What are the best sailing freebees you have ever acquired?

[ffiill]

In my case the first was a little glassfibre pram tender which I have owned for the past 25 years.
The hull with totally rotten seat and framing was lying in a briar patch.I took it home glassfibred in a front middle and rear seat box with plastic access hatches and its still going strong.
A few years ago I found a somewhat sad and deflated Avon washed up on a beach.I repaired a tear in it and added wine bottle bungs to help out the leaky valves and whilst it always went down I used it for about 5 years until one day it went off somewhere.
Most recently I found a Koden GPS dumped in a rubbish skip and looking a bit wet.
I took it home,opened it up and left it to dry out.Finally today got it plugged in to new GPS antenna - perfect.
(A very cheap unbranded but good quality antenna for £15 delivered from China in a week)

 

[Highndry]

Not free but near as dammit.

I was after a tender now that my boat is on a swinging mooring at Rutland. I asked the club if they had any 'abandoned' boats being sold off for club funds and was offered a terrific GRP tender for a 10th of the price I'd been looking to pay on eBay/Gumtree. Just refurbing it at the moment (paint and keel strips) but I still can't believe my luck.

 

[Talulah]

Not exactly a freebie but entered a competition at last years SBS. The prize I won was 50% off a marina berth at Royal Clarence Marina. Saved several thousands.

 

[alahol2]

Most of my current set of fenders were free. They don't match but who's checking.
Oh and my spare anchor ball and several hats.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I was given my Hunter 490. Mind you, it was completely dismantled and took me a year to put back together.

 

[Searush]

I have a couple of humungous fat fenders found on beaches over the years that are really useful when moored against the old Slate Quay. I also went to buy a couple of old dinghies from a defunct Uni Sailing Club & got them given to me. One of them was a reasonable laser that only needed a sail (£25 and a boom £60) to set it up. got to be worth £300 even now after many years of fun for the family.

 

[Lakesailor]

Really.

 

[Highndry]

Wow! Suddenly my bargain looks extortionate!

 

[johnalison]

A little plastic rope and wire gauge, from a magazine, probably YM.

A small plastic key for opening the water/diesel fillers, from the boat's agents.

A smart Lewmar trouser belt from an agent at a regatta.

Life is full of joys.

 

[FullCircle]

A huge Jeanneau high quality bath towel. Still good after 7 years in service.

 

[prv]

Some very swanky interior LED lights, donated out of the blue by a forumite when I posted a question asking for ideas for cabin lighting.

Still in my shed (last winter's refit overran with more essential items) but will be installed in due course.

Pete

 

[Lakesailor]

Wow! Suddenly my bargain looks extortionate!

I was given it by a neighbour who had been given it. It had a hole in the bilge. I did a good repair and eventually I sold it ( I did give the donor about £80 of the profit as I thought I wouldn't have had the opportunity if he hadn't been so generous).

 

[wooslehunter]

Working as a dinghy instructor at the National Sailing Centre a long time ago & they had a sponsored space going free for a week's race training course on the RORC yacht Griffin. Great fun, & we got 16kts through the water going through Hurst in F9 - downwind, lots of reefs & a very small jib. Surfing a 36" yacht has to be experienced.

Actually I guess it cost me £30 as I didnt work & lost the £6 a day I made in those days.

 

[Lakesailor]

Surfing a 36" yacht has to be experienced.

I can imagine.

 

[Dipper]

Wind!

 

[oldbilbo]

Over a wheen of years.... lots...

.... but more recently:

A Pascall Atkey 'Pansy III' rather like this one

.....and a wholly-sufficient supply of a well-known Norwegian coatings company's finest antifoul paint, 'with compliments', together with some very competent onsite consultancy.

Other good friends donate items here and there 'for the boat', which are much appreciated. It is, of course, a two-way street.....

 

[30boat]

A keel.It came with the boat and I didn't even ask for one.

 

[Quandary]

I tend to get freebees when spending a lot of money, being a cynic I tend to think I may have paid for them. With our Finngulf we got 4 alcantara scatter cushions which the agent expected to really impress us, two Musto snugs embroidered with the Finngulf logo (which did), 4 warps and six plain white fenders; a year later when my wife remarked to the agent that a later delivery had nice blue fenders with the Finngulf logo, we got six of those as well ( we keep them pristine for rafting up to HRs or Arconas), later they sent us a new main sliding hatch and a spare solar ventilating fan, both still to be fitted. It was a very pricey boat and I had convinced myself I had driven a really hard bargain when agreeing the spec. but their subsequent generosity left me less convinced, however the refusal to quibble made us feel good. When the Euro/Pound rate changed as the British Banks failed a few months later (2008) the price rocketed by about 25% which cheered me up as we would not have paid the new price.
A year later I spotted two 2.5 litre tins of Shogun antifouling in the Ardfern oddments corner for £45, I knew it was old stock but was in our colour (navy). We stirred each tin vigorously for about half an hour but the finish dried out very spotty. Had a moan to Ardfern and they told me to email a photo to the importer, they despatched 2 new tins straight away but that was after launching, when the carrier drove up both tins were leaking at the lid and his eyes were streaming, I rejected the delivery but took them off him for his safety. The importer apologized profusely and sent two more, they asked me if I had any safe way of disposing of the contents of the leaky tins responsibly, I assured them that that would not be a problem. So four years of high quality antifouling for £45. well pleased!