Small is …..errr cheaper

[Fr J Hackett]

There was a book I used to have written by a wise man....who said of small boats...you can have different fun in a big boat...but you can’t have more fun

It all depends on the person, I for one would hate and have hated being on a small boat ( 19 foot) I just don't fit on such things mentally or physically on the other hand I could just about get on with my "pocket cruiser" Vancouver 27 and later the 34 both of which I sailed long distances and had "fun" or to better describe it enjoyed the experience. I have also sailed and skippered much larger yachts and enjoyed them.

 

[Wansworth]

You may jest, but that looks a nice little boat, and I had so much fun and so many adventures in vessels like that and smaller.

Buying a boat never makes sense, practically and financially. The smile it can put on your face, though, the feeling of being alive, and the joy of being alive (even if just from lying drowsy as your own little boat rocks at anchor) are priceless.

There you go again selling me the idea

 

[Bouba]

It all depends on the person, I for one would hate and have hated being on a small boat ( 19 foot) I just don't fit on such things mentally or physically on the other hand I could just about get on with my "pocket cruiser" Vancouver 27 and later the 34 both of which I sailed long distances and had "fun" or to better describe it enjoyed the experience. I have also sailed and skippered much larger yachts and enjoyed them.

By nature though, you are a miserable sod

 

[Fr J Hackett]

By nature though, you are a miserable sod

Not really, I have just always had high expectations.

 

[Bouba]

Not really, I have just always had high expectations.

Then you won’t be disappointed when we meet

 

[LittleSister]

There you go again selling me the idea

No. You've got the idea. It's only the reality you are short of!

 

[justanothersailboat]

This thread turned puzzling. Owning a boat makes loads of sense if you get a lot of use out of it, keep it in a condition where it doesn't take too much work to keep on top of, keep it somewhere no more expensive than you really need to to get that use, and it replaces other expensive things like weekend breaks. I know people who end up worse off with beach huts than I do with my boat. It helps if you get a bit of satisfaction out of making genuine improvements with good workmanship, like some kind of "practical boat owner"

I'm slightly mystified by the people who keep tired boats in expensive marina berths and don't use them or keep them up, but it's their money and I suspect they're keeping my insurance costs down, so ta for that.

Wansworth should still buy the damn boat and put these threads out of their misery.

 

[Greenheart]

"Owning a boat makes loads of sense if:

• you get a lot of use out of it
• keep it in a condition where it doesn't take too much work to keep on top of
• keep it somewhere no more expensive than you really need to to get that use; and
• it replaces other expensive things like weekend breaks."

Quite a lot of 'ifs'! I mean no offence, genuinely, but I reckon all of them are optimistic for most owners. I particularly like the second one - effectively, be sure to do enough work that you needn't do much work on it.

Isn't it well known that beach huts increase in value remarkably, even if they're falling apart? Their right to the location seems to be the key. You and I may not want a beach hut but its owner is unlikely in future to be shaking his head at what a sad return it was, in fun or in money.

I'm slightly mystified by the people who keep tired boats in expensive marina berths and don't use them or keep them up

Agreed, 100%. But, for those owners' sakes, I reckon it's them who need to learn what Wansworth has worked out but hasn't quite accepted - that having already owned a boat and knowing all that it commits her owner to, it's much happier to stand on shore on a fine day watching the sails go by, knowing you can easily afford expensive weekend breaks (or anything else) because you didn't shell out on another yacht, which:

• won't ever be a pleasure in frequent poor weather,
• will cost her owner pounds and pounds every day whatever the weather,
• will present unforeseen issues, inconvenient delays and jaw-dropping costs,
• will stop him doing other things because he'll need to justify costs already invested, and
• will sit unused during periods of the owner's infirmity or distraction, perpetually sucking money from his wallet.

Of course, it's a question dominated by financial considerations. I will always have the lovely memories of my boat's lights at dusk, and coffee in the cockpit at dawn in midsummer, her sails glowing in the low sun, and her pretty stern rising and falling at her berth...

...if I ask myself whether it was worth paying five grand to own her for eighteen months, (throwing in the ghastly early-season scraping and painting, repairs in midsummer when I should have been sailing, dank midwinter days ashore totting up future outgoings, and finally almost giving her away rather than pay another year's marina fees)...

...my conclusion is a big yes, it was worth the money because otherwise I might have gone to my grave wanting it without knowing the truth.

But it was definitely a period of daftness I'm glad to put down as experience, not part of my plans.

Although, there's a lovely Hunter Delta for a very fair price at the moment...

 

[Bouba]

Boats make no economic nor practical sense....it’s a decision of the heart. And going by all these threads and all the for sale ads that Wansy goes through...he still has boating in his heart....go for it

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Boats make no economic nor practical sense....it’s a decision of the heart. And going by all these threads and all the for sale ads that Wansy goes through...he still has boating in his heart....go for it

Lots of things make no economic sense:

Cars and wives being good examples but we still have them.

 

[LittleSister]

I suspect Dan Crane is somewhat younger than Wansworth, and has much more time to come to his senses.

Wansworth needs to get on with it, or he'll have missed yet another season of probably few left available to him.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I suspect Dan Crane is somewhat younger than Wansworth, and has much more time to come to his senses.

Wansworth needs to get on with it, or he'll have missed yet another season of probably few left available to him.

The sort of boat that Wansey is looking at and the type of armchair sailing he contemplates means that there is no finite season or lifespan it's just a sofa on the water, a little less comfortable and minus cats but a sofa and escape nonetheless.

 

[LittleSister]

. . .
Although, there's a lovely Hunter Delta for a very fair price at the moment...

Could be good fun, and rescue you from your current doom laden view of boating.

The Delta would at least keep you going until the right LM24 or LM27 comes along!

 

[Bouba]

Lots of things make no economic sense:

Cars and wives being good examples but we still have them.

My car AND wife both make economic sense....but that’s not why I have them

 

[LittleSister]

Lots of things make no economic sense:

Cars and wives being good examples but we still have them.

Depending on the reader's experience of the examples you mention, that may or may not be persuasive!

 

[Fr J Hackett]

My car AND wife both make economic sense....but that’s not why I have them

I suppose there are always going to be a few that ponce of their wives

 

[Bouba]

I suppose there are always going to be a few that ponce of their wives

It’s a union of equals....obviously some equals are less equal than their equal

 

[LittleSister]

The sort of boat that Wansey is looking at and the type of armchair sailing he contemplates means that there is no finite season or lifespan it's just a sofa on the water, a little less comfortable and minus cats but a sofa and escape noteless.

There is something in what you say, and I have previously argued that Wansy worries too much about whether it is the right sort of boat he is currently not buying, and even, dare I say it, a little motor boat would be better than nowt.

But he may need a slightly more active season or two to explore the rias to identify the best anchorage that is sufficiently close to his mooring to be handy, but far enough away to feel he has gone somewhere, and there can rest his weary bones on his berth/cockpit cushions satisfied.

He may also need a season or two to train his daughter up to handle the boat for when he is less inclined or able to do so, and keep him supplied with peeled grapes, sangria, ponchos/tapas or w.h.y. to his taste as he reclines in contemplation.

 

[doug748]

......Wansworth needs to get on with it, or he'll have missed yet another season of probably few left available to him.

True enough, there comes a time when the decision is made for you. Then you have lost, no more dice to throw.

If you are fit, have the time and can afford a boat, not sailing means you are not interested enough. Think that's it really. I'll miss the what boat threads though.

.

 

[justanothersailboat]

Well I do manage all those things, but I like a wide range of weather, use a mooring buoy rather than a marina, and am unreasonably handy (and quite enjoy that bit). If I didn't also enjoy the tangentially related hobby of boatmending I'd need to be much richer. I don't know how Wansworth feels about that but like most people, he'd probably be best off with something simple that doesn't need much doing to it. Hard to tell from the ad, but the boat at the start of this thread might well be just that.