frugal workarounds…

Some first contact musings, a boat book you need to read, and today in the “more reasons not to do a cruise ship” department…

Yesterday, I saw a very cool bit of gear for my cinema camera. What was especially nice was that instead of costing eighty-bucks, it only cost $25. This appeared to be a great deal and I almost bought a few. The thing is, it was a brilliantly simple idea. It only took a couple of minutes for me to realize that I could fabricate the same bit of kit for about $5 with a few minutes of labor. So within a couple of weeks I’ll be using them at a cost savings of $60 bucks.

The reason I mention film gear is it’s a great example of the fact that nearly everything has money saving workarounds if only you stop and think about how stuff goes together and what it would take to DIY it.

Soft shackles are a good example. Spend $30 for one or make it for $5 or cheaper. Soft shackles are easy to make and come in handy so having a bunch is no bad thing. I’ll throw in that there’s really no excuse for anyone cruising to not be able to do basic marlinspike work. Splicing is easy and you’d have to be an idiot to pay the current going rate for splicing.

Need I say more? Sure, here’s a book that has all you need to know.

It’s not just the little stuff either, as any tyro can build a self-steering gear that will work just as well as a Monitor or Hydrovane for $400 or less. Sure, there’s a few days of sweat equity involved. All you need to know is readily available online and nowhere approaches rocket science.

Same goes for dinghies. Anyone can build a great dinghy. With the current cost of dinghies being nuts three or four hundred bucks is way better than three or four thousand dollars. All you have to do is do it.

Personally, I enjoy the process of DIY stuff on the boat. If I make it I can fix it. Even better, if I make it I also know what might need to be fixed and have a DIY fix stowed on the boat just in case. Which, if you think about it, makes DIY a lot better than store bought.

I’ll be honest, there’s also the satisfaction that cunningly adopted frugal workarounds make this melon farmer a happy camper.

Nuff said.