Some very needful reading, a good reason to buy stuff somewhere else, and just the sort of thing to read during Christmas week...
Lately I've been receiving a lot of email with links and suchlike sent by folks as proof that it takes a LOT OF MONEY to fix your boat or to cruise and today was no exception.
Today's example (you can read it here) concerned a couple with a Cape Dory 33 whose engine was toast and the local diesel repair guy had just given them an estimate for $6,741.47 ($2903.27 parts + $3270 labor + tax & shipping). It was a rather depressing story.
The guy sharing the link to the story said it was proof positive that boats/cruising was very expensive and how I was wrong about budgets and suchlike...
OK.
So yeah, it does cost money to fix stuff and shit happens.
That said, while I don't think the couple with the engine problems are doing anything wrong, their spending and budget is not the only path available to them...
For instance, if you can work and maintain the systems you have on your boat you can dispense with that rather large labor charge and, looking over the prices on parts, you could save a whole lot of money there as well with a little educated effort but the important lesson that comes to mind is that old but still valid observation...
As it happens, I don't much like working on engines but, over the years, I've rebuilt a few. The first one was the engine in my 1963 VW van that I had to rebuild on the side of the road in the back end of nowhere with the tools on hand and a dog-earred copy of John Muir's "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot". It took me a week and a half and I had to hitch hike fifty miles each way several times to buy parts and get stuff machined but at the end of the ordeal the engine worked and continued to do so till I sold the beast a couple of years later. You might say I'm living proof that John Muir was right about the complete idiot thang.
On the other hand, my first thought when I saw the estimate of $6,741.47 was why on earth would someone pay that kind of money for a repair of an old diesel engine when you could buy a new one for less than $3000? Someone always has industrial diesel engines on sale cheap if you know where to look...
You could also install an electric propulsion system for less than $2000 (batteries not included so that would add another $1000) or adapt the boat to use an outboard. Some might even say that you don't really need an inboard engine at all...
The bottom line is that there are always options and, almost always, there's an affordable one sitting right there in plain sight but most folks are usually so busy throwing money at the problem they miss it.
Which, I suppose, is me saying that I'm sticking with my thoughts on budgets and costs...
Listening to Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
So it goes...
