gap year

[Spuddy]

Not me. well not yet anyway-in two years when I'm 60. I meant my boat which I took on in July o3 as a smallish project. I thought I'd got it sorted but tatty; enough for half a season sailing but she got this elusive leak which got worse. Out she comes to dry. Grind out the dodgy bit and epoxy up ( thanks for all the useful advice, especially oldsaltoz). Rudder needed some major surgery while I had the resins, then the cockpit floor. Then I was distracted by sailng on a friends boat this season.
So it's all gone slower than I expected - will it turn into one of "those" boats - owner turns up once a month, makes a cup of tea and tickles something with a spanner or a brush before disappearing again.
It's that dark teatime of the soul. Everyone else on here is either rich enough to get a yard to do it or seems to get stuff done briskly- is it only poor little me? Well no it isn't, because I know from reading between the lines and also from nattering to others around the yard that there's lots of us scratching along, short of time and money.
I think it's the autumn weather that's brought it on - would colonic irrigation help?
spuddy's reasons to be chheerful.

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[ShipsWoofy]

When I took on TC in 2001 we spent the first three months of 2002 working like stink each weekend. Only one day at first as we couldn't sleep on her, miles from home.

We would have a look around as we tidied away tools and our hearts would drop as nothing had seemingly changed. I had taken a loan and gear was building up in the spare bedroom and my parents garage and our drive..... but the boat felt like nothing was happening.

I had projects to do at home, but found it very hard to build up enthusiasm in the cold winter evenings. In the end I booked a crane for launch in at the beginning of April. A target. We knew we would be working on her in the water, but we would get to sail her too.

Things changed, we arrived at the boat Friday evening and left Sunday night. We knew all the locals in the yard and quite a few in the town too. People would stop to chat and say how impressed they were to see TC looking so good again, this really helps. The best day was fitting the new foredeck, she looked beautiful.

We launched and it is now the end of 2004 and we are about 1/2 way through. The work is slowing down as she becomes more and more liveable. Like you stated, you have to get her back in the water as soon as you can.

See our efforts here <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Woof

 

[chippie]

I know the feeling, I had my boat out for major work just over a year ago, and thought I would catch up with finishing all the little jobs once she was back in. Yeah right, I go sailing when I can and will catch up when she comes out again in about a year.

Try the colonic irrigation, you may feel better, then again----.

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[William_H]

I think the answer is that boats can be sailed and give a lot of pleasure without actually being perfect maintenance wise. Some people get their kicks out of actually doing maintenance or initial building and are at a loss when it is all done. I have seen boats in the middle of circumnavigation that are desperately in need of TLC but their owners just turn the bow towards the open sea.
Put it back in the water now and to hell with all the little jobs not done... sail it. thats what it is for.
regards will Na nee Na na season opens this afternoon weather perfect 24 degrees 10 knots Howzat is all finished and rearing to go. expecting first and fastest, sorry had to put that in.

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[jerryat]

Hi Spuddy!

Blimey, I got a real sense of deja-vu reading your post! My boat's been laid up since August 2003 while I do a monster refit, to be completed (hopefully!) in time for us to shove off cruising again next year. I worked every day on her for the first six months or so, stripping everything out and doing the truely awful jobs like re-lining the interior, stripping down and re-building the engine etc etc, but the list damn well GREW not reduced!

I don't know about you or others, but I find that there's a sort of creeping "I can't leave THAT like that, now I've replaced/cleaned/stripped and lacquered that" syndrome that nails me. You know the sort of thing, you strip down and re-lacquer the striped floor board nearest the cooker, 'cos that's where the forks, knives and things have been dropped, damaging the surface. Then, when you put the damn thing back down, all the others look bl**dy awful, so you HAVE to do them too!!

Thank God the interior's (pretty well!?) finished now and looks better than brand new. That gave me encourage to crack on with the exterior. She's been gel-peeled and grit-blasted, so as soon as the surveyor's thumb goes up, I can do the epoxying. Then there's .............! I don't wanna think about it, especially with this lousy weather coming up. Oh hell, I'm going back to bed with a cup of tea ...... wake me in the Spring!!

Keep cheerful, we'll all get there in the end!!

Jerry

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[FullCircle]

Luckily my boss on my last contract thought me a total prat, so he fired me at contract renewal time. I spent 10 hours a day for 6 weeks with the lovely Lynn by my side, and we got ours almost totally sorted for the season. Other than that I would have sailed and restored as the other guys. Shipswotsit is right - you get to know a lot of people in the yard, and they will lend/give you all sorts of stuff. Also I recommend inspecting the contents of the yard/marina skip as it is absolutely astounding what our better heeled brethren dispose of.
Keep the spirits up, and just keep chipping away.
Anyone want to buy a lovely restored Jouet?


Jim

<hr width=100% size=1>Our engine will never wear out - it only runs for 5 mins before packing it in again.

 

[Avocet]

If you actually enjoy doing the work, on the other hand, that should be a good enough reason for carrying on. Don't worry too much about feeling obliged to go sailing! We bought our current boat as a "project" (and so had the previous owner!) He subsequently realised that he didn't really fancy sailing and had spent a lot of time "perfecting" things rather than doing just wantever had to be done to make it seaworthy. I started out intending to do just the same - make a decent job and use the time to save up for bits as I needed them...

...then the weather got better and I rushed several jobs and went sailing....

...and now I'm having the pleasure of doing them all again!

(well, OK, not quite all) but for me at least half the pleasure of having a boat is pottering about doing bits and pieces. I'm no Ellen McArthur and I've never done a solo passage of more than 60 miles. With two small kids and a wife that seems to have gone off sailing since the arrival of said kids, I do precious little sailing these days so the sensible thing would be to charter somewhere warm once a year. But then, where would I do my "pottering"? I'm sure the charter company would take a dim view of me chartering their boat for a week just so I could haul it out and take it to bits! Nope, for me, at least half (and probably more than half) of the fun doesn't involve sailing.

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[tcm]

1) being distracted by sailing is fine - that what you wanted to do anyway!

2) boats off the water always look iffy, especially near massproduced cars. Stop being too perfect.

3) the leak-work is done as well s some other work too. Book a time to relaunch, praps in the spring if not sooner.

4) Put it up for sale.


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[Ohdrat]

Sound v familiar.. I bought Seun (or Charisma as she was then) in Aug 03.. didn't get to sail her until Aug 04.. I ended up buying a old shack of a cottage at the same time.. Seun was 5 hrs drive away.. and pretty inhospitable in Winter.. plus her deck fittings and windows leak.. so not the dryest boat .. that's this winter's project.. She's now only 3 hours away.. and next winter I should be able to store her right next to my by then totally renovated (and highly insulated) cottage.. Every year in every way we get better and better.. I guess we just have to learn to be realistic .. dreams of charging off to St Kilda will wait.. St Kilda isn't going to disappear into to the Atlantic .. it will be there next year.. anyway the weather this year has been rubbish..

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[numenius]

Thank goodness! I thought it was just me! Will show this post to other half and say "SEE"!

<hr width=100% size=1>http://members.lycos.co.uk/boaty1965/index.htm