Saving Money at the Boat Show

Ya right. The only way to save money at the boat show, is to stay the hell home. I have long been a believer that you cannot save money when you purchase something, unless it was free. If it cost anything to get it, you spent something on it. You may have spent less than you might have otherwise, but it is still money spent, not saved. Sorry, I feel better now.

The prices at the boat show weren't anything to write home about. I didn't really get any deals. However, what I did get was a lot of things that I wanted, all in the same place, at the same time, at the very least, saving me time.

Here is a list of everything, somewhere around the $3k mark. Proving again that "a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into.

10 – 6 1/2" x 23" Fenders – These are going to be used to put a flotation collar around our Walker Bay rigid dinghy. A lot cheaper than the $1300.00 that the company wants for the blow up collar. We'll see if its just as effective.

3 – Hella Turbo fans – Apparently these are the fans that everyone uses. So, one for each bunk, and one for the galley. On low speed, they are designed to be silent, and I can sleep to that.

2 – 10lb Composite propane tanks. I am not sure where I was going with this. They were $139.00 each. I was going to just use steel tanks from Canadian Tire at $60 a piece, but this just seemed like a better idea. No corrosion, 15 year usage, light weight, and already primed. They are also cheaper than aluminum tanks. These tanks come with the vent screw so they are legal in the US, and can be gravity filled from any other propane tank. I could have bought one 20 lb tank for the same price, but if I ever have to walk a couple of kilometers to get propane, I will curse that tank to hell, pay for a cab, and have the money into it anyway. Plus, these tanks are a nice size to put away on a tiny boat.

Stereo and 4 speakers. Two for the cabin, and two for the cockpit. This was cheap, at least in comparison. And perhaps I'll pay for that later with the quality or longevity. This stereo has no moving parts, no tape, no cd. AM/FM with lots of inputs. Aux, SD card, USB, etc. They call it a mechless stereo, due to the lack of mechanisms. Perfect for us and the new computerized era.

Foot pump for the galley. Fresh water.

Hand pump for the vanity. Fresh water.

12V 15" LED TV. I am still choking on this one. However it is designed for a rougher environment than the house, has inputs up the wazoo, and uses so little power that I doubt we'll ever need to turn it off. Okay, not that little power, but by comparison to a 19" regular 120V LED TV, about 1/10 of the power. I don't know how, but I saw the power usage first hand at the boat show. Also, the TV was the one thing that was going to cause us to have a larger, much more expensive inverter, and now we only need a small inverter to run the netbook computer and charge the cell phone etc...

Glomex 10" TV antenna and mount. It would be cheaper to get satellite. Hope it ends up worth it.

VHF with DSC capability. We bought a hand held last year, but we needed a new 25W base model VHF radio to replace our very old one.

36" VHF antenna. Someone at our yacht club was nice enough to wreck our antenna this fall. I hadn't removed it from the mast, because the mast was only supposed to be there temporarily, but it must have ticked someone off, because they grabbed it an bent it straight down towards the ground. No doubt they thought it rude of me to leave it on the masthead. Is the irony of that lost on anyone else? On examination, the old antenna base was a little rough, so for the sake of $35, what the hell. You can't take it with you, right?

Deck/Steaming light. Ours is trashed, and needed to be replaced.

Mast head Trilight. I didn't care one way or the other about this. If I am not mistaken, I don't think your allowed to use it in Canada. However, outside of here, everyone uses them, I am told. And as a safety thing, Serena said get it.

Magma 10 piece stainless steal, nesting pot set. Its a woman thing. Mind you I like to cook, and I like to eat, so this one didn't take a whole lot of arm twisting. Besides that, if it makes Serena happy, and I am all for that. Thank god she is normally really cheap! Truth be told, I am usually the expensive one.

A couple of water proof storage boxes, for tools, and parts.

A 3" bilge blower. I have one now, but I want one blowing in, and one blowing out. Keeping that diesel cool is very important, and recommend by the surveyor.

My new head. I mentioned it before, its a Lavac. I picked it up at the boat show. It was supposed to be at the store, but alas, when I got to the store on Tuesday morning, it was not there. Missscommunniccationn, can you say it, I know you can. I have unpacked it and it is so simple, it is almost a shame. A toilet, with one connection to bring water in, and one connection to take the nasty stuff away. That's it. Included is a separate Henderson Mark V pump to do the work. It is unfortunate that they are so expensive. But the truth is that it is one of those things that just has to work when you want it too.

There were a few odds and sods as well, but this is the bulk of it. All tallied up now, we have $40k in a boat that is worth about $25k. Someone is going to get really lucky if this whole cruising thing doesn't work out. Just think of the money they'll save buying a boat that is already completely riffited. Or would they just be spending the money.... The gentleman across the dock from me (Jack), has an abosulutely gorgeous 31' Corvette, built by C&C. One of Jacks favorite sayings is that he is the only one in the club that has $100,000.00 into a $25,000.00 boat. But were trying to catch up. So much for simplicity. In our defence though, this will be our home, and by the time we are done, it will be a brand new boat, comparible to a $140k new boat. Your right, it didn't make me feel any better.

Interesting though. We looked at boats at the boat show, around the 30 – 36' range. Some were very nice, and their price tags where not really all that bad for a new boat, ready to sail. But what I started to realize was that ready to sail had nothing to do with ready to live on. By the time you finished upgrading all the systems on these brand new boats in order to make them comfortable to live on, it would cost an additional $30k, and the need to modify them rather extensively. Makes me think that $50k for a small cruisable, liveable boat, is not so bad after all. Hey, its still alot cheaper than a house. Mind you, not many houses cost double of what they are worth.

Talk soon.

Rob:-)

The Sewing Palm

You can't sew sails without a sewing palm, I guarantee it. Emiliano Marino, writer of the Sailmaker's Apprentice says you can't do it without two palms, a seaming palm, and for tougher work, a roping palm.

Years ago I took a crack a making my own palm. Emiliano had said that a palm made specifically for the sewer's hand was the best way to go. And since they were pretty expensive to buy, I figured what the hell. I understood the concept, and using some pictures as a starting point I created the following palm. The leather was crappy. I used a piece of iron for the eye, unfortunately iron rusts. I used a piece of boot leather under the eye as a stiffener, but it made it too stiff. I thought I would make it adjustable by using velcro, but it really didn't work, except to add weight and bulk. I drilled the dimples in the eye too large, and they wouldn't hold the end of the needle efficiently. And the worst thing was that it just didn't fit all that well, and was a little rough. The type of leather it was made of didn't allow for good breaking in and softning. So, although not a total fail, because it worked, but not a tool I would want to use for a long period of time. It was probably close to what I would have gotten in the store.

So, now it comes time to sew the new mainsail and staysail for Vita. I was not going to use that original palm, my hand would be raw from all that hand stitching. It was only a poor excuse for a seaming palm, and not at all usefull as a roping palm.

I bought some leather in Toronto when we went to the boat show. At the Tandy Leather Factory, the store clerk was really good, and was able to figure out what kind of leather I was looking for, because I didn't have a clue, and I came home with seven and a half square feet of 1/16" thick tooling leather. Way more than I needed, but I wanted some for some other projects I am working on.

I started by identifying what I didn't like about my current palm. Then I cut a bunch of 1/2" wide strips of canvas to start making a pattern. This was the biggest pain in my @$$. If I had had one or two more hands, no problem, but being handicapped by only two, and one of those being the model. Oh did I curse.... I did eventually get it just right, and used it to make a pattern.

Long story shorter, I managed to get the seaming palm made, and it fit like a glove. I didn't have the proper conditioner for the leather, and the clerk at the store told me just to use any nature oil, even olive oil. I wasn't sure about that, but I did have some dubbin around for waterproofing and conditioning my hiking boots. Made sense to me. I rubbed in 4 liberal coats, and worked the palm for about 4 hours. Then I used it make the roping palm, which has really seemed to loosen it up and make it that much more comfortable. Its ironic, but the one essential tool you need when making a palm,,, is a palm. I used a sewing awl on my first palm, and that was part of the problem. Luckily I had that palm to make this one. Sounds like the chicken and the egg story, yet again.

For the eye, I wanted to use a metal that wouldn't corode. I had read recommendations on the internet to use a penny. But, the penny is rather small and thin, plus, it is apparently illegal to destroy money. So I eventally found some small round pieces of metal to use for the eye. They are made of a metal that doesn't corode, and is thick enough that a needle won't push through them. Of course I doubled them up on the roping palm to be sure. And, luckily, they only cost five cents each.

The finished palms up against the picture in Emiliano's book, the Sailmakers Apprentice. The roping palm is a little lighter in color than the seaming palm, but that is because it has less coats of dubbin, and is a day newer.

So now I have two nice palms. They both fit like they were custom made, ha ha. It will take a little time for them to really break in. I plan to complete a few projects before I get to the sails, so they should be ready for that heavy work. By the time I am finished all the sewing they will hopefully be like a part of my hand. Which is nice. The old one is literally part of my hand as I slipped making the seaming palm and drove the needle quite deeply into the meaty part below my thumb. Can you say ouch.

Anyway, tomorrow I start the dity bag in Emiliano's book. I made one before, years ago, but I didn't have the right materials, and it didn't come out as I had hoped. I gave it away to a guy I worked with. This time I have all the right stuff, and a nice palm to do all the sewing. I'll post a pick when its finished.

Cheers.

Rob:-)

Good Morning Class

And what did you do for your vacation? Robert? I went to the Toronto International Boat Show, and it was awesome! Ok, truth, it was good, but did it ever wear me out. I hate shopping.

My two day visit to the boat show in Toronto, just over. We went Monday/Tuesday this year, and it was a good time had by all. No crowds, and no rude, irritating children. From now on we'll stay away on weekends, this was definitely better. Unfortunately, going on the 3^rd day of the show, you miss some of the clearance items that get scooped up early, but more importantly, you miss some of the best seminars and their speakers.

I missed Paul and Sheryl Shard this year. For the uninitiated, they are Canadian cruising sailors who built there own 37' boat from an empty hull, and cruised around the North Atlantic, Carribean and the Mediterranean making videos about sailing and creating a half hour television show called Distant Shores portraying their adventures. They are pretty cool, and although I have spoke to them several times before, and watched some of their previous seminars in other years, I still would have liked to see them again. Perhaps I will one day, in an anchorage somewhere out there.

Its funny. My whole life, or at least as long as I can remember, I have picked on people who are star struck. I could never understand how someone could idolize a movie star, or musician, or sports star, or royalty. These people have never done anything noteworthy; really. As I have said many times in the past, “the farmer down the road deserves my admiration more than they do.” But the truth is, I have my hero’s too, and for whatever reason possesses people to go gaga over Ja Lo, its the same thing that compels me to seek out and be in the presence of those sailors that have helped me create the dream of the cruising life, through their writings and videos.

Now I am not saying that I would kick Ja Lo out of bed for eating “Crackers”, and if the Queen of England showed up for tea, I would try my best to be a gracious host. However, if Lin and Larry Pardey pulled into the driveway, I would be so beside myself that I wouldn't even be able to speak. In fact Lin sent me an email the other day in reference to a question I had placed on their website, using her personal email, and it was like Xmas, my birthday, and losing my virginity, all rolled into one with a side order of Ja Lo to boot. And that was just a simple email.

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Luckily for me I got the chance to talk to John Neal of Mahina Tiare III, at the boat show. He may not be on the top of my list, but Robby royalty nonetheless. His wife was a wonderful speaker and we really enjoyed her seminar on Galley Essentials.

So here is my list of hero's. Feel free to look them up on the internet. Also, if you must, take a moment and laugh at me for idolizing people who haven't accomplished anything important. Truth is, although I may idolize them and praise them for what they have given me, I still have more respect and admiration for the farmer down the road.

Henry David Thoreau – Not a sailor. At least not as much as I am aware. However, he is perhaps the father of North American Philosophy, and his book Walden, takes a look at the pathetic nature of our society, while highlighting a simpler existence. Goals I strive for, although unsuccessfully as of yet. What do they say, “its not the destination, its the journey.”

Lin and Larry Pardey – If you have ever seen a sailboat, you have probably heard of this amazing couple. Authors of several books, four videos, and innumerable articles on sailing and the sailing life, they are my generations cruising gods. They have a utilitarian view of cruising, preferring to embrace the KISS principles, and using the remainder of their energy to focus on enjoying life. Everyone could learn a little from them on this.

James Baldwin of Atom– Perhaps not as well known as the two above, James has circumnavigated the world twice in a 28 foot Triton. A small boat designed by Carl Alberg, and built by the Pearson brothers. Often touted as the first fibreglass production boat in the world. More importantly though, James believes in small boats, just like the Pardey's “go small, go simple, go now” philosophy. And perhaps most importantly, he believes in modifying a boat in the most basic ways to make almost anything a safe, yet compact ocean cruiser. Check out his site. If your an advocate of small ocean cruisers, this guy will be your deity.

Paul and Sheryl Shard – If only because they are Canadian and sailing famous. They are refreshingly down to earth when you talk to them, and although they and their show has changed to become much more commercial over the years, they still started out in a bare bones simplistic way, and that is to be admired. Try their shows. We find their first couple of seasons were more focused on sailing, whereas the newer shows are more about the travel, but still nice to watch when snowed under, during a frosty Canadian winter.

Nigel Calder – The guru of maintenance. You can't own a sailboat and not own one his books. At least not unless you are omnipotent.

The truth is, I feel a little sheepish mentioning all these names. But each and everyone of them have been an inspiration to me, and this list is by no means exhaustive.

Liza and Andy Copeland

John Vigor

Annie Hill

Don Casey

Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger

Reese Palley

Herb Payson

John Neal

Ann Vanderhoof

Dave and Jaja Martin

Anne Hammick

John Guzzwell

Rebecca Burg

Deb Cantrell

Jim Moore

Dan Spurr

Emiliano Marino

And the remainder of the list is pretty much anyone who has done it. And by done it, I mean cut the dock lines, cruised and lived the dream. And that list is endless. Although special note should be given to anyone who has written about it, so that I may be a part of their dream too.

Okay. Well. I have a crap load of stuff to do now. We purchased a bunch of equipment at the boat show, and I will blog about that soon. For now I need get started sewing. I have a list as long as my arm, and as long as it is related to the boat in some way, I'll post it here.

Cheers.

Rob :-)

Ode to the Masters Throne

I borrowed a bunch of money to buy some stocks in early December. Lucky for me the bet payed off, and I made back all the money I was down over the last few months, plus a little extra. Now I have the funds needed to finish the refit. By the way, I don't recommend playing with the stock market to gain a few extra dollars for a boat. Not that investing is a bad thing, after all, it is my most favorite thing to do after sailing, but it can be very dangerous, it is not for the faint of heart, and you have to be prepared to to take it in the @$$, maybe for years.

So I phoned The Store (Mason's Chandlery) in Toronto, Ontario. I love these guys. They have a great store and I found them extremely helpful when trying to make decisions on gear, plus, they don't mind giving the odd discount, which is nice. They also happen to be the only place in Ontario I could find the Lavac "popular" head.

I ordered it so that I could pick it up when we go to the boat show in two weeks. It has to be installed before the boat goes in the water, because I am re-plumbing the boat. We need to be able to pump out our waste tank when in places where there are no facilities to perform such functions. I also want to add a grey water tank for the head sink and shower. We are going to connect our pressure water system to raw water, install a deck wash down, and convert our fresh water tanks to hand pump only. Quite the list, however, we prefer to keep the pressure water system as non-essential, and it helps us conserve fresh water by not being able to just turn on the tap. Also, I prefer to use a holding tank always, and then pump out the tank when we are at sea. I don't really relish the idea of letting the waste go in the anchorage, where I swim and fish. It wouldn't be so bad on an out going tide, but I don't think I can hold it that long.

I have never seen one of these heads, let alone used one. But they come highly regarded from some of my favorite sailors. Apparently they do not suffer the same ills as a standard boat head. I screwed around with our Jabsco during our trip in Aug last year, and it drove me nuts. It just would't play nice. Plus after hearing the horror stories from many, many others, I was not looking forward to tearing it apart on our short little trip to clear a clog. Also, even with a 20 gallon waste tank, it was full in 3 days. The Lavac is supposed to use less water, and is more reliable, so it doesn't take 30 strokes to make the nasty stuff go away.

Most importantly, this modification has been spousal approved.

Later. Rob :-)