An important point to ponder…
It’s almost always easier to build rather than repair…
the truth of the matter…
So, let’s say you went out and bought an old cheap plastic boat, rehabbed it a bit, and are ready to cruise… But you’re a little worried about being some sort of pariah because your boat, while seashape and freshly painted, is not as expensive or hip as some of those other boats you’ll come …
an older boat worth considering…
Someone wrote and asked me what I thought of an older Columbia 34 selling for cheap the other day… It’s not a bad boat at all. Of course, being cheap with an asking price of less than $7K (around 62-cents a pound) makes it a whole lot more interesting as well. Even if you needed …
Speed…
The recent quest for that ill-fated airliner over the last weeks should be something of a wake-up call for those who think speed is a goodly thing in a cruising boat, To be more precise, a huge problem in the airliner search has been the plethora of debris viewable from satellite. There’s so much of …
A question answered…
To answer an oft asked question about why I don’t do more detailed critiques of boats. I try not to be a critical kind of guy… Given the opportunity I’m much happier to point out something interesting in a boat rather than nitpick its design flaws, issues, or failings. That said, I have been known …
A quick link…
WoodenBoat has an excellent article online by Reuel Parker (of The New Cold-Molding Boatbuilding fame) about an interesting way to build a mast… Really a must read.
How not to worry about outboard & dinghy theft…
There has been something of a spike in dinghy and outboard thefts in the BVI of late… The thing is, there always seems to be a spike of dinghy and outboard theft at any given moment somewhere in the Caribbean so it deserves a certain amount of thought. Outboards are expensive these days, times are …
and in the mast fall down go boom department…
Mongo dismasted in Hawaii… Sailing Anarchy has the story.
The wooden stake for your budget woes…
I often wonder what sort of sound a vampire makes when you drive that wooden stake through his or her heart… I expect it is not too unlike the shrill screams of consumerist junkie rage I’ve been hearing lately when I suggest that you don’t have to spend more than $100K for a boat to …
$1 a pound…
A while back we were talking about the cost of boats and boat building and how it could be best expressed in terms of cost per pound/displacement… So, the other day I came across a Pearson 303 selling for $5000. The boat is not in bad shape, has new sails, and like all boats it …