunk of change over the course of a year, by comparison, it is a tiny amount when compared to the savings made on doing all of my own work on the boat.

Take sails for instance. I needed another mainsail as well as a storm trysail. A relatively inexpensive sailmaker I respect quoted around $2300 for the mainsail and a Sailrite kit would go for around $1000...

In this case what I am actually doing is I bought a cheap used but like new sail and recut it into two sails. So for $300 and a bit of cunning sweat equity I wound up with a "new" main and a trysail which saved us between one or two thousand dollars on just one needful project depending how you think about it.

Being able to sew and having a sewing machine able to handle heavy materials and sailcloth allows us to save some serious money on a pretty regular basis. It has even become an income stream when needful.

Same goes for rigging, engine work, being able to do electrical, carpentry, and fiberglass work, none of which is rocket science, because any time you're not throwing $50-$90 an hour (that's a lot of carrots or chicken thighs!) to some guy to fix it for you, your budget is doing a happy dance.

On taking rescue for granted...

The carnage of the current Salty Dawg rally has given me a lot to think about the last couple of days...

For instance, the various boating media coverage seems to think it is sorta/kinda normal for masts to fall down, rudders to fall off or break, and the fact that there are heroic Coast Guard men and women just waiting around to save yachties collective asses when needed.

Maybe it's just me but none of that is normal and it's something we should all give some serious thought to...

Sure masts do fall down from time to time and, I have some up-close-and-personal experience with such things. It's not because the wind blows too hard but because there is something wrong with the mast or any number of small fittings that can fail. In the case of my mast falling down and going BOOM, it was a single little weld that failed on a chainplate (a chainplate, I might add that I intended to replace at my earliest convenience and boy was that ever a big mistake!).

Pretty much the same goes for rudders... Rudders fail because they have something wrong with them and, as rudders take a lot of abuse over their lives, it is something that anyone going to sea further than they care to swim back from should factor into their plans and have some sort of backup system that works that you have actually tried...

I mention this because even in a world of cell phones and EPIRBs there is a very good chance that when the shit hits the fan you won't be anywhere near heroic Coasties or other means of timely rescue and you will, at least temporarily, need to take care of yourself and hopefully make port.

The problem is that most modern boats are badly designed, too complicated, and have too many systems to be easily sorted out when TSHTF scenario becomes a reality. Seriously, how are you going to sort out a problem when you cannot even access half your thru-hulls?

Lucky for us the VolksCruiser by its very nature has minimal systems and the ones it has are simple...

But, more about that later.

Being ahead of the curve...

Can you do simple math?

This mornings post by Attainable Adventure Cruising is a good example of why anyone interested in cruising on a budget should be reading it on a regular basis and it includes a bit about growth that everyone should read and I do mean EVERYONE.

More about that later...

Welcome back...

So...

I expect, since you're reading this, that you're not someone who is going to be cruising on a $60,269.80 a year budget.

So, we'll just assume you're a $6000, $9000, or $12000 a year type of person. Then again, maybe you just want to try and get a handle on the whole sustainable-less-is-more-cruising-on-a-budget thought process. Whatever your reason for reading this I'm glad you are.

Frugal cruising is a lot like "Fight Club" and I'm pretty sure everyone knows that the first two rules of fight club are...

1st Rule: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB

2nd Rule: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB

Let's just say that for those trying to get by on less, stealth and a low profile can be a big help.

Something to keep in mind...

Of interest to folks considering cruising budgets...

For someone considering the frugality of a VolksCruising budget it is important to understand how most people think cruising budgets work. For example, you might want to check out this podcast about one couple's experiences of their decidedly non-VolksCruiser  but (in their words) non-extravagant lifestyle budget that averages $60,269.80 a year.

Enjoy...