Boating on a budget

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PhillM

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Looking at the range of sailing books available they seem to fall into:

How to sail / navigate etc
How to sail the world and what kit to use
How I nearly died on my trip of a lifetime
and so on.

There doesn’t seem to be anything aimed at how to buy an older boat, do it up and sail (weekending and perhaps coastal cruises) and how to do it safely on a budget. A bit like Practice boat but with more depth and in a book format.

I’m not a writer and I don’t have the time but does the panel think that there is a gap in the market for something like this?

Dylan, a project for you perhaps?
 
If you're on a tight budget you won't want to be spending money on books telling you how to manage on a tight budget! :D

Seriously, economical boating has been very well covered by long dead writers such as Francis Cooke and the only thing that's different nowadays is the proliferation of electronics and gadgetry in general, which you can probably manage perfectly well without (they did).

I reckon it's more an attitude of mind you need to develop. Learn how to make and mend. Keep an eye out for genuine bargains. And try to ignore advertisements aimed at getting you to buy products you don't need.
 
PhillM said:
Looking at the range of sailing books available they seem to fall into:

How to sail / navigate etc
How to sail the world and what kit to use
How I nearly died on my trip of a lifetime
and so on.

There doesn’t seem to be anything aimed at how to buy an older boat, do it up and sail (weekending and perhaps coastal cruises) and how to do it safely on a budget. A bit like Practice boat but with more depth and in a book format.

I’m not a writer and I don’t have the time but does the panel think that there is a gap in the market for something like this?

Dylan, a project for you perhaps?
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Why not join a club of like minded folk.
Pop down to Hardway YC near Gosport, lots of small boat owners there & the club has moorings ect.
you do not need night skool or dazed kippers to sail. cast off the mooring & your away on your life changing hobby / obsession
 
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A C Stock; "Sailing just for Fun" in his tiny boat, Shoal Waters - the sub-title is Adventure on a budget - Exactly what you ask for.

Then there is Shane Acton, the Pardeys, the Hiscocks. All good practical sailors who didn't spend a fortune on boats & kit & dealt with the bad weather without over dramatising it.
 
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bless you

PhillM said:
Looking at the range of sailing books available they seem to fall into:

How to sail / navigate etc
How to sail the world and what kit to use
How I nearly died on my trip of a lifetime
and so on.

There doesn’t seem to be anything aimed at how to buy an older boat, do it up and sail (weekending and perhaps coastal cruises) and how to do it safely on a budget. A bit like Practice boat but with more depth and in a book format.

I’m not a writer and I don’t have the time but does the panel think that there is a gap in the market for something like this?

Dylan, a project for you perhaps?
Click to expand...

bless you

but KTL is such a wonderful way of losing money that I am not currently in need of any other loss making projects at the moment

I have written two books

my brother told me that one of them was the sort of book that once you have put it down it is almost impossible to pick up again

Dylan
 
I wasn't so much as looking for a book like this for me now, but to see if there was a market for one - because it struck me that there could be. Just wondering....

Re the Parley’s (et al) have read and enjoyed them but to be honest, they don’t really reflect the sort of sailing I do (day / weekend / perhaps a week). I don’t want to leave my family / home and business and go around the world. Around the Isle of Wight would be nice though.

They don’t talk about a maintenance schedule that includes checking the battery fluid) which reminds me) etc. They don’t talk about servicing seacock’s, which antifoul does what, where to by red lead putty, how to work out how much electricity I am using in 24 hours etc. Which is why I was wondering...?

Sounds like the answer is, no there isn’t a need.
 
PhillM said:
I wasn't so much as looking for a book like this for me now, but to see if there was a market for one - because it struck me that there could be. Just wondering....

Re the Parley’s (et al) have read and enjoyed them but to be honest, they don’t really reflect the sort of sailing I do (day / weekend / perhaps a week). I don’t want to leave my family / home and business and go around the world. Around the Isle of Wight would be nice though.

They don’t talk about a maintenance schedule that includes checking the battery fluid) which reminds me) etc. They don’t talk about servicing seacock’s, which antifoul does what, where to by red lead putty, how to work out how much electricity I am using in 24 hours etc. Which is why I was wondering...?

Sounds like the answer is, no there isn’t a need.
Click to expand...

That's the sort of stuff that PBO used to cover back in the day Maurice Griffiths was Editor & I used t buy it . . .
 
Searush said:
That's the sort of stuff that PBO used to cover back in the day Maurice Griffiths was Editor & I used t buy it . . .
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Maurice Griffiths was never the editor of PBO - on fact he retired around the time it started. He was editor of YM and Denny Desouter started PBO having asked exactly the same type of question as Phil. YM and YW did not cover "practical" issues, although YM did have a lot on cruising for smaller boats on a budget.

However, you have to remember that things were very different in the 60's and 70's when thee market for DIY was much stronger and building a small cruiser or assembling a kit was very common. world has changed a bit since then and rather than being a big chunk of a growing market DIY is a small part, and well served by the availability of information from sources that were unheard of then.
 
Tranona said:
Maurice Griffiths was never the editor of PBO - on fact he retired around the time it started. He was editor of YM and Denny Desouter started PBO having asked exactly the same type of question as Phil. YM and YW did not cover "practical" issues, although YM did have a lot on cruising for smaller boats on a budget.

However, you have to remember that things were very different in the 60's and 70's when thee market for DIY was much stronger and building a small cruiser or assembling a kit was very common. world has changed a bit since then and rather than being a big chunk of a growing market DIY is a small part, and well served by the availability of information from sources that were unheard of then.
Click to expand...

And then lovely old Des ( Old Harry ) took over YM.
 
PhillM,

I know you were asking about the market for a book rather than boat tips; as you own a lovely old 'hole in the water to pour money into' wooden boat like a Caravel, you are either the best or worst person possible to dispense such advice ! :)

Have a very Merry Christmas, hope to see you on the Poole Cruise.

Andy
 
PhillM said:
I’m not a writer and I don’t have the time but does the panel think that there is a gap in the market for something like this?

Dylan, a project for you perhaps?
Click to expand...

There are loads of old books on that sort of subject but as Slow Boat unwillingly hints - times have moved on. The population is much more divided than ever before into those at the bottom who cannot even think about that sort of hobby and those in the top half who have the money to buy a boat that doesnt need more than tinkering with.

Whats more, those who have the money are far less inclined to work on a boat or a car or anything else - they expect not to have to do that and they mostly dont have the skills either. It's the issue of car maintenance where the cars are now so reliable that the numbers of people who know how to remove a cylinder head and de-coke it are falling every year. You see it every day on here with people asking questions that are, to those of us old enough to have stripped down engines, wired houses etc, really pretty noddy.

To compound matters, new boat prices have fallen in real terms. The likes of Bavs are quite cheap for a sizeable vessel.

I'll put it another way. Many sailing books are about selling dreams. These days the most popular dream, is to sail off round the world not to potter like Dylan does. So the most popular book is about just that.
 
Thanks Andy, Merry Christmas to you and for that matter to everyone on here. Hope to meet you enroute to Poole.

Wotayottie - I'd would have agreed totally a few years ago. However, I have noticed both on here and in other areas that since the recession bit there is a resurgence of the "can-do" attitude to which you elude. I know a lot more people who are prepared to buy second-hand and have a go themselves because money is tight. Perhaps that is why there are so many basic questions on here. I for one ask many really basic ones and am grateful for the patient replies.
 
I think I could write a fairly hefty tome on the purchase of a boat on a budget that is still worth the same, and then spend enough to have bought a really well put together boat that is worth more than you spent in the first place
 
sailorman said:
it was like a workingmans club when i went there :o:eek:
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I also think they will not accept membership from newcommers if their yacht exceeds 30 foot which counted me out straight away.

The Hardway YC's idea is that members with small boats will be needing larger moorings as they change their yachts and therefore not allow anyone to join as this would 'jump the queue' for deep(er) water moorings.

.
 
lenseman said:
There is a waiting list for people to join Hardway YC and I was told the membership costs £500 per year. :(
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Try Port Solent Yacht club - no waiting list and its only £25 a year membership. We joined this year and they seem like a nice / good bunch.
 
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