I’ll be honest and get out front and tell you that I really hate shopping. Which, according to the marine press, is something of a rarity as it appears in reading them that the main point of sailing or cruising is buying stuff and spending money.
That said, having bought an elderly but new-to-me boat which needs some stuff, I find myself being in a position to buy a bunch of stuff and it does not make me a happy camper.
So, what exactly do I need? For starters, there is zip working instruments aboard with the exception of a compass which means I need at least a log, depth sounder, VHF, some sort of chart plotter, and an AIS receiver.
Glancing at the West Marine and Defender catalogs it would seem that were talking several boat bucks for that small shopping list. Luckily I’ve done my homework and can put the needful electronics aboard for a fraction of that. Partly because I have some stuff already bought at deep discount for “So It Goes” which include a Fishfinder/Chartplotter, a VHF radio with AIS receiver, an analog log as well as a trailing log for back up. It seems the only item I actually had to buy was a super basic depth sounder for the cockpit that does everything needful for a mere $68 bucks so with shipping I’m still under $100 out-of-pocket.
The genoa on the Islander is pretty close to being on its last legs and requires a lot of repair which may or may not make sense, so I made the decision to get a used genoa in excellent shape for $775 because it’s hurricane season and we may need to get out of Dodge in a hurry, so I wanted a sail I could count on.
Redoing the boat electrics is going to be a pain in the butt but it would seem that there is enough needless wiring to allow me to recycle what is there into a more refined and simple system. The only problematic part is finding a couple of breaker panels suitable to my needs at the right price. Oops, I’ll add stringing wire to the problematic side of the equation as the Islander does not have any designed in raceways so getting wire from point A to B is never as easy as it could be.
More on the refit as it happens because now I have to replace some water hoses and make sense of a very stupid water tankage conundrum but more on that later.
Oh yeah, here’s a good point being made that is well worth checking out…
Curse of electricity, once you have it, most people will just keep buying stuff that runs on it, expense spiral, more stuff=more batteries, more solar or generator=water maker, freezers and air con.
I was looking at a boat yesterday, has in-mast furling mainsail that needs replacing along with a whole bunch of stuff that boats standing for 5 years do. Suddenly that “cheap” boat is approaching the price of one already in commission, and no mega monthly storage fees to pay while doing the ongoing work. Sometimes the life-learning-experience begins to pay off…….
So true!
The big issue with the successful VolksCruiser is to avoid mission creep. I see so many out-of-control projects that become budget destroying monsters that can kill a project dead in its tracks. I’ll admit, that even I have to resort to the “Just what’s needed and nothing more” mantra on a daily basis. That and a firm budget I’m not going to exceed keep most of the mission creep in check.