Refit overrun

[Swanrad2]

So my refit has overrun, I'm still in the yard. The engine seems to fail in series rather than parallel. No take it apart, put it together and off we go - its like one of those old school domino toppling TV programmes in the 80's. it goes on and on and on one after the other.......

Then there's the mast - 10 minute job turns into seized mast sheaves and, is it just me or is that only better than the engine because its in the fresh air (rain/thunder). The only thing that makes me feel a bit better is that all the fellas round the yard polishing their bits and pieces and filling their fridges have launched and left me alone with my dog. That would actually make me feel worse but here's the thing - boats that were full of grizzled old fellas all the way through winter have been empty every weekend since launch.

So here's my theory - I'm thinking about it all wrong, people own boats just for the winter maintenance. After launch the boats are abandoned on their moorings. Maybe a couple of 'nice' weekends every summer there is a day out - but weekend after weekend of frostbite and expense just for that? Maybe I'm the lucky one and I should kiss the engine and embrace the sheaves that keep me dry and warm in my bed every weekend.

Anyone in North Wales good at fixing engines in return for a bit of summer sailing, 'cause I give up (for today at any rate)!

 

[obmij]

I feel your pain mate. Boat repair on yer tod can be a special kind of hell. I've done it before and almost gave up sailing forever.

Current boat though I decided to keep afloat at all costs, and if not then get rid. I couldn't face getting stuck in the gluepot of the yard, with endless 'to-do' list and cups of tea and small projects that grow until they are major projects on their own and producing little project offspring. **** that.

My theory is this. If you can't sail it, it has a negative value, both in monetary and spiritual terms. Given that, I think it sometimes makes a lot of sense to get the pros in, once in a while, especially once you factor in the cost of fuel, frustrated weekends in the yard and of course the lack of what you supposedly own a boat for - being out on the water!

North Wales has a lot of good independent contractors. Perhaps a rigger, who (obviously) deal with rigs on a daily basis might be able to do in two hours what might take you two weekends of headscratching (and two return trips from Cheshire)? Result - less cost and fixed boat! Same with engineers etc.

Cheers!

 

[laika]

I hauled my boat out for a 3 month refit last february. Went back in just before christmas. It was a whole one-thing-leads-to-another thing and I still didn't manage to do one of the major jobs I'd planned (rewiring). Good things about summer maintenance: you get more coats of whatever paint/epoxy on and no worries about minimum temperatures. Less rain and less *chance* of rain mean more jobs you can address on any given day. You really appreciate a cold beer as a reward. Longer daylight hours to work in. No worries about the pipes/tanks freezing. If you're living on the boat out of the water it isn't hideously cold. Bunking off "boat work" to go to the beach is a guilty treat you savour. Oh, and if you're ashore in a different location you get to meet new nice people.

And mostly....*really* makes you appreciate being back in the water. Our December sail from the Hamble back to Gosport was sublime.

 

[mrming]

Our recent minor re-fit overran by 5 weeks. We're back in the water now though, the weather's cracking and all the hard work was worth it. Stick at it!

 

[savageseadog]

Be very careful who you hire to work on your boat in N Wales, there's at least one rogue operator, ask around and don't take the first answer as gospel. Remember that marina and yard owners may also be related or best mates with someone who will rip you off.

 

[JumbleDuck]

If it's any consolation, more than half the moorings where I keep my boat on the Clyde are still empty. It seems that an awful lot of people have overrun this year.

 

[sailorbaz]

Same old story here in Oz. I hauled my boat out last July (our winter) for a six weeks' refit and it didn't go back in until Christmas! I'm still doing finishing off jobs on the mooring in between sailing - it's so much harder without shore power.
There's one of the grizzly old fellas the OP mentioned in our yard his 36 ft ketch has been in the yard for two years. He's there most days - does a small job or not, has a beer, helps other owners including me and often sits in the cockpit watching the world go by. When he eventually gets it back in the water, he sails alone so maybe he keeps putting it off as he likes the social side of being in the yard.
Sailorbaz