What I'm thinking about...

One problem with sailboats used for cruising is they're all pretty much designed for weekend and vacation use rather than serious cruising. Which, when you think of it, makes all kinds of sense because that's how 95% of people who buy boats will use them.

Of course, for the 5% that are going to use sailboats for extended cruising and suchlike we sorta/kinda have some problems...

One of the reasons so many people cruise in bigger than needful boats is the simple fact that what passes for a normal sailboat design ignores good stowage and weight distribution in favor of more berths and and wasted space. That said, moving up to a bigger and more expensive boat to get more stowage is still somewhat problematic as bigger comes with a lot of wasted space. as a big part of the mix.

Which, I suppose, brings us right back around to the whole need/want thing.

One design, by Tad Roberts, I've seriously been considering building is his Laura Cove 28 because it covers most of the stuff on my need list...

It's already pretty close to what I want...

But more about that later...

A couple of links you'll want to check out...

Geared towards tiny house folk the post "Building Your Nest Egg" makes all kinds of sense for VolksCruiser and wannabe VolksCruisers.

Dave Z, over on Triloboats, covers the same ground on the boat side.

You're still here?

There is no one right boat...

I'll repeat that.

There is no one right boat.

I mention this because, on a pretty regular basis, people tend to ask me which boat is the right one for them and they always seemed a bit disgruntled when I tell them that pretty much anything that floats right side up that they can afford will more than likely work just fine.

Of course, there are a lot of people who need to sell you on the concept of the one right boat because they want to sell you something which, in most cases, is a boat that's not right for you at all but that's just the way the whole consumerism gig works.

You really need to keep that in mind...

The thing about most fiberglass boats built in the last thirty years or so is that they mostly were built pretty well. Just the fact that so many of them have survived this long and are still going strong is all the evidence you need.

The current manic obsession with having the "best" is simply the same old same "keeping up with the Joneses" on steroids as it is no longer about keeping up but "surpassing/crushing/humiliating the Joneses".

Not really a pretty picture at all.

It's really all just about the need and the want. You need a boat to take you where you want to go in a safe and comfortable fashion and that's doable with a fairly large variety of boats that are affordable to most. There are lots and lots of good boats sitting neglected and forlorn just waiting to take you wherever you want to go and, though it might surprise you, no one really cares what sort of boat you come into an anchorage with.

Then again, if your need is all about impressing people because you have deep seated insecurity issues and a poor self image then, just maybe, the boating life is just not for you...

Creative finance...

Yesterday, Dmitri Orlov (whose blog and books you really should be reading) asked for some help in replacing the engine in his boat. It got me thinking...

There are many ways to raise the needful cash to get a boat and go cruising other than the standard one of being born to a well-off family or winning the lottery. The obvious one is getting a job and saving but in these dire economic times it's not nearly as easy as it once was and for a lot of folks that means getting creative.

One tried and true method of getting a good cruising boat is buying a near derelict boat doing the bare minimum fix, cleaning it up, and selling it... A few weeks ago I noticed an Albin Vega in heinous shape going for cheap and just the other day the same boat popped up again on the market for a couple thousand dollars more having been cleaned up and the trash removed. The math is pretty easy buy a cheap but structurally sound boat for $950, spend a couple of days cleaning the boat up then relist it for $3K as a fixer-upper. Being that a clean uncluttered boat sells way better than a cluttered with junk mold factory and, providing the boat is actually the sort someone might actually want, it pretty much works every time.

Then there's the old "find a good boat that needs fixing and fix it" approach... In a recent post I asked the question whether or not I should buy a dilapidated Shannon 28 partly because I need a boat to use as a crash test dummy, poster boy, and to prove some of my ideas/theories about rehabbing a boat on a budget and partly because I did some quick math and a $2600 boat that needs some arduous but simple TLC that in good shape would go for $40K tells me that I could pretty easily sell it off when finished for enough profit to subsidize a couple of years cruising. That said, this sort of project only works when you have a good sense of what stuff costs to fix up, how much time is needed, what boats will actually sell for, and you leave the rose coloured glasses off when you do your math.

Both of the foregoing methods work and are a really good way to acquire the needful skills to better rehab your own boat when you come across it. Like the old adage says...

"Build your first boat for your worst enemy, your second for a friend, and the third for yourself".

Some folks think you can finance their cruising dreams on the web and by blogging but, in my experience I think you'd have a much better chance doing the Powerball lottery. BoatBits and VolksCruiser get fairly good traffic but the odd affiliate sales they produce have yet to pay for the cost of the coffee I drink while I'm writing them. Not saying it can't be done but I've yet to see anyone manage it unless they went to some sort of paywall system and that's just too tacky for me to be able to deal with.

There are any number of ways to make a comfortable living cruising but they mostly revolve around sellable skills, crafty merchandising/trading, and small scale manufacturing.

Then there's writing... Obviously it works for some and I'm sure there is a huge amount of info on the subjct you might find helpful if that's your chosen path.

Which, sorta/kinda brings us back to Dmitri asking us to finance a new engine for his boat...

The way I see it (as well as the way Dmitri explains it) is that Dmitri Orlov in his blog produces a great amount of important good reading that is available for free and that money spent towards said engine will allow him to write more rather than less so you'd just be investing in stuff you'll be reading down the line. It's a good point and he's right. 

Of course, Mr Orlov could put up a paywall and raise money that way or write less and get a paying job doing something or other and, I suspect a lot of people might think that's the better way to go.

As for what I think... Well, I'm going to send Dimitri a bit of money and invest in my future reading material.

A quick thought about a couple of extra knots...

Tad Roberts has a new design in the works which, I expect, I'll be telling you a lot more about in the next week or so, but for the moment, I'd just like to point out something important about it and boats in general...

Speed: 6.5 knots with 15HP outboard, 9 knots with 40HP

A little extra speed's expensive, isn't it?

Not only is the cost of a 40HP outboard a lot more expensive than a 15HP outboard, it's going to use a whole lot more fuel in the process and its upkeep will be costlier as well.

Of course, everyone wants to go just that little bit faster... Don't they?

Offhand, it seems to me when the gain seems meager compared to the cost of attaining it, you might want to take a long hard look at your priorities.

Just saying...