You wonder what previous owners did when sailing the boat ...

[Refueler]

Everyone that drives an automatic car manages quite happily with that arrangement of gears.

mmmmm my Range Rover has pop-up rotary control.

The mobo was actually my error ... the seller of the two lever control block and cables couldn't give accurate cable length and I accepted based on cheap price !!! Works good - but as said - wrong way round.

 

[jamie N]

Is it not the case that each of us here is eventually going to be a 'previous owner' in due course?
I'd be horrified to read a report of the inherited wiring from a subsequent owner of my own boat. I've added quite a lot to it, and have done it not to the standard of the lowest common denominator, but to one that suits me.
It's always (far) easier to operate a system if one's designed it oneself, and I am a professional electronics/submersible engineer, so I can excuse myself with that, and that in many ways they aren't following 'yottie' convention.
However, I do feel a sense of shame when others view my 'systems' with a look of utter bewilderment!

 

[fisherman]

I'm sure that boats and vehicles know that someone new is in charge. I broke a leg and my mate took the boat, never got through the first day. He borrowed my truck to go to pick up a new engine. He got all of five miles when the throttle linkage collapsed.

Like kids and the supply teacher.

 

[14K478]

Boats become ever more complicated.

Fifty years ago, ordinary boats were not much more complicated than they had been, fifty years before that.

Now…

 

[Alicatt]

With our new to us 40+ year old boat it came with a minimum of documentation, sitting here in Scotland 1000 miles from the boat, looking at the hand written wiring diagram in a foreign language with a handwriting that a doctor would be proud of.
I'm so glad the previous owner showed me how to start the engine as there are at least three locations of switches and such to be manipulated before you can press the starter button,
Oh and the glue on the labels on the switch panel is failing...

 

[steveeasy]

Thats second hand boats for you. My boat had three reefing lines for the main but absolutly no way to connect them to the boom as a stackpack was fitted, no openings to thread lines around boom to tie reefing lines too. Bizarre, did the owner never reef the boat. more like it was never sailed.

steveeasy

 

[srm]

The previous owner of my current boat left a folder with drawings etc, as he had the boat fitted out to his own ideas. Not much was of use though as things had been changed.
I have kept a book with notes and drawings showing additions and alterations I have made. With a bit of luck the next owner can remove the fridge without having to destroy the woodwork or get into the AGM battery box and see how the battery monitor,wind turbine, and solar are connected, etc. etc. Though its mainly for my own reference as memory fades.

 

[William_H]

I think one of the problems with s/h boats is that the PO has probably slowly become disenchanted with boat. Bodges become more usual and things not right are accepted. new owner of courser ismotivated to get everything right. Then of course we all have different ideas of what is right. So yes I expect to become a PO one day and shudder at what new owner might think of my bodges. ol'will

 

[ProDave]

My very first boat was bought on it's trailer with the mast on top. Putting up the mast for the first time and rigging it, it became apparent there was no topping lift, and no fitting either on the boom or at the mast head to fit one. So when you lowered the main sail (or before you raised it) the boom was sitting on the cabin roof.

And there were no reefing points in any of the sails.

 

[Refueler]

My very first boat was bought on it's trailer with the mast on top. Putting up the mast for the first time and rigging it, it became apparent there was no topping lift, and no fitting either on the boom or at the mast head to fit one. So when you lowered the main sail (or before you raised it) the boom was sitting on the cabin roof.

And there were no reefing points in any of the sails.

Topping lifts are quite often not fitted to various boats ... its really a bit of kit that has most use if boat stays rigged ... rather then trailed.

Seen movie Wind ? Although a Hollywood production - you do get real boats in it ... note the booms !

As to reef points ... does the sail roll onto the boom ?

 

[fisherman]

A bodge-heavy fisherman here had an injury, another had to bring his boat back from round the corner. Wood boats that are launched over timbers on a beach every day tend to get leaky.
He set off, and soon enough got the hang of the steering: determined to use a shaft and knuckle joint system, the owner had completed a complex installation.......that worked backwards.
But when the bilge water started to slosh round he had to try to find which wires to twist together.
A mate crossed the Atlantic in a tug that had the radar headline pointing aft. It was oct 1976, that long hot summer that collapsed into a storm. Coming on watch, they were dodging off the CI.....
"Where's the tow?"
"Somehere over here alongside us"
The same ship had dirty fuel tanks and when it got rough she would start to lose one cylinder at a time.
Sea Bristolian.

 

[Refueler]

A bodge-heavy fisherman here had an injury, another had to bring his boat back from round the corner. Wood boats that are launched over timbers on a beach every day tend to get leaky.
He set off, and soon enough got the hang of the steering: determined to use a shaft and knuckle joint system, the owner had completed a complex installation.......that worked backwards.
But when the bilge water started to slosh round he had to try to find which wires to twist together.
A mate crossed the Atlantic in a tug that had the radar headline pointing aft. It was oct 1976, that long hot summer that collapsed into a storm. Coming on watch, they were dodging off the CI.....
"Where's the tow?"
"Somehere over here alongside us"
The same ship had dirty fuel tanks and when it got rough she would start to lose one cylinder at a time.
Sea Bristolian.

Thread drift ....

I was working Seismic in US Gulf out of Galveston. We got message one day that shoot was finished and we were to dock and hand ship over to new owners.
The ship was a large stern trawler converted to Starjet Seismic ops with 3km cable.

The new owners sent out a 'wet behind the ears' newly qualified Master ... who had no idea of anything on such a ship. Anyway - myself and two others offered to stay and help get the ship back to UK (Falmouth).

It was not a good time of year for such a size of vessel to cross atlantic ... but we sat down - I was Nav officer ... and worked out the route avoiding the seasonal that usually occurs.
Route / provisional eta etc passed to new owners in London ... who promptly vetoed the route and required us to sail more south route ... something that we were trying hard to avoid.
They were owners - they would not back down ... Master was a 'kid' with first command.
Off we set ... first we encountered another Seismic on a shoot that we had to avoid - but the "kid' insisted we hold course and pass close ... embarrassing.
Next we were instructed about the passage up the Florida - Bahamas channel ... this is getting to be a pain and wish I had gone home ... that channel has excellent flow IF you keep correct .. but do as they / Kid instructed ... its a beat to hell.

Once out into atlantic .... we actually started to make good time ... but soon the expected dreaded weather appeared .... ship was disappearing into troughs ... climbing seas that dwarfed such a small ship ... I reckon that half the time we were barely above water - but being an ex trawler - the reserve buoyancy proved its worth.
We radioed owners advising them that we had taken on water but were able to manage it. Their reply was one that to this day I still find hard to believe ...

Orion Arctic - don't worry - weather will improve very soon ... I'm looking at weather map and it shows improvement.


We replied that our Meteo chart - we had meteo service that sent charts to us each day - showed no let up .. that we could expect similar till western approaches. We asked what map they had that showed better weather ...

Orion Arctic - its a good map - its on front page of newspaper .....

Even 'the kid' had enough by then and let loose his thoughts ....

We arrived in Falmouth - every cabin had water sloshing about in ... computer room in the hold was drenched with water sloshing about. Engine room bilges were full. We were wet - cold - tired and all wanted just to get off and go home.

New owners never greeted us on arrival - just had us put ship into dry-dock and advised to leave vessel in Dockyard hands.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Thread drift ....

I was working Seismic in US Gulf out of Galveston. We got message one day that shoot was finished and we were to dock and hand ship over to new owners.
The ship was a large stern trawler converted to Starjet Seismic ops with 3km cable.

The new owners sent out a 'wet behind the ears' newly qualified Master ... who had no idea of anything on such a ship. Anyway - myself and two others offered to stay and help get the ship back to UK (Falmouth).

It was not a good time of year for such a size of vessel to cross atlantic ... but we sat down - I was Nav officer ... and worked out the route avoiding the seasonal that usually occurs.
Route / provisional eta etc passed to new owners in London ... who promptly vetoed the route and required us to sail more south route ... something that we were trying hard to avoid.
They were owners - they would not back down ... Master was a 'kid' with first command.
Off we set ... first we encountered another Seismic on a shoot that we had to avoid - but the "kid' insisted we hold course and pass close ... embarrassing.
Next we were instructed about the passage up the Florida - Bahamas channel ... this is getting to be a pain and wish I had gone home ... that channel has excellent flow IF you keep correct .. but do as they / Kid instructed ... its a beat to hell.

Once out into atlantic .... we actually started to make good time ... but soon the expected dreaded weather appeared .... ship was disappearing into troughs ... climbing seas that dwarfed such a small ship ... I reckon that half the time we were barely above water - but being an ex trawler - the reserve buoyancy proved its worth.
We radioed owners advising them that we had taken on water but were able to manage it. Their reply was one that to this day I still find hard to believe ...

Orion Arctic - don't worry - weather will improve very soon ... I'm looking at weather map and it shows improvement.


We replied that our Meteo chart - we had meteo service that sent charts to us each day - showed no let up .. that we could expect similar till western approaches. We asked what map they had that showed better weather ...

Orion Arctic - its a good map - its on front page of newspaper .....

Even 'the kid' had enough by then and let loose his thoughts ....

We arrived in Falmouth - every cabin had water sloshing about in ... computer room in the hold was drenched with water sloshing about. Engine room bilges were full. We were wet - cold - tired and all wanted just to get off and go home.

New owners never greeted us on arrival - just had us put ship into dry-dock and advised to leave vessel in Dockyard hands.

Unfortunately, even in this so called "Enlightened Age" many ship owners are still in the "dark Ages" and treat sea going personnel abysmally.

 

[Refueler]

Unfortunately, even in this so called "Enlightened Age" many ship owners are still in the "dark Ages" and treat sea going personnel abysmally.

I get to see it every day .....

 

[14K478]

I get to see it every day .....

It’s about to get a whole lot worse. Every ship will get Starlink … but the corollary is that every ship will get micro-managed.

See, eg, here:

Maersk signs up for Elon Musk’s Starlink - Splash247

“…The high-speed connectivity will enable our seagoing colleagues to stay connected with their loved ones while at sea. It will also propel the expansion of seamless cloud solutions, enabling our vision to digitalise our vessel operations…”

Gosh, what fun that will be!

 

[Refueler]

It’s about to get a whole lot worse. Every ship will get Starlink … but the corollary is that every ship will get micro-managed.

Ships are already Micro-managed ... the days of Masters having complete say are long gone.

My Superintendents - when they ask Master to agree an operation change or small action ... Masters standard reply : I must ask Owners .....

When I was at sea - that only happened with serious changes to operation ... Master was still 'in charge'.

 

[ProDave]

When we bought our new boat this year it was on the hard when we viewed it. We bought it, transported it and launched it.

It has a transom hung wooden rudder that was painted gloss white. We craned out yesterday and the underwater section of the rudder has a good layer of marine growth.

Next season the rudder will be anti fouled, but you wonder how the previous owner managed with a gloss painted rudder? It is not as though this is a trailer sailor that did not spend the whole season in the water.

 

[Refueler]

When we bought our new boat this year it was on the hard when we viewed it. We bought it, transported it and launched it.

It has a transom hung wooden rudder that was painted gloss white. We craned out yesterday and the underwater section of the rudder has a good layer of marine growth.

Next season the rudder will be anti fouled, but you wonder how the previous owner managed with a gloss painted rudder? It is not as though this is a trailer sailor that did not spend the whole season in the water.

Surely - if he trailer sailed it - then its quite feasible to get away with it ...

But point taken.

 

[easton]

Six transducers, . Beats my five, but mine are all depth...I think...

 

[PabloPicasso]

All part of the fun of taking on a new boat.

I unscrewed the switch panel to expose a rats nest of wires. The AC point with male connectors exposed at the back of a locker came as a shock.

Not literally I hope