A boatish blog I follow says what needs to be said, something from the "Idiots voting begets idiots" files, and why I'm not buying stuff from REI these days...
Every once in a while I’m just floored at how well they built old fiberglass boats. Even sailboats built to a price point, with somewhat dodgy materials, have outlasted anyone’s most optimistic predictions.
Looking through Craig’s List yesterday, it amazed me just how many forty or fifty-year-old boats were still floating in pretty good shape.
One boat that caught my eye was a Bristol 26 selling for all of $500 dollars up on the Chesapeake. It looked well kept, tidy, and the only obvious issue was that it needed a small outboard. Which is a lot to say for a forty-year-old boat.
I’ve always liked the Bristol and think it’s a way better bang for the buck than the
Whenever I see an older boat in dire straights, the reason for its problems is almost always because of poor boat keeping by previous owners. Seriously, how difficult can it be to mount hardware properly or do a little maintenance?
That said, a lot of boat-owners have taken their stewardship seriously and done excellent maintenance and boat work. The big issue where classic plastic is concerned is not so much the boat but how well maintained it was by previous owners.
Listening to the Lumineers
So it goes...
