Some thoughts on the CAL 34...

It's come to my attention that there are several CAL 34s going cheap (as in less than $3K). This got me thinking about how I'd go about VolkCruiserizing them today knowing what I know now after living aboard and sailing "So It Goes" for ages.

For starters, there's a CAL 34 going for $1k which is floating right side up, has a mast, and an engine that does not work. I expect there are a bunch of other issues but at less than the cost of the lead in the keel $1,000 would still be a lot of boat for the money.

My first thought would be to get rid of the mast and rig since I'm sure that the rig is way past its sell-by date. The mast could be salvaged and I could sell it for $500 or so which is close to what I could build a new mast in terms of materials. Since I'm sure I'd also have to replace the dreaded I-beam, it would also be a great time to beef up the compression post to support a serious tabernacle arrangement if keeping the boat as a sloop or change the location of the step in aid of a junk or lug rig.

Then there's the non-functioning motor which I'd replace with an Atom Voyager inspired outboard installation with either a 6HP gas or electric outboard which is really all one requires to move the boat when needful. While I'm at it, I'd seriously consider moving the rudder back to the transom which would improve the balance and make incorporating a simple self-steering trim tab both cheap and easy.

As far as the interior goes, the Lapworth design works just fine and while I'm sure it would need some work and sprucing up, it wouldn't be difficult or expensive.

The rest just comes down to cosmetics.

Do the work yourself, use affordably sourced materials, avoid mission creep, and you'll have a pretty awesome boat for $7.5K or less.

I'll go into a bit more detail in the next post...

Putting together a VolksCruiser on a budget...

I'm sure if you're considering getting a boat and going cruising on a budget you'll be getting a shit load of push-back from just about everybody that it just can't be done. Kind of a bummer that.

The truth is, there's a plethora of good inexpensive sailboats just waiting for someone to find them and get them back in cruising trim. Of course, they'll tell you that a cheap boat is just a hole in the water that you throw money in while you get too old to go cruising.

Sound familiar?

I'll point out that there is, sadly, plenty of fodder for those opinions. I've seen boat projects take twenty years to get to a point where they're abandoned. Way too many projects that lost control of their spending and become an economic ball and chain that insures the project will never come to fruition and let's not forget the boat projects that led to the breakup of relationships. So, yeah, there's a lot of evidence that building or refitting a boat can become a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

But, does it really have to be that way?

The thing is, while I've seen lots of failed projects swirl down the ceramic bowl of disaster, I've seen lots that didn't. Have you ever wondered why so many people fixate on things negative rather than the positive where boats and boat projects are concerned?

Most folk I've known with projects that went south made fairly obvious mistakes that, with a bit of forethought, could have been easily avoided. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

For the next few posts we'll be delving into various positive and negative situations and how not to fall into the various traps and pitfalls that lie in wait for an intrepid soul embarking on a boat project.

 

an almost cunning plan...

There's a J-29 up in the frozen north that I've been thinking about quite a bit. For those unacquainted with the design it looks something like this...

It, like most of it's J-Boat brethren, is a boat designed and built to be competitive so you may be wondering why the hell am I looking at it?

Well, you might say, I have a sorta/kinda cunning plan for a boat of this ilk.

For starters there's not much of an interior so it would be very easy to do a new performance cruising interior and as long as we're installing a neat little galley we might take the opportunity to do a new mast step while we're at it.

A new VolksCruiserish rig spelled junk or lug would make for a neat testbed and as there are quite a few J-29s about it owned by folks who'd enjoy sailing against a J-29 with a different (some might call it freakish) rig it would be an awesome educational endeavor and I'd enjoy it.

As the boat in question is selling for not very much I'd expect to be able to the needful mods and suchlike to keep the finished boat a kiss less than $10.5K.

The only issue that keeps me from jumping on a plane cash in hand to get is the fact that the J-29 has almost six feet of draft and that's not going to work for my cruising plans.

So it does go.

That said if draft is not a deal breaker for you the J-29 is a pretty great candidate for a performance VolksCruiser and you might want to keep an eye out for a good deal on one.

 

sweat equity...

There's an interesting forum thread on the current asking price of a Pearson 367 on the Junk Rig association forum you might want to check out.

Sure fixing up an older cheap boat might seem like a lot of work but, done with some care and a prudent budget, will greatly increase the value of the boat in question.

Better yet, it recycles materials that would not be recycled and just windup as landfill.

A little sensible sweat equity makes a whole lot of sense/cents.

A link you need...

PBO (AKA Practical Boat Owner) has been a great resource for me since I first started reading the magazine in 1980. While, these days, I feel their subscription rates are now akin to piracy but their website still has excellent content.

For example, this simple how to rehab a sailboat article is just what most folks considering an inexpensive boat that needs work should read.

You're still here?

Some changes in an old boat...

Most late 60s and early 70s classic plastic sailboats of the 34-foot variety are actually pretty good boats but exceptionally challenged in the cruising stowage department. It’s not that they are too small but that the long-term cruising stowage was just not part of the design brief.

 

So if you’re looking at buying a classic plastic racer-cruiser for VolksCruising you’re going to have to use some wasted space. On the positive side, most 34ish classic plastics have plenty of wasted space that you can easily work with.

For my 1969 CAL 34, it was fairly easy to add a significant amount of stowage with a little thought. For instance, by raising the floor of the dinette and dinette seats by a foot, which added almost ten cubic feet of storage. Better yet, the raised dinette also improved the view through the port lights so you’re able to have something to look at with your Sunday pancakes.

Since we only need one quarter berth for passages, we use the port quarter berth as a dedicated stowage area. This opened up a considerable space that would otherwise go unused.

As we no longer have an inboard engine on “So It Goes”, the engine area and space just before it became yet another dedicated space for spare materials, batteries, and suchlike.

Last, in the cockpit, we decide to lose most of the cockpit footwell in the forward part of the cockpit. This gave us a cavernous hold for all of our dive gear and other needful boat stuff. That it also decreased the floodable volume of the cockpit was a win/win and increased stowage while making the boat safer.

None of these changes alter the look of the boat radically. They were all fairly simple, cost little, and could apply to most plastic classic boats.

One of my favorite classic plastic sailboats is the Bill Tripp designed Columbia 34 MK 2 CB and I keep my eye out for one of the non-cored versions which would be a great project along these lines.

an old boat to start the year with...

I know I've talked about the Bill Lapworth designed CAL 34 more than a time or two but it is the boat I happen to be sitting on while writing this. 

Back in 1969, when “So it Goes” was new, the boat sold for $15,950. or thereabouts. Today, a turnkey CAL 34 in good shape with no actual issues will set you back somewhere around $15K. Considering it’s a fifty-three-year-old boat, that says a lot.

The CAL 34 is a great example of what makes sense in a VolksCruiser. It sails well with good accommodation and has a reasonable draft (five foot). Plus, it looks like what most folks think a boat should look like.

Truth is, the boat is, all things considered, a pretty brilliant design. Bill Lapworth's use of space is quite the optimum layout, and you’d find that coming up with something better is nigh on impossible. I know I’ve tried to no avail.

I’ll add that the whole looking like what most folks consider a boat’s supposed to look like is no bad thing. Blending in to keep a low profile makes sense for low budget nomadic VolksCruiser folk.

Like most boats of the late 60s and early 70s, the CAL was a well-built sailboat. Their longevity is testament to that fact. Sure, the interior had little in the way of bespoke carpentry, but competently done. Far too many people confuse anything less than a high end furniture finish as somehow being deficient. On a cruising boat, a durable and easily maintained finish just makes a lot more sense.

The mistake most people make when working on a boat like the CAL 34 is to forget just how good a design it is and try to morph the boat into something it’s not. Of course, if you really feel that you need a Hallberg-Rassy you should get one. Trying to make a CAL 34 into a new Hallberg-Rassy is a lost cause you'd want to avoid unless your kink is of the yacht induced masochism variety.

As far as things go, the best practice concerning classic plastic sailboats is to keep the boat as close to what it looked like back when it was new. You might find that getting a brochure is a big help.

Well, maybe best not to emulate the plaid upholstery.

Next up are some changes that would make sense…

Almost ready to get started...

Over the last five years or so I've regularly watched a YouTube channel of a guy who's bought a boat and embarked in a restoration.

On one hand it's been very entertaining as the guy in question makes good shows and does a better than most exposition of how to do stuff. While on the other hand it was interesting as he tended to make a lot of mistakes and was pretty forthright in letting you know about them.

What has been less enjoyable is the ongoing mission creep his restoration has gone through and as his popularity and income have increased the way it's become something of a consumerish cornucopia of installing the best and most expensive stuff he can find.

Which, I'll admit, is just fine where he's concerned and of course he has the right to spend as much money as he can afford doing his boat the way he wants to. But, for me, the problem is that they don't call youtubers "influencers" for nothing and it sends a message that the answer to most all issues where boats are concerned is more stuff more money. 

But, That's not how we roll here.

Since I've mentioned that I'm about to start building another self-steering gear I've received no shortage of emails telling me that folks are looking forward to some in-depth coverage of how I'm doing it. Then again, there's been quite a few folks telling me I'm an idiot because you need to spend over $5K to get a decent self-steering gear and that you get what you pay for and I expect you all know how much the "You get what you pay for" thing really gets up my nose.

I now have almost all of the materials needed for the Self-steering build and it looks like the total out-of-pocket expenses will not exceed $350-dollars. The good news is, at worst, it will be as good as an Auto-helm self-steering gear ($5250) and, more than likely, will work considerably better.

So, more on the self-steering ASAP...

a boat with a lot of resources...

Checking Craigslist this morning I saw there was a Pearson Triton being sold off at a marina in the San Francisco Bay area for $750. You might say it caught my attention. 

 

It's a great design, Dan Spurr used the Triton as his main example of how to fix up a small boat for cruising in his "Spurrs BoatBook Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat"which amounts to a great how to do it guide.

James Baldwin circumnavigated his Triton twice and now is an awesome resource on how to make small boats better and a great resource on all things Triton with an excellent website and a wonderful YouTube channel.

The going price for a good to excellent Triton seems to be between $10K to $28K so a fixer upper for $750 that's floating right side up and appears to be in OK condition is certainly a good candidate to check out.

What I particularly find attractive about the idea of refitting and cruising a Triton is that all of the brain work has already been done for you. Between Spurr's book, James Baldwin's books , articles and videos you pretty much have the answer to any issue you'd encounter in the project.

For example take a look at one of the Triton refits on Baldwin's Atom Voyager channel;

I'll be honest and say that if the Craigslist ad was down here I'd be there with money in hand as fast as I could get there as it would be a great boat to fix up and resell for a profit...

Another book you really should read...

I mentioned this book by Keith Carver a couple of years ago but "Sailboat Cowboys Flipping Sail Post-Sandy: The Art of Buying, Repairing and Selling Storm-Damaged Sailboats" is still an excellent read on the subject of buying boats cheap, fixing them up, and selling them for a profit.

As it happens I just read it again this morning and it still holds up well and the advice contained within is still spot on.

Better yet, it's a great book to use as proof of concept when someone is telling you a cheap fixer-upper is nothing but a money pit and your dreams will all in tears. 

Just tell them to go read "Sailboat Cowboys Flipping Sail Post-Sandy: The Art of Buying, Repairing and Selling Storm-Damaged Sailboats" and let you get back to working on your DIY refit.

 

and in the "Are we ready to look at that Ericson yet?" department...

So you've done your research, sorted out that an Ericson 26 would be an appropriate small cruising boat you could live with, and within your budget. Hell, you even built a dinghy to prove to yourself you were not a tyro, had the mindset and needful skills to fix up the Ericson, and you're ready to go look at the sucker cash-in-hand but your buddy and everyone on that forum tells you you need to get a surveyor.

Here's the thing...

One, you don't need a surveyor and two, the boat's already sold.

A good surveyor might make sense if you're paying big bucks for a boat but not so much if you're talking about a fixer-upper that costs less than the surveyors fee. For a VolksCruiser you're better off doing your own survey.

Don Casey has a decent book on the subject that you might want to check out as it makes a good outline of the things you need to look at.

When I look at a boat I'm mostly concerned with the hull, deck, and rig. Everything else I'd rip out and rebuild the interior and systems from scratch as it's faster and cheaper than trying to work around or make sense with what previous owners have done to the boat. The other advantage of starting fresh is that you set up things in a way that makes sense.

When you do your self-survey make sure to take lots of pictures/videos and take note or narrate the survey so if you need to talk to someone about the boats issues they have as much information as possible to base their advice on. Some time ago a reader sent me a ton of photos on a Bolger design he was considering and it was easy for me to offer advice and the sad conclusion that it would be a big mistake to consider the project.

But why bother as the boat is already sold. Right?

The thing is, good deals on boats don't ever last long. Show me a boat that has been sitting with a For Sale sign for a year and I'll know it's selling for way too much. On the other hand, boats that are priced to move, move quickly.

Which is why, when looking for your VolksCruiser, you really need to be ready...

On that big hole in the water you throw money into...

OK, I get it. "Everyone" says that if you buy a fixer-upper sailboat with the goal of turning it into a cruising boat it will all end in tears. Some will tell you that you'll wind up with nothing but an expensive disaster that you'll have to pay someone to dispose of it in some landfill.

I could go on but I expect you've already heard it all before and it's boring...

What I will do is point out that the disaster or failure scenarios of this sort have a lot to do with people who have made stupid mistakes in choosing their projects, have little in the way of an intelligent plan for the needful work involved in the enterprise, and a poor skill set where boat building and repair are concerned. Which is another way of saying that if the boat refit project failed it's because the person doing it screwed up big time.

Every once in awhile I'll point out what I think is a possible project boat like the Ericson 26 so we'll use that as our crash test dummy. Which brings us to the question of whether or not an Ericson 26 is a good choice as a cruising boat for you?

So, you'll need to put away the rose colored glasses to do some research and a bit of math. Seriously if you don't properly research the project and work out the costs you're in clusterfuck territory. For starters you really need to research the market for the Ericson 26. 

• What does an Ericson 26 in great shape cost?
• What does an OK Ericson 26 cost?
• Does the Ericson 26 have an inbuilt issues which will need to be repaired and cost you money (FYI ALL production boats have some issue(s) or other that will need attention so find out what it is)?
• Can you afford an Ericson 26?

With me so far? Most boat projects fail simply because someone did not ask and get real answers to those four simple questions. Let's say you've answered the previous questions, got your answers and think it's time to move to the next level which requires a few more questions.

• Is the Ericson 26 a boat that I'll be able to cruise comfortably on without major changes?
• Do I have access to an affordable location in close proximity to work on the boat?
• Am I willing to put some effort into learning the needful skills to refit the boat?

Some of you may have noticed that none of these questions involve the actual fixer upper in question. My advice is to always do your homework before not after viewing a possible project as the more you know about the boat the better your advantage you'll have when you actually look at it. 

In fact I'd recommend, before you go boat project shopping, that you build a dinghy as a proof of concept that your abilities are up to the task. My advice for most folks is to build the Bolger Nymph from Dynamite Payson's "Build the New Instant Boats" As it's a great dinghy, does not take a lot of outlay in materials, and pretty much shows you if you have the needful skills and mindset or not to take on a much bigger project like the Ericson. No pressure but if it takes you more than 24-hours of labor to build a Nymph rowing version you might want to forget the idea of anything larger than a dinghy refit projects.

Just saying.

We'll get into how we handle looking at a fixer-upper in the next bit...

a couple of good $400ish deals...

So, here's a couple of interesting project boats someone might be interested in...

For starters there's a Crealock designed Ericson 26 selling for $400 bucks up in the no man's land between Port Townsend and Anacortes. The Crealock design is, in my opinion, a better boat than the Pacific Seacraft Dana. The beauty of a fixer-upper 26-foot boat is that even if the boat is in dire straights a full refit is not going to cost much more than $3K with a reasonable amount of sweat equity.

  

I've also noticed that there seem to be a few Bill Tripp Columbia 26's that need fixing up in the $400-500 dollar range that seem to pop up on a regular basis. So you might want to add "Columbia 26" to your Search Tempest list.

 

Either design is well worth checking out and more than able to take you most anywhere you'd care to go.

Ranger 26: First cockpit projects...

So here's a sketch from Michael (you know the Proa guy) to give you an idea what the first few projects entail...

The first order of business is to downsize the companion way and reduce some of the cockpit's floodable volume. As you can see, we're talking super simple as it's just filling up a void and installing a couple of pieces of plywood and then glassing it in.

The dodger, on the other hand, is a little trickier but still a long way from rocket science. I'd build a mock-up in cardboard to see what it will look like and, once happy with the proportions, take the cardboard pieces apart to use as patterns. After that it's just like building a stitch & glue dinghy. I'd use 1/4" exterior ply for the dodger, 1/4" plexi for the windows, and 3" glass tape to do the joins. Afterwards, glass the whole shebang inside and out with biaxial cloth followed by 4oz or 6oz cloth to finish.

Materials needed for the three projects won't break the bank but would include:

1. One sheet of 1/4" exterior plywood but you'll only use a half sheet for these projects.
2. Four yards of whatever biaxial cloth is on sale at your local purveyor of epoxy and glass fiber.  I use Raka for almost all of my epoxy, glass, carbon, and fillers and you might want to check them out as they always seem to have the most bang for the buck.
3. A full roll of 3" glass tape which is way more than you need for these projects but buying by the roll saves you lots of money.
4. One and a half gallons of epoxy/hardener, some micro spheres, and colloidal silica. Though you may want to buy more as you'll use more epoxy on other projects.

Next up is cleats, anchor rollers, and a closer look at rig options.

Ranger 26: Breaking down the problems and needful things 2...

One of the reasons I like the Ranger 26 is that it's a very sensible design and not a whole lot needs to be fixed or improved. The open transom outboard motor arrangement is simple and works, the layout in the cockpit is comfortable, and the rig is non-problematic.

That said, it could use a couple of tweaks.

The open transom outboard arrangement makes all kinds of sense but, like any open transom arrangement, it does increase the possibility of getting pooped. On the other hand, the open transom also works like like a great big cockpit drain so as long as getting pooped in confined to the cockpit we're more or less OK. So, take a look at the companionway on a Ranger 26...

With the hatch boards out you have a really big frelling hole in the boat. My general rule-of-thumb for companionways is that the bottom of the opening should be at least six-inches above the level of the cockpit seats. The best way to do this is to fiberglass the offending void but you could get by with just gluing or bolting the lower hatch board in place. My vote would be to just fiberglass the section.

Since we're now talking fiberglass we might also consider getting rid of a section of the foot well and raising it to three or four inched below the seat tops. This would cut down on the potential flooded volume of the cockpit while giving us more stowage space in the process which, to me at least, this is a win/win situation.

Before we leave the cockpit subject I'll point out that while most boats of this size may have a 9.9 or 15 HP motor a 5 or 6 HP is more than sufficient and the weight savings makes it something of a no-brainer.

Earlier I mentioned that a hard dodger would make a lot of sense and would go a long way to improve the cockpits comfort level while adding a good place to have headroom in the galley area.

Now we should wend our way forward to the bow and you'll quickly notice that the Ranger 26 lacks anything approaching a bow roller, proper fairleads, and the sort of cleats needed to handle real ground tackle. Need I say more?

Which leaves us with the rig and that includes the mast, stays, chain plates, associated hardware, and sails. This is an area where a lot of people wind up spending a lot more than the boat is worth (Especially if you don't do all of your own work). So it's an area of the project where you have to get serious. Given the Ranger 26's age and the likely chance that the standing rigging is just as old I'd go into this process that at the bare minimum you'll need to replace the stays, chainplates and associated hardware. Masts, in general, are non-problematic and last forever. You will need to look seriously at the sail inventory and while it is still pretty easy to buy good condition used sails for this size of boat so you'll have to factor all of the costs. Oh yeah, there's running rigging as well...

So, here's my take on the rig issues. If the mast is OK and your sails are good you'll only need to replace the chainplates and stays which does not have to be expensive (more on that in a future post) but if the boat does not have any sails or needs a lot of sail work it starts getting iffy. If the boat you're looking at had its rig replaced in the last ten years, has good sails, and all you need to replace is a bit of running rigging, you're home free.

Another option you might want to consider is to change rigs. I've long thought that, for cruising on a budget, that a Junk or Lug rig makes all kinds of sense. Even better would be a junk or lug that included a small jib and minimal textile rigging. The cost of building and rigging a junk or lug mast and sail is considerably cheaper than replacing the Ranger rig. There are quite a few other advantages as well but we'll get into that later.

Which now leaves us with the project list so far as:

1. A new galley
2. A composting head
3. Adding more stowage
4. Companion way reduction
5. Footwell reduction
6. Hard dodger
7. Bow roller/cleats/fairleads
8. Sorting out the rig

Next up we'll be looking at a specific project and costs in detail.

Ranger 26: Breaking down the problems and needful things..

Some interior musings.

When looking at the Ranger 26 a few things cry out for attention.  Most notably the galley, or should we say the lack of a galley, situation. Everybody needs to eat and anyone living on a frugal cruising budget is going to be cooking most all of their meals aboard so it is a very important system on any VolksCruiser. We're going to have to shoehorn a reasonable galley workplace where you can actually cook as opposed to just heating stuff up. Throw in the fact that you'll need easily accessible stowage for galley utensils and a means of easily washing up after cooking/dining which entails water storage and and plumbing. This area might actually be the most difficult project on the list.

Next on the list is the head. I've lived with a portapotti and you can get by with one but as a DIY composting toilet takes about the same amount of room, is actually cheaper than a portapotti or MSD, and works better so the composting toilet gets on the project list. Having a proper bathroom on a 26 foot boat is really just too problematic so we'll work along the lines that showers will be in the cockpit and work on that issue when we're working on the cockpit.

A comfortable dedicated place to sleep is important. The Ranger 26 has a dinette which can be converted into a double bed, a V berth forward and a settee which opens to a wider single if you remove the back board. My guess is the V berth makes the best choice for most folk but it is something you may want to give some serious thought to.

A place to lounge. Everybody needs a comfortable place to sit and read, watch videos, or just relax. Comfort is important and it is vital to keep this in mind while you're making decisions. For most people the settee will fill this need. Personally, I'd vote for the settee because you'll also need a workable sea berth and it can do double duty.

Stowage, of course, the boat needs more stowage, fact is all boats need more stowage. You need a place for food, water, fuel, clothes, tools, books, toys and the list tends to be endless.There are a lot of clever (dare I say cunning?) ways to maximize stowage but the real trick is to realize that a 26-foot boat is a finite space and you're going to have to do some serious need/want exercise to get that endless list down to a manageable one that will fit into a 26-foot long envelope. Your ongoing mantra will have to become...

"Less stuff more stowage!"

Which leaves us with the project list for the interior so far as:

1. A new galley
2. A composting head
3. Adding more stowage

Next up we'll look at what we need to think about on the deck, cockpit, and add a wild card to the mix.

Maybe the best VolksCruising channel on the web...

Sailorama is a great YouTube channel of the unapologetic cruising on a budget ilk and if you're leaning towards doing the VolkCruiser Fandango you should really be following them.

Really.

For example...



and



Lots of good stuff and content with the added advantage of a definite lack of the "Look at me we're wonderful and oh so cute" vibe.

Ya think?

$2.99 you need to spend...

A couple of days ago I saw there was a book on Kindle that looked like it might be interesting...

This one in fact.

At $2.99 it was something of a no-brainer so I downloaded a copy to my Kindle and read it in a couple of hours.

It's an easy enjoyable read and contains a lot of information that flies in the face of what a lot of people say. Stuff, as it happens, that actually needs to be said.

Whether you want to flip boats or not is unimportant as the real meat of the issue is simply how to approach boat work and get the boat up-and-sailing in a timely, affordable, and seaworthy manner.

In short a whole lotta good advice for just under $3.

That said, surveyors and boat brokers will really hate the book. Of course, from where I sit that's just the cherry on top.

Do I really have to say more?

Doing the VolksCruiser two-step...

I'm currently in the midst of a variety of projects which, if I were not a cheapseats VolksCruiserish sort of fellow, would cost an arm and a leg to sort out...

One project is pretty simple: replacing the hand rails on the coach roof to make space for our new nesting dinghy. The old ones are somewhat past their sell-by date. Off-the-shelf teak replacements would cost on the order of $50 a pop and of somewhat diminished scantlings that hardly inspire confidence, had me looking at stainless steel hand rails which were silly expensive.

Going to the local lumber yard I bought enough clear pressure-treated yellow pine 1" x 3" stock to build new hand rails for $10 and change. Add in some epoxy (maybe $5 worth at the price/volume level I'm in) and a couple of hours or so of sweat equity and I've got a new set of robust hand rails that will do the job far better than anything available retail for around $7.50 a pop.

So yeah, hand rails are just one item on the list of boat things one tends to throw money at but it is a pretty good example of the process of not spending more than needful on boat stuff otherwise known as the VolksCruiser two-step. Let's go back and look at the details...

First, we do a Need/Want. Do I really need to replace the hand rails?

Yes, they were always too light duty for the job and years of being in the tropics have taken their toll. They were teak which is a not very good wood for hand rails as it is neither as rot resistant as believed to be nor very strong.

Second, we do some research to see what's available as a replacement and costs only to find what's available is either too expensive, too light duty, or both for the intended purpose (namely keeping aboard the boat when all hell breaks loose). So, going the DIY route is actually the only thing that makes sense.

Building hand rails is as simple a project as you can find. My method of choice is to laminate two pieces of pre-cut one by stock together, clean up and round over the resulting hand rails with a router, and then lay on three coats of epoxy to prepare them for painting. Dead simple and fast.

Now I'm sure I'll get some questions about the pressure treated pine (often referred to as "Miami Teak") so to answer those questions I'll just say pressure-treated pine is much more resistant to rot than teak in general. It's stronger and coated with epoxy, it is even more rot resistant and strong. On the fact that we're painting the hand rails, it's because the paint will protect the epoxy coating from UV and exterior varnishing is more something you'd find on a "Y-A-C-H-T" and is the antithesis to the VolksCruiserish thought process.

Yeah, right... rules.

Rule #1: Don't replace it if you don't need to.

Rule #2: Don't replace it if you can fix it.

Rule #3: If you have to fix something or replace it, DIY it whenever possible but do your research first so you know what you're doing.

Rule #4: Keep in mind that a lot of common knowledge (teak being a good example) is just plain wrong. Do your own due diligence and be wary of your sources.

Yep, simplistic as all get out but, if you mostly follow those suggestions, you'll save a very large chunk of money and improve your boat in the process. More importantly it gets you out of the "Just throw money at it" mindset.

The fact of the matter is that the process is not so much to save money as it is about doing the right thing for your boat. Providing we've done our research correctly, we're actually saving a lot of money as a bonus.

What everyone seems to do...

Have you noticed how many YouTube channels there are about people downsizing, buying a boat, fixing it up, and sailing off into the paradise of Patreon fueled bliss?

If not, you really should check them out because they are very educational for the most part.

One of the things you'll notice is there seem to be certain rites of passage that everyone goes through and rules of sorts that, like it or not, apply to the whole "Buying a boat, fixing it up, and sailing off into the sunset" gig...

Rule #1

Whatever boat you buy or how much you spend will require lots of work and money to fix up.

Rule #2

Everyone underestimates the amount of work and money needed.

Rule #3

Nothing involved in the process is rocket science and can be accomplished by just about anyone.

Rule #4

Everyone makes mistakes (though some make more than others).

Rule #5

Most people on boat projects don't do enough research/homework of the right sort.

 

Sure, I know, rules are never concrete things in this life but they do exist even if it's just to give us a hint of what may lie in store for us. Forewarned is forearmed so to speak. 

That said, rules often send the wrong message as the big picture does not always reflect a specific projects specific details. Especially if you're embarking on a VolksCruiserish project.

Yeah, VolksCruiserish rules are going to be a little bit different.

More about that on Sunday.