The 'never launch' brigade
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
Wansworth
Well-known member
I have done very little to my boat side buying three years ago.Historically I did a lot of work on boats I bought but this time I am laid back, as l9ng as it works don't tamper.I even saw an article about NOT polishing the topside and definitely not painting, so even less to feel guilty about.I have a round the world via cape horn finish without going out of the harbour.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Not at all. I'm implying that if you want to fly or sail something you should buy it and if you want to build something you should build it.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I resemble that remark
I write as one who spent all my spare time for around eighteen months refitting the bare shell of a Triumph Herald on a rolling chassis. Deeply satisfying, and I now have a Herald with no rust whatsoever, anywhere, but had I put these hours in working on the till at Tesco I could have bought something much posher!
Phoenix of Hamble
Active member
Yep.... but that misses the basic fact that its YOUR Herald, made with YOUR own blood, sweat, tears and love... and that's worth a LOT.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Perhaps the significance of the phrase "Deeply satisfying" escaped you?
Exactly the same goes for my Hunter 490. It took me - is taking me - ages to do up, and I could have bought a good one for less than I have spent on parts and material (i.e. forgetting the labour) but it just wouldn't be the same. That, however, is because I like making, repairing and improving things. My point is that building a car, boat or plane simply to save money, and not for the joy of the process, is rarely sensible.
LadyInBed
Well-known member
Mine started life as a project, self complete boat. It stood in someone's garden for ten years, unfinished. Sold to previous owner who took three years to complete it. He had it in the water for three years, but his wife wasn't interested in sailing so he put it on the market, where I bought it (he then bought another project boat). I've now owned it for fourteen years, made a few changes and expect to keep it for at least another fourteen.
Seajet
...
Right, what with that and a Citroen DS you're obviously some sort of masochistic weirdo; owning an Oliver Lee designed boat might get time off for good behaviour - but there's no point, locking someone up in a torture dungeon would be a pleasure compared to working on those cars...
I challenge you to try changing the U/J's,the radiator, then the engine on a 60's Mini without uttering a naughty word.
I don't know anyone who's managed it so far !
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prv
Well-known member
I resemble that remark
I don't think he's arguing with your logic, just didn't like seeing his own job used as the archetypal example of low-paid and menial
Pete
Bru
Well-known member
I don't think he's arguing with your logic, just didn't like seeing his own job used as the archetypal example of low-paid and menial
Pete
No no, I did like it! Low paid and menial it may be but it paid for Erbas eggsactly like the man said
Angele
Active member
No no, I did like it! Low paid and menial it may be but it paid for Erbas eggsactly like the man said
The difference between:
"I resemble that remark"
and
"I resent that remark"
... brought a smile to my face on an otherwise drearly winter's day. :encouragement:
snowleopard
Active member
Another factor not mentioned yet (I think) is the tendency of first-timers to go for a really big boat because it appears to be cheap. That was often the case during the ferro boom in the 70s. The material cost of a 55 footer was pretty trivial and would-be builders failed to realise that the cost of fitting out to even the most basic standard was many times the hull cost. Worse still, the cost of hiring professional plasterers for a day was a big item compared to the cost of chicken wire and sand with the result that all too many said 'How hard can it be?' I remember seeing an abandoned hull obviously resulting from that approach in a warehouse in the Surrey docks many years ago. A 15-ton lump of concrete is a real headache for a yard owner.
And we haven't yet started on those who fail to work out the logistics of getting their pride and joy to the water.
And we haven't yet started on those who fail to work out the logistics of getting their pride and joy to the water.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
A chap I know bought a 38 footer as his first boat. He generated five insurance claims on the way out of the marina where he bought it, berthed it five miles away and, three years later, hasn't been out again.
Fantasie 19
Well-known member
+1... I've always thought of boat owners as being on a line somewhere between tinkerer and sailer... most are somewhere on the line between one or the other..
Fantasie 19
Well-known member
snowleopard
Active member
Yet we still see 'Is an xxxxxx 55 suitable for my first boat?' on here with lots of people cheering them on.
Seajet
...
I agree, and happen to think anyone thinking of buying a yacht should first be forced - at gunpoint if necessary - to do at least a week, preferably a year, intensive dinghy sailing first.
It's very obvious when observing in marinas etc which ones are dinghy sailors and which ones have the attitude " I manage my company so I can manage this - err, oops ! secretary please get hold of my insurers ".
As for buying over-large hulls to fit out, that was a big trap I nearly fell into myself, Colvic offered big hulls at low prices, it was only when I asked about the costs of rig and engine that I took a very smart step back...
It's very obvious when observing in marinas etc which ones are dinghy sailors and which ones have the attitude " I manage my company so I can manage this - err, oops ! secretary please get hold of my insurers ".
As for buying over-large hulls to fit out, that was a big trap I nearly fell into myself, Colvic offered big hulls at low prices, it was only when I asked about the costs of rig and engine that I took a very smart step back...
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JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Indeed, because nobody, absolutely nobody, ever goes sailing nowadays in anything without hot and cold running water, three double cabins, central heating and a ruddy great engine. Except for those pf us who do, and we don't count.
That certainly seems to explain the prices and appearances of many of the Colvic boats on the market,
npf1
Active member
... and do you think such a notion is always impossible and/or dumb?
