Now that you have a couple of ways of comparing costs of boats, we can start talking about actually acquiring your VolksCruiser. I’ve noticed over the years that where the buying and selling of boats is concerned, the words “RIP OFF” are not as uncommon as they should be. More often than not, it’s the …
Now that you’re comfortable with the idea of thinking about what a boat costs per foot, it’s time to change it around and get you to think about a more important figure… Displacement. Displacement, when all is said and done, is a lot more important to someone cruising or living aboard than length. Which is …
So, what’s a VolksCruiser supposed to cost anyway? Part 2 Read More »
Face it, the whole thing about cruising, boat buying, and building budgets are pretty much a confusing mess. You often find one guy who thinks a $250,000 boat is “cheap” discussing budgets with someone who wishes he could afford a $25,000 boat… How exactly can you bridge that sort of gap? You can’t… It’s just …
So, what’s a VolksCruiser supposed to cost anyway? Read More »
I almost bought a boat recently… Not, in fact, the project I have been hinting about but a boat that simply seemed like a real good deal. I figured I could fix it up as part of a book and DVD project then turn around and sell it for a small fair profit. Seemed like …
The successful VolksCruiser is not just about spending less for stuff. A lot of it has to do with thinking how sailboats work. That said, if you actually suss out how/why sailboats work and act on your findings. It’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll wind up saving money if you do. For instance, you’d …
A few readers have written asking about what I think makes a boat a VolksCruiser which, I’ll admit, is bit hard to answer in one quick sentence. Part of it is, of course, affordability. Talking about what’s affordable all depends on who you’re talking to. I know someone who thinks his $500K cat is a …
I can’t help but notice that the cost of gas/diesel keeps going up and, while I’ll admit that the resulting lower traffic of weekend warrior cigarette boatfolk is kinda nice but, the resulting spiraling costs that higher fuel prices cause in other areas like transport is somewhat worrisome… You might not be aware but quite …
A lot of readers of Boat Bits/VolksCruiser, as well as the guy who writes it, have an urge to build a boat from the keel up. More than an urge really it’s somewhere between affliction and an addiction… “Hi, my name’s Bob and I’m a boatbuilder…” The thing is, there are …
As everyone knows (I do go on don’t I), I want to build a shoal draft modern scow of the VolksCruiser sort of easily built, adaptable, and affordable to folks of the blue collar sort… You know the sort of people who actually work for a living! The sort of thing that rich yachty type …
Speaking of questions… How is it that a car built in the 40’s is more fuel efficient than modern high-tech production cars? As it happens, I’ve always been a huge fan of Citroens (I learned to drive on a DS) but reading about the 2CV got me thinking about how there’s a real parallel between …
