Shit happens...

EBM with a horrific but all too apt analogy, some resources in case you want to help Ukraine, and in the "Just more dangerous bigoted crap from Texas" department...

Being immersed in a world pandemic for the last two years that is still killing people at an alarming rate has people being a little nervous. Taking on any sort of life-changing enterprise like building a boat or sailing off to a tropical paradise, you should be nervous.

I get that.

Anyone not nervous about things these days is idiotic, willfully oblivious, or in a coma.

Nervous? It’s almost “H” season, there’s an ongoing pandemic, and there’s a world leader painting himself into a corner who keeps pointing out that he has atomic weapons and he’ll use them is part of the daily news. You’d be an idiot not to be nervous.

But back to budgets. Folks who think that with enough money, insurance, and being from an entitled 1st world country equals Teflon protection might be in for a nasty karmic WTF moment.

Listening to the Byrds

So it goes...

on the cost of things...

An important question, some needful reading, and in the "There's hype but then there's hype" department...

As it happens I just came across a receipt for some Samson rope I purchased a few years back and the important number was $79.95.

Considering that this was for a 600-foot spool of 10mm line that's a pretty good number. Doing the math tells me the line only cost just a kiss more than thirteen cents a foot. A 600-foot spool was more than enough to replace all of the running rigging aboard "So It Goes" with enough left over to replace any halyards or sheets that need replacing in the foreseeable future.

Doing a quick search while having my morning coffee I found several reasonable facsimile deals for spools of rope in the under twenty-cents a foot price point.

You just have to look.

Listening to Lasers Lasers Birmingham

So it goes...

Why working together makes sense...

In case you haven't been paying attention, a Caribbean leader of note, and in the "Slap a border on the road going into Oroville and the road going out and give them what they want" department...

Back when I got the plans for Loose Moose 2, doing the pre-build in my head I realized I'd need at least seventy sheets of 15mm plywood, quite a bit of lumber, a whole lot of epoxy, and quite a bit of glass fiber. Which, when added up in terms of money, was a rather daunting number if I had needed to pay full retail for it.

Now if I had been just a single guy building a boat I might have been able to get something like (if I were lucky) maybe a 5% discount on the needful materials. Luckily for me I was a member of a French boat building organization and could buy materials through them for something akin to a 35% discount on just about everything I needed to build and outfit the boat.

Since we lived in a small boat at the time just outside Paris in Joinville-le-Pont we also needed a space to build the boat. Since we knew a small co-op of boat builders in Meaux (best known for it's excellent Brie and mustard) we bought into the co-op there for an affordable place to build with access to stationary tools as well a free place to park Loose Moose while we built Loose Moose 2. Being part of the co-op also gave us a deeply discounted connection to a stainless steel fabricator and even a large discount on the crane that put us in the water once we were ready to launch LM2 on the Marne.

 

Launching with some help from our friends

Being part of a co-op and a national organization devoted to helping folks build their own boats was not just about getting building materials on the cheap. Maybe its most important benefit is the emotional support and physical support support they provided. Building a boat is hard work and we all have bad days. While building LM2 if I ever needed an extra hand there was always someone more than happy to help. If I needed a tool they'd be there to loan it to me. When I was down in the dumps there always seemed to be someone to point out that we all have bad days, tomorrow would be better, and to correct my Spanish cow pronunciation of MERDE.

There's a lot to be said for having a support group when you're building a boat.

Of course, if you're building a boat in the US of A there's bugger all support for the lone boat builder. The marine trades treat you like you're prey or a ATM and only see potential profits when selling you materials which are so jacked up pricewise that even if you could get a deep discount, they are nothing close to being affordable.

In pricing out the plywood for the SKROWL 900 design I was amazed that a quote I got for seventy sheets of plywood had a discount that was so miserly/minute that it did not even cover the cost of delivery to a freight forwarder.

Now, if I was part of a co-op and the co-op was buying four hundred sheets of plywood, drums rather than jugs of epoxy we'd be talking some serious discounts. More importantly a half dozen folks in a cooperative group could afford to rent a large building space to bring the cost to the individual member down to something affordable. Trim out the co-op with a collection of shared tools and you have a real boat shop.

It's all about economics of scale.

Want to know how it gets even better?

Have the core members of the co-op building the same boat. Let's say you have four members building the ARGO. This would allow the member to just build two molds instead of eight. Share the labor of actually building the component parts and you're cooking with Henry Ford technology on steroids. In my experience, where molds are part of the mix it is not uncommon for the builder/builders of the mold to knock off some extra components or hulls or rent the molds out to subsidize the co-ops costs.

Sure, some folks will take a long time building their boats while others will get their boat done and off sailing into the sunset. Both of the co-ops we bought into we were replacing someone who'd successfully finished their boat. When we left there were folks waiting in line to take our place.

I'll go out on a limb here and point out that, unless you're wealthy and don't care what building a boat costs, the only sensible way to build a boat is going to involve some way to make the experience easier and cheaper. From my experience the best way to do it is along the lines of co-oping in one form or another.

Maybe the next time you ask for a quote on materials ask for two quotes; one per sheet and one per gross. You'll find the answers quite enlightening. Also, keep in mind that when you're buying by the pallet or gross you can go directly to the company that makes the product and cut out a few middle men in the process to make the discounts even deeper.

Then again, you would have to work together and these days that's somewhat problematic. Still, in my mind at least, it would be more than worth the effort...

Listening to Canned Heat

So it goes...

Just another pissed off day in paradise...

A major accomplishment in assholery, a reliable source of profit, and something about tree burials...

Every once in awhile I'll find myself in a marine store looking to buy something or other but it's become a fairly rare occasion. Which is sad in a way as I really used to enjoy spending time in a chandlery, if for no other reason than I'd often get good ideas on how to cobble up rigs and suchlike. 

Not these days though...

Truth be told, the only thing I seem to get when visiting my local marine store is getting pissed off. Like yesterday when I needed to get a handful of machine screws and found the 3-inch 1/4" machine screws were $4.99 a piece.

Admittedly, I'd just come from the local Ace hardware where they did not have any 3-inch 1/4" machine screws but the place where they should have been said that if they had them they'd cost $1.99 a pop.

I mention this because the place I normally buy machine screws stateside sells them for 25-cents if you're buying just one and 23-cents each if you buy twenty-five and they'll ship them to me down here in the Virgin Islands for free.

Being both frugal and not an idiot, I decided to not buy any screws locally. I'll order them stateside and get them in a few days. Still, the idea that the "friendly" local marine store had jacked up the price to that extent really pissed me off. For those adverse to doing math, my stateside seller sells 25 machine screws for $5.75 with free shipping and the local store would charge me $9.98 for 2 screws.

As a quick reference West Marine sells 25 of the same size machine screws for $10.49 not cheap but certainly not the model of avaricious greed-heads our local marine store seems to be channeling.

On the way out of the store we passed their masking tape which cost $10.55 a roll while Walmart sells the exact same tape for $3.83 a roll which is just adding insult to injury.

Such marine industry hijinks pretty much accounts for why I don't spend much time in marine stores anymore.

Listening to The Veldt

So it goes...

on how not to spend...

On maps being wrong, light at the end of the tunnel, and in the "Pretty much common knowledge" department...

This morning, while I was waiting for the coffee to brew, I watched a video of a guy with an Oyster go on about various ways of not getting taken to the cleaners and saving money while your boat is in the boatyard. For what's it's worth, his advice was mostly spot on.

Of course, the best way to save money in terms of boat work is to have a boat that does not require the hiring of people to fix it. Or as Lin and Larry Pardey said...

"If you can't repair it, maybe it shouldn't be on board."

The good news is that for the most part, there's pretty much zero rocket science involved in sailboat systems so it's within the abilities of most everyone to sort problems when needful. For those jobs and repairs you don't know how to fix there is always a good book on the subject you can refer to.

On the other hand, since a lot of folks don't like to read, they go to their forum of choice and try to get their information there. Which, considering the large amount of erroneous information I see on the various sailing and cruising forums, might not actually be your best bet and an excellent way to screw up beyond repair whatever needs fixing.

To make things easier to save money on repairs and suchlike, confine the various systems aboard to equipment that is simple and user repairable and where user repairable is not an option (spelled most electronics) choose items that are affordable enough to carry backups for redundancy. 

More on some simple user repairable systems and redundancy strategies soonish...

Listening to Aquarium Drunkard

So it goes...

Pennies on the dollar...

Regarding a favorite book/film, an accessible art collection, and a question answered...

One of the great advantages frugal cruisers have these days is a direct offshoot of the stupidity of our entrenched consumerist addicted brethren. Folks with an insatiable urge to buy, often need to make room for that new and better thing to achieve their consumerist high.

A friend just dropped me a line about buying a bit of unused boat gear for $400 that retails for a couple of thousand dollars and change. Which on the part of the buyer is a good deal but as far as the seller's side of things is some seriously stupid economics.

Then again, junkies are seldom known for intelligence when they're Jonesing for their drug of choice.

Of course, there is still a downside to the whole consumerist spiral we're all, to some extent or another, caught in. The greed-fueled distorted market is selling stuff for much more than it's actually worth. This means those great deals might not be such bargains at all and are more along the lines of what the item in question is actually worth.

Just saying.

Listening to Run River North

So it goes...

What stuff costs...

A good point, another reason not to use Google, and in the "Rich men behaving badly" department...

Over the last week or so I've been trying to find some seine line/twine and finding it difficult to find in the size and color I'm looking for. The real difficult part is that it would appear that many purveyors of said line won't just drop it in the mail but instead quoting silly amounts to send the line down here to America's Paradise.

Anyway, as I also needed to replenish my dwindling stock of waxed sail twine, I noticed that the price of said sail twine was pretty much the same from the various folks who sell it with a fairly glaring exception.

West Marine.

Sail twine is available mostly in one ounce, quarter pound, and pound spools. As in most things the prices seem to be more expensive per foot if you're buying the smaller sizes and less expensive in the larger spools. Most places sell an ounce for $4, a quarter pound for around $9 and a pound for about $30.

So, imagine my surprise, when I checked out West Marine and found them charging $64.99 for a one pound spool. Not exactly surprising that their smaller spools were even more expensive.

The thing is, West Marine is so big that they really should be undercutting most other suppliers of marine goods if for no other reason that with their economics of scale they're paying less for goods than their smaller competitors.

Anyway, just something to keep in mind when you're shopping for stuff and a reminder to always do the math.

Listening to a coffee themed playlist

So it goes...

Some thoughts on the budget thing...

Apparently someone has a problem with basic math, a new font of interest, and on the passing of someone who rattled the cages...

All the current talk about minimum wages has me rethinking what would be the minimum budget to comfortably cruise in the right here and now.

Writing about budgets is always going to be problematic. For starters, everyone defines the word "comfortable" differently, and I'm pretty sure your idea of what you need to cruise in your comfort zone is a lot different than what I need in mine.

In our case, we hate marinas, don't like to eat out or do bars, and generally do not feel we need a lot of what we deem to be spurious systems aboard our boat. This has a huge affect on our ability to cruise on a smaller than average budget.

As far as spurious systems go, take air-conditioning as an example. I don't like living in a refrigerated environment so the whole idea of air-conditioning is somewhat repugnant to me in spite of living in the tropics for the last few decades. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who wilt when the temperature or humidity climbs a kiss and rush to the thermostat. Whatever your stance on controlling your indoor environment, the fact is that whatever it is will affect your budget in terms of outfitting and energy costs.

Another factor I've come to recognize is that some folks are good at setting and following budgets and some just don't seem to be able to. Recently aboard "So It Goes", our sewing machine quit working. Confronted with the choice of fixing it myself, paying someone else to fix it, or buying a new sewing machine had me looking at the budget wondering just what fixing the thing would cost. Since having someone else fix it or buying a new one would adversely affect the budget, I was left with the option of fixing it myself which, it turned out, was a fairly non-problematic affair and did not cost anything at all. As a bonus, I can now fix a sewing machine if the need arises. Of course, either other option would have cut in to the month's budget.

Being able to do the work needed to maintain or fix the various systems on the boat is a great way to keep on a budget so my first thought is to always fix it myself even if it requires learning new skills to do it. Which is not to say that there is anything wrong with not doing the work yourself but the fact remains that if you throw money at problems it will always affect the budget.

As it happens, our recent thrown rod experience with our generator which was beyond my ability to fix within a cost effective envelope meant we had to buy a new generator. We got a great deal on slightly more powerful, yet quieter model that is much more user serviceable than the Ryobi.

So yeah, budgets really have to be dealt with on an individual basis and what works for you. Keep in mind that what you spend is 99% under your control and you have the ability to spend less if you need to.

Listening to some Willie Nelson coverage

So it goes

What stuff costs...

EBM pretty much nails it, some ongoing USPS news, and in the "and the tubes they glow in the dark" department..

Back when I was building the mast for "So It Goes" I used quite a bit of carbon tow in the layup as it would stiffen the spar, was easy to use, and it was cheap. Fact of the matter is that carbon tow has a lot of uses as a way if adding selective reinforcement and rigidity to any number of boat oriented building project and as I've already said it's cheap.

So, this morning while perusing a boat designer and boatbuilder's website who also sells various boat building materials on their site I was surprised to see that they were selling 12K carbon tow for $0.29 a foot.

The price seemed a little high.

Worried that the price of carbon tow had went through the roof due to some sort of world shortage or suchlike I went over to my usual purveyor of carbon tow and other needful composite materials to find that carbon tow was still very affordable at between eight and thirty-five dollars a pound for 12K tow.

For those unacquainted with carbon tow a pound is a lot of tow as the tow I used for my mast was was 1734 feet to the pound and that works out to (rounded up) $0.0139 a foot or $24 a pound. As it happens this tow was actually the most expensive per foot from my supplier.

Now, at $0.29 a foot a pound of my tow would cost $502.86. or as best said in my favorite scene from "Used Cars".

Need I say more? Do your homework when dealing with marine suppliers.

Listening to a bunch of good songs

So it goes...

A good case for DIY...

G&T on a pet peeve of mine, a timely cartoon, and a very good point...

Glancing at a recent "All At Sea" magazine I noticed that the Budget Marine ad was listing soft shackles as starting at $64.65.

That seems like a whole lot of money to me.

Going to the Budget Marine website it seems that the $64.65 price is for a pair which still translates to $32.33 a pop.

Which is still a lot of money to me.

Especially when an equivalent soft shackle is just Ten bucks worth of Dyneema and ten minutes of spare time to make it happen.

Do the math.

Listening to a Frank Zappa song

So it goes...

some scowish curiosity...

An apt use of lyrics, some math I'm having trouble with, and this really got to me...

So, here's a boat I've been coming back to for a long time.

Reuel Parker's Junk rigged Scow 33.

Part of the reason I like this design is it's mostly lumberyard materials. Formply is cheap as it gets these days and my exposure tests had it as good or better than marine ply and a whole lot better than pressure treated exterior ply. Down here in southern-most tRumpistan a 3/4" sheet of formply costs less than a 1/4" exterior which would be a huge cost savings when you're buying 80-sheets or more of plywood.

So yeah, this is going to be an affordable boat.

Another reason I like the boat is its rig. I've always thought that the junk rig communities' collective phobia with jibs is somewhat problematic to performance. Lastly, while I'm a big fan of free-standing masts, I've come around to the conclusion that a little rigging combined with a beefy spar makes all kinds of sense in terms of weight and cost.

The interior accommodation in the design is what I'd call very comfortable for a couple living aboard full time.

Truth be told, I pretty much just like everything about the design as drawn. The boat is easily built of affordable materials and I know enough about to boats to know it will float right side up and do the job.

So, why haven't bought the plans already (well that's a little too complicated for the moment) and why am I going on about the design again?

Well, Mr. Parker said something interesting on his website recently...

"Because so many people have shown interest in it, I have designed a new interior for the SCOW 33 design, and upgraded the Plans and Construction Notes."

Which means I'd like to know what Reuel Parker's new interior looks like. That said, I don't expect I'll like the new interior as much as the original but I'm opened minded so we'll just have to see what we see. 

Color me curious.

Listening to the Hadestown

So it goes...

Something on the subject of minimalism and frugality...

Just the same old same ongoing retail apocalypse story, on adaptive response, and some needful reading...

A reader sent me a link to this video that makes a lot of sense.



Especially where boats and cruising are concerned.

Listening to the Pernice Brothers

So it goes...

Target fixation/big picture...

A lesson in grammar, utterly clueless, and in the "I'll be dead is not a plan" department...

When we were building the first Loose Moose at the old Charles De Gaulle airport  just outside Paris I noticed an interesting ailment that seemed to afflict my fellow boat builders from time to time...

 target fixation.

As it happens, the first time I ever heard the phrase was when my dad was offering advice to a speaker building project a friend and I were embarking on and warning us not to fixate too much on the target and lose our perception of the big picture in the process. At the time it did not seem to apply but a couple of years later, in hindsight, well, I'll just say we really should have paid attention.

Boat building is a big picture enterprise but most people tend to see it as a collection of details to obsess or fixate on.

For instance, one guy at the hanger who was working on a META hull and deck (and had been working on it for the previous ten years) would go from one detail to the next obsessing on every little thing to the point where he hardly did any building at all. Finding the perfect sink for the galley or the ultimate varnish for the interior finish being a full time job and all.

The problem, of course, is that boat projects becomes seriously nuts whenever you decide to bring perfection into the equation.

To make it more interesting, there are so many projects within a boat building or rehab enterprise that it's hardly surprising that fixating or obsessing on a particular project may wreck havoc on already finished projects or create landmines in future endeavors.

I won't even go into what target fixation does to the whole budget thing as that's more the stuff of novel length tomes, grand tragedy, drooling insanity, and inlaying compass roses on chart tables.But more on that subject later...


Listening to Paul McDonald

So it goes...

Boat economics 101...

Something taxpayers might want to take note of, a little situational awareness snafu edition, and in the "Pants on fire" department...

So, let's say you need a water jug or two for your boat and have chosen the Scepter five gallon because it's what just about everybody uses. You know, this one...

What's it going to cost you?

Well, as it happens, Budget Marine just sent me an email that had that very thing on sale for $53.95 (normal price is $59.95).

Yowza! I'm not sure about you but more than $50 bucks for a plastic jerry can seemed just a little bit high so I thought I'd see what other folks were selling the exact same thing for...

WEST Marine had it for $29.99.

Defender had it for $19.99.

Amazon had it for $14.44.

WalMart did not have the Scepter jug but did have a reasonable facsimile for $12.97.

Quite the difference. Obviously this sorta/kinda disproves the whole "You get what you pay for" mantra /idiot speak so common where boat stuff is concerned as well as underlining the fact that you really should do your due diligence and math before shelling out money for just about anything for a boat.

Especially whenever the seller has the word b-u-d-g-e-t in their name.

Listening to Los Lobos

So it goes...

PS Have a great Cinco de Mayo

Group buying...

An interesting fact, something from the "the stupidity never ends" department, and Brian Hancock reflects on the Golden Globe round the world race over at Sailing Anarchy...

When we built the first Loose Moose in a disused hanger at the old Charles De Gaulle airport, the only reason we were able to build there was because we joined a group of other boatbuilders. Who as a group, had the clout to lease a commercial space that  none of us individually could have afforded alone.

At the time, we also joined a French collective of boatbuilders, the Unite Amateur, which did group buying of stuff needful for boat builders. The upside is we got a fairly deep discount on plywood, epoxy, glass cloth, electronics, ports, winches, stainless screws/bolts, stoves, sinks, insulation, paint, engines, outboards, dinghies, windlasses, anchors, chain, rope, sails... The list was quite impressive and it, more than likely, saved us 30% or more on the builds of Loose Moose and Loose Moose 2.

The fact is, if we had not been able to get together with the Unite Amateur and our airport group, we would never have been able to afford to build the boats.

Which brings me to a question...

Why don't we do such a thing on this side of the Atlantic?

I've lost track of the number of emails the blogs have spawned from people trying to find a more affordable way to build, rehab, or cruise a sailboat on a budget. You'd think, with so many folks feeling a pinch that someone or other would have come to some sort of collective buying scheme that makes sense.

Maybe it's the fact that group buying is always going to be a bit of a compromise, Possibly it's the amount of work that goes into it. Or, just maybe, we're so addicted to the Kool Aid of consumerism that paying more just hurts so good and allows us bragging rights as to how we spent yet another boat buck into that black hole in the water.

So, here's another question I'd actually like some feedback on...

What products might readers of Boat Bits be interested in buying in a group situation? What makes sense to your current needs/wants?

Listening to Smooth Hound Smith

So it goes...

a quick note on something that works...

G&T is on a roll, some essential reading, and in the "Well now, isn't this just embarrassing" department...

Not so long ago I installed a MarineBeam tricolor/anchor/SOS light at the masthead and posted about how impressed I was with it's performance and pleased by the low ($99) price. Of course, whenever I extol the benefits of affordable priced boat gear I always get a few "You're an idiot", "You get what you pay for!" and "The more it costs the better it is!" emails telling me the cheap seats are not where the cool kids are supposed to hang out and I'll be an unhappy camper when it fails.

Well...

I'm not an unhappy camper and, in point of fact, I'm still doing the happy dance because my tricolor/anchor/SOS light is still shining bright even after enduring the worst that hurricane Maria could dish out with its 150+ MPH winds.

Good quality frugal gear works.

Listening to Tokyo Flashback

So it goes...

Some thoughts on buying used stuff for boats...

Words, some bad (though much deserved) news for Utah, and a little depressing math...

OK, I'll admit it, at least once every week I check out eBay to see what's for sale in the boat gear category. Partly because you always need something for your boat and partly because it's good to know what stuff is worth.

That said, eBay is no longer the extended yard sale/swap meet it used to be and not really a good place to check prices because the greed has taken hold with a vengeance. Take self-steering gears for instance. You will often see used gears for silly prices. I suppose the fact that most new self-steering gears being stupidly expensive is a factor but still something used really should come with a price that reflects the fact that it used or, in far too many cases, used and abused.

Once upon a time I used to work in a consignment store selling boat gear. It was not a bad job as things go and it did teach me a lot about gear not to have on a boat and how the whole used gear thing actually works in practice. Being a consignment store it also taught a lot more on how not to sell things.

Which sorta/kinda brings us to the rule of half/half again... Let's say you have a self-steering gear on your new used boat you don't want and you want to sell it. Let's also say that you can buy the very same gear from its builder for $6K in spite of it having a retail price of $6.5K (face it everybody discounts). What would/should you price it at if you actually wanted to, you know, sell it?

Well, a guy on eBay today seems to think $5.5K which equals out to a $500 discount for a gear that predates his ownership of the boat, so it could be a decade or so old, possibly needs some work, and new bearings. At that price we'd never have been able to sell the beast in the store unless we lucked onto someone exceptionally stupid and drunk... Nope, at that price it would just sit in the corner and gather dust.

The fact is, used boat stuff really does not move until it hits the half off level rounded down to the nearest round with a kiss off that number... So, for the windvane in question, half of $6.5K is $3250 then rounded to $2999 is a price where it might actually sell for if it was in like-new condition, had all its bits, spares, and documentation. Truth be told, anything that was once bolted to a transom would fall into the half again rule where it might sell for $1500 at most.

Since one is predisposed to spend more in an actual brick & mortar store than from some dude on the internet selling off stuff he no longer wants, $1500 is actually way more than most people would fork out unless, of course, they were of the exceptionally stupid and/or drunk variety. A real world price is more likely to be under $1K.

As a consumer, you already know this to be true to one degree or another but there is a lot of pressure, both peer and otherwise, to forget the common sense you were born with and spend boat bucks like a drunken sailor (spelled exceptionally stupid and drunk) because... you know... you get what you pay for.

Working at the store taught me that the half/half again is just based on what good used stuff is really worth and nowhere near rocket science or voodoo. More importantly, it also taught me that there is always new old gear coming to the market all the time. If the guy selling that old funky winch for $500 or the $5.5K windvane won't come down to a real world price, someone else will have the same thing or a reasonable facsimile in the not too far distant future. All you have to do is keep looking and be patient...

Plus, the folks with the too-high gear will still be selling their gear next month or next year because it just ain't going to move anytime soon.

Listening to Barbagallo

So it goes...

On the gouge conundrum or why it pays to shop...

Some needful reading from Wendig, just follow the money, and stupid/crazy/evil...

This morning my plan was to buy  four Tylaska spools like this one...

Checking around for the price of the size I needed I came up with a spread that ranged from a low of $15 to a high of $49 and change each.

Just think about that for a minute or two.

The real question is just how stupid do some people think we are?

Listening to Hula Hi-Fi

So it goes...

Avoiding stasis...

Something you may want to check out,  a conversation with Bruce Springsteen, and in the "technically and economically feasible" department...

Back in the late 80's when we were preparing to retire and sail away to the Caribbean things were different and not in a bad way.

For instance, there was not a lot of choice like we have today in boats and boat stuff. Today, by comparison, there is such a plethora of "stuff you have to have" that just choosing a boat and outfitting is a lot harder than actually doing the sailing/cruising gig.While choice is a good thing, too much choice tends to induce stasis and stress. Made worse, of course, by the fact that the pressure to consume mixed with the need to have the very best (something that really only exists in myth) and shaken with a liberal application of false information is a cocktail that will make your head spin.

I mention this because as I'm budgeting out the new boat build I've been spending a fair amount of time thinking of the outfitting as I'd really like to future proof my investment and insure as trouble free system as possible. A couple of weeks looking at state-of-the-art electronics systems made me wonder just how anyone can actually outfit a boat these days and not lose their mind in the process.

My job became a lot easier once I'd applied the Need/Want process to the mix and did the math which vectored me right back to a reality based system...

Which means I'm going old school. Truth be told, I've always preferred simple and, as a bonus, if you want simple you're back in the not a lot of choice world.

So, right now my shopping list for the next boat is a grid compass, a mechanical (not electronic) speed/ log, an inexpensive fishfinder/chart plotter, and a vhf with AIS. Since I'm a belts and braces kind of guy I'll also add a couple of cheap (under $100) pocket GPS units, a handheld VHFs, and a trailing log. All told not a lot of investment and far, far short of that magic $1K number.

Next up we'll talk about why I prefer a grid compass and suchlike...

Listening to Wyclef Jean

So it goes...

The cost of stuff and a restatement of purpose for 2017...

A bit of a conundrum, some seriously scary shit, and a test that stands up to scrutiny...

A reader to this blog recently sent me a link to someone's posted budget to prove to me that it really costs at least $2500+ a month to cruise or live on a boat. I won't bore you with the details of the budget because it is really something of an apples/oranges kind of thing. Well, unless you absolutely need a fifty-foot boat, have to spend most of your time in marinas, are unable to do your own work, and can't live without spending over $800 a month eating out, I doubt if it applies to anyone reading BoatBits.

That said, in 2017 things are really too expensive and the portents are that things are going to get a whole lot more costly in the near future. Which pretty much means that folks of a frugal nature are going to have to be just that more creative to make the whole boatbuilding/boat repair/cruising on a budget thang actually work.

Not only do we need to get creative and inventive to do stuff affordably but we need to network or share to make it happen.

Which brings me back to the reader who sent me that link...

Over the years, BoatBits has received a plethora of emails of the negative "It Can't Be Done" variety and almost none of the "It Can Be Done and This Is How I DID IT" or "Here's a link to guy with a great way to save money on boat stuff" ilk. Maybe it's the creative folk doing stuff on a budget are just too busy saving money and living well in the process that they just don't have time to write. On the other hand, it's just possible that the negative naysayers are so busy not boatbuilding/repairing boats/cruising that they get to spend all their time finding reasons they can't build or repair boats and cruise.

Seriously, I'm about up to here with negativity these days.

So...

If you have a great link to someone who is doing something positive drop me a line...

Know of a good way to save money on a boat project I want to hear about it...

If you're cruising on a budget please share your tips and tricks that work or cunning plans that didn't...

I'm pretty sure you get the idea.

On my part, I'll be doing more detailed  "How to" projects rather than my just pointing to ideas and letting folks add their own creativity to the mix. This goes for VolksCruiser as well so if you're not a regular reader to the cheapseats you might want to look in from time to time.

Listening to Mr Zevon

So it goes...