Somewhat uplifting, a very good cause that could use your support, and a cartoon too close of the mark for comfort....
A longish time ago, I had something of a burning bush moment while building a boat. It was not something someone said or a cunning plan. It was just a simple question I asked myself...
Is this actually essential to this boat?
Which, I’ll admit, is a fairly simple question. But it got me thinking about what defined essential and nonessential where building or refitting is concerned.
For instance, a couple of boats over from my boat was a cold-molded sloop that was only partially planked and still needed a couple of courses of veneer before being glassed. That being the case, I wondered just why the builder was working on an inlaid compass rose for the chart table before the interior fit-out was even a thing. Just for the record, I’ll go public and say that while I think inlaid woodwork is a very cool addition to a boat, it is never an essential part of a boat.
Most boat plans or production boats show or come with all the essential bits. My usual way of building a boat is that if it’s in the plans, you can consider it to be indispensable. The same goes for the design of a boat while doing a re-fit, as what’s designed in should mostly be essential.
Where it gets iffy is where the designer has left important bits to the whim of whoever is building or refitting the boat. Frankly, there is a special place in hell for designers who do not design in systems. Raceways for wiring, places to put the needed instruments, and stowage of propane bottles. Better yet, it would be no bad thing for designers to include provisions for dinghy stowage and sensible locations for solar panels in their plans.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a clue what you think is essential for your boat. I go with the idea that simpler is always better than complicated. Not that I’m against progress and realize that I should always build in space for potential additions to systems in the future. This includes things like building in extra space and large enough wiring races to add instruments when needful. Not having to resort to tearing the boat apart to run a couple of cables.
Sure, there are many non-essential bits that make a boat livable or a home. The trick is not to let them get in the way of actually building or re-fitting your boat. Consider it essential to plan for them in the overall scheme of things but avoid getting caught in the compass rose zone.
Listening to an albums worth of Neil Young coverage
So it goes...
