Do you like your boat?
- Thread starter Sybarite
- Start date
Daydream believer
Well-known member
Yes! Ever since his bow hit another boat in the stern. He already had his suspicions after it kept nudging it in the berth on windy days. But this proved it.
Waiting see the outcome because it did not use a fender. Still; could do with another tender in the family
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johnalison
Well-known member
Being a thoroughly modern person, I allow my boat to self-identify however he, she or it wishes. There has been little consistency over the years and while the prevailing fickleness leads me to genderise it as female there remains a lingering tendency for it to occasionally reveal itself as a hermaphrodite beast.
14K478
Well-known member
I used to think that one could never love a lump of plastic but at 49 years of age, including a full service career in the Army (should I address her as "Lieutenant-Colonel"?) and a few years in genteel retirement, she has developed a personality.
Does not like marinas. Does not like hoist slings. Loves chucking the head of a sea at the helmsbody. An absolute delight under sail.
Since I fell for the woman in my life when she addressed me as "Idiot!" and I suspect the boat sometimes wonders just what she has got, I suppose I do love her.
Does not like marinas. Does not like hoist slings. Loves chucking the head of a sea at the helmsbody. An absolute delight under sail.
Since I fell for the woman in my life when she addressed me as "Idiot!" and I suspect the boat sometimes wonders just what she has got, I suppose I do love her.
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Skylark
Well-known member
Back to the OP theme.
Albeit I'm a confirmed UK sailor, these words are a bit of a metaphor for my love of boats and water.
Albeit I'm a confirmed UK sailor, these words are a bit of a metaphor for my love of boats and water.
steve350
Active member
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Jonny A
Active member
I love her deeply, she is the apple of my eye!
OK so she's not in her first flush of youth, in fact she's an older woman (by a single year). But each year I make her just that little bit better and she's well worth the time and money.
OK so she's not in her first flush of youth, in fact she's an older woman (by a single year). But each year I make her just that little bit better and she's well worth the time and money.
Alan S
Well-known member
Weaker? Does your good lady agree with that?
You could have said fairer sex : )
johnalison
Well-known member
Unfortunately, at the moment my use of the earlier expression is only too appropriate. I spend half my time opening bottles and cans for her and she is currently excused boat maintenance duties.
Alan S
Well-known member
She has the strength of character to wind you round her little finger! (jest)
I wish her well.
Boat maintenance is a man's job.
I wish her well.
Boat maintenance is a man's job.
sail sail
Active member
We have a love-hate relationship.
C08
Well-known member
Not at the moment as she is bright green all over after the winter on a mooring, problems with the trot mooring also and the gas warm air heater is not working so pretty bleak on the boat right now. Still moving to a pontoon berth soon so a bit of pressure washing and I will be back in love for the spring.
dancrane
Well-known member
Recognising the gigantic irony in that answer, it is a brilliant one. Unless of course you're very short of interests in life!
I've always felt deep affection for my boats, which allowed me to justify the bother and cost they represented, versus the reward they returned.
Perhaps it's only once you get rid of your boat, that you can be honest about your feelings.
It's often on my mind to buy another, but I'm wise now to what is definitely not worth enduring or paying for, or taking on as a project...
...the number of boats I would seriously consider (and the number of owners I envy), has shrunk fantastically under that small application of sense.
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[2574]
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That’s an interesting position. Money, in its token form, has no value other than its yield. Outside yield, only when converted in to function or form (experience) does it have tangible value. Thus a boat is simply a method of converting money to value. If sailing is one’s chosen form of value (experience/enjoyment) then cost of sailing is largely irrelevant. If one prefers gardening then a boat is a poor value converter. Choose your poison.
dancrane
Well-known member
For the time being, I choose to leave the poison that is boat-owning, in the bottle.
Of course it shouldn't be poison, but quite a lot which isn't obvious at point of purchase, has a much less appealing taste when it's sampled.
And even if it's all glorious, one can still experience the sense one sometimes does, that time spent at a good hotel cost far more than it was worth.
I could probably arrange to be a boat-owner again by tomorrow morning. I doubt I'd need to get out of my chair.
Experience has taught me the enormous, idle pleasure of being able to buy a boat, without being so hasty as to prove it.
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Of course it shouldn't be poison, but quite a lot which isn't obvious at point of purchase, has a much less appealing taste when it's sampled.
And even if it's all glorious, one can still experience the sense one sometimes does, that time spent at a good hotel cost far more than it was worth.
I could probably arrange to be a boat-owner again by tomorrow morning. I doubt I'd need to get out of my chair.
Experience has taught me the enormous, idle pleasure of being able to buy a boat, without being so hasty as to prove it.
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[2574]
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They are wise words, I would only add that there is no greater waste of money than unspent money.For the time being, I choose to leave the poison that is boat-owning, in the bottle.
Of course it shouldn't be poison, but quite a lot that isn't obvious at point of purchase, has a much less appealing taste when it's sampled.
And even if it's all glorious, one can still experience the sense one sometimes does, that time spent at a good hotel cost far more than it was worth.
I could probably arrange to be a boat-owner again by tomorrow morning. I doubt I'd need to get out of my chair.
Experience has taught me the enormous, idle pleasure of being able to buy a boat, without being so hasty as to prove it.
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Gixer
Well-known member
Glad you enjoyed my answer and it looks to have sparked a discussion. I'll add my two pennies to this.
I bought my yacht 17 years ago intending to do lots of sailing as I had in the previous years. 9 months later by daughter was born and 2 years later my son joined this world.
With a wife not interested in sailing this stopped most of my plans. Why didn't I sell the boat at this point? Being honest it was my escape, not in a bad way but I needed somewhere to go and something to occupy my mind, thinking about improvements and upgrades.
I've actually sailed a minimum amount in this time, but had countless days onboard with my family using the boat as a beach hut or holiday home.
For me owning a boat is much more than just sailing, its my work of art that I'm proud of, like a painting or sculpture. This might sound odd but its how I justify still owning her.
What I am looking forward to, is when I get more time and can just jump on her and go. Too many times I seen people newly retired spending years fixing up a boat to how they want it and then being too old to sail. Then again maybe that what they enjoy.....
dancrane
Well-known member
That's another very good contribution.
I'm not proud of how much sailing I didn't do in two summers with a yacht gobbling marina berth fees. Despite giving us probably hundreds of days on board (mostly tied up), the cost was more than I felt was value.
Four years on, I'm not sorry I sold the boat, because brief ownership scratched a forty-year itch and showed me what I'll want next time, if or when I buy again.
That sounds like deep wisdom, but it's easy to undermine with everyday commonsense. My unspent capital (more than the value of the yacht) earns as much in interest as the yacht used to cost in mooring fees.
The money may not be purposefully used while it's accruing, but I'm as happy about its growth, as I was unhappy about the same amount going irrecoverably and endlessly to the marina, until I sold the boat. In my circumstances, that felt like waste.
I'm not proud of how much sailing I didn't do in two summers with a yacht gobbling marina berth fees. Despite giving us probably hundreds of days on board (mostly tied up), the cost was more than I felt was value.
Four years on, I'm not sorry I sold the boat, because brief ownership scratched a forty-year itch and showed me what I'll want next time, if or when I buy again.
That sounds like deep wisdom, but it's easy to undermine with everyday commonsense. My unspent capital (more than the value of the yacht) earns as much in interest as the yacht used to cost in mooring fees.
The money may not be purposefully used while it's accruing, but I'm as happy about its growth, as I was unhappy about the same amount going irrecoverably and endlessly to the marina, until I sold the boat. In my circumstances, that felt like waste.
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I understand that, one's perception of value is critical, if you believe that the cost of running the boat feels like waste then the cost/value equation is out of balance for you. It's all personal of course. At age 25 my wife and I had very little except each other. Forty years on, with two businesses sold and after a working life of accumulation, one has to realise that the decumulation phase needs to start, thats a very difficult (for me) strategy change to manage. Hence the realisation that there is no greater waste of money than money unspent.
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Hence my new car next week and a fortune spent on my boat over the last few years. You can't take it with you!