Buying New vs Buying Old

When looking to buy a boat, you have three choices

Brand New
Used in wonderful condition
Used in poor condition

At face value, Brand New is the most expensive, Used in wonderful condition is pricey but great value, and Used in poor condition is the cheapest upfront. But what does it mean for you?

Buying Brand New has the advantage of knowing that everything on the boat is fresh from the factory and should work flawlessly. This also means that if there are design flaws, you will be the one to find them. Most reputable boat companies will pay to correct design flaws in your vessel, so you do have some insurance there. The downside comes in the way of drastic depreciation. A $250,000 yacht will not be worth that in a few years, and if you ever go to sell it, you will realize that depreciation took most of the boats value.

Buying in wonderful condition is where you buy a boat that was bought Brand New and meticulously maintained for years. All the while, problems have been discovered and then fixed along the way; delivering to you a like new yacht with all the kinks worked out! This can be the best way to buy a boat if you can find the exact boat you are looking for.

Buying in poor condition is a bit of a risk. You are essentially buying a deck and hull, and outfitting the rest from there. Cost wise, this tends to be the cheapest upfront, but the costs of outfitting a boat can add up considerably. The advantage is this can be done in stages allowing you to save up between stages. This way, you are able to have a place to live in (or camp in) while you work your way towards perfection.

They say boats cost! They cost money and time, if you save on money, you will pay more in time! 

From the choices above, it may seem that buying "Used in wonderful condition" is the best choice, as the price is greatly reduced over new, and it won't cost you any time to get the yacht ready to sail. This is true, but it is also very hard to find the boat that is exactly how you want it.

If you look at any sailboat, you will see "Owner Customizations". Some people want radar, chart plotter, auto pilot, and a wine cooler; while others want laminated sails and light weight synthetic rigging. What you want on a boat is not always what others want on their boat. This means that no matter what boat you buy, you are going to sink more money into it to make it "Your Boat"

This is where buying "Used in poor condition" shines. The boat doesn't cost much and is a blank canvas! When you buy a quality boat that is in need of a rebuild, you are buying a sturdy platform to build your dream boat on. You are in control of deciding what goes where and you are able to spend your money on the items that you value as necessary on board your boat. 

This method will cost you a lot of time if you do the work yourself, but I think it's worth it in the end. How much of a project you want is completely up to you. You can get a wooden boat from "Boneyard Boats" for free, or a sunken boat that has been resurfaced for nearly free. These are the cheapest initially, but the total cost of these projects will quickly overshadow the supposed deal. 

The next option is to buy an old boat that has a good interior, deck, hull, rudder, and spars; and take it from there. These tend to be boats that were loved and used for many years, and are in need of a re-fit. They tend to have a bad engine, blown out sails, aged rigging, and minimal electronics. These are where the true bargains are hiding! You don't have to pay the previous owner for "his favorite" chart plotter and then replacing it with "your favorite" chart plotter. Instead, you can pick and choose what and where you want to mount your electronic accessories. 

The other advantage with boats that are structurally sound is you get to pick and choose what sails and rigging you desire. If you prefer tri radial sails over crosscut sails, or full battens over partial battens, you don't have to live with the previous owners decision! You can choose exactly what sails you want and what size for them to be! Some people prefer to have a smaller high aspect jib while others prefer a monstrous 180% genoa, the choice is yours!

As far as rigging goes, you are free to select the color scheme that makes sense for you! If you want all the downhauls to be the same color, or if you want each line to be a different color, this is your chance to decide on color and feel in your hands. Boats like these take some time to complete, but the owners tend to be very pleased with the end result.

It can be hard to find your perfect yacht when shopping around. The eyes will love a brand new boat much more than your wallet will. The used market might seem daunting to sift through. Keep searching with an open mind, and consider looking at the ones the eyes might not fall in love with right away, but have the potential to make your dreams come true! 

Hanging Artwork in a Sailboat

Homes need pictures hanging from the walls, but sailboats lean over frequently! How do you keep pictures and paintings from falling off the walls or always looking crooked? The answer is simple, poster putty.

I use a nail and hook to hang the picture or painting like any regular piece of art, but then I place a 1cm (1/2 inch) sized piece of poster putty on each lower corner. I hang the picture by the nail and center it so it looks straight, then firmly press it to the bulkhead. The poster putty will glue the picture to the wall, but allow intentional removal from the wall without leaving any marks. 

All of the artwork we hang on board Wisdom is done this way and we have sailed many miles heeled over without a single piece of art swinging free or falling off a wall.

Water Tanks for Ocean Sailing

Fresh water is the most valuable resource on board a boat! Without it, you will die in as short as 3 days, while some have managed to survive as long as 8 to 10 days without fresh water. This is why deciding how your fresh water is stored is so important.

Some boats have one large water tank which holds all of their available fresh water. This makes filling up easier, as it is only one tank to manage and maintain. This also fits the old saying "Putting all of your eggs in one basket" to the tee. If that tank were to break or get contaminated, you now have lost all of your water!

The alternate option is to break the water stored into various tanks, this way if a tank gets damaged or contaminated, it only affects that one tank and not the entire water supply. 

The disadvantages of multiple tanks are:

You now have many tanks to maintain and keep full.

The advantages of multiple tanks are:

Evenly distribute the weight around the vessel
If one tank is damaged or contaminated, it only affects a portion of the total water supply
It is easier to monitor how fast you are consuming your water
It is easier to ration your water

On board Wisdom, we have 8 water tanks, totaling up to 160 gallons of fresh water. 

Tank 1 is 15 gallons, 120 pounds
Tank 2 is 15 gallons, 120 pounds
Tank 3 is 30 gallons, 240 pounds
Tank 4 is 20 gallons, 160 pounds
Tank 5 is 20 gallons,160 pounds
Tank 6 is 30 gallons, 240 pounds
Tank 7 is 15 gallons, 120 pounds
Tank 8 is 15 gallons, 120 pounds

This may sound confusing to manage, but it works out well. We can easily ration our water by only using one tank at a time. We have an idea of how long we want each tank to last, and if we burn through the water too fast, we are made very aware of it when it runs dry. 

The act of opening a new tank also lets us keep a mental picture of how we are consuming our water. When we did our summer trip, we started off with Tank 1 open, and it lasted us almost a week. This made us a bit more relaxed about our water usage (which translates into more frequent showers). We keep Tank 6 (30 gallons) as a backup tank while cruising. If we ran out of water while off shore, Tank 6 would be able to provide us enough drinking water for 28 days (based on 2 people drinking 2L of water per day).

The final advantage of multiple tanks is that the weight can be spread throughout the vessel. 160 gallons weighs 1280 pounds! If we had that all weight in one place, it would seriously affect the trim of the vessel as it ranges between full and empty. By spreading the weight around, the weight is also evenly distributed and we are able to drain the tanks in a controlled fashion, which also evenly distributes the weight decrease.

Cleat Hitch

One of the most important knots to know as a boater is how to tie up to a mooring cleat! This knot is used every time you tie something to a cleat. It is a very simple, plain, and elegant knot that will securely hold a line indefinitely if tied properly.

This knot can be used to:

Secure dock lines
Secure jack lines
Tie up to a pier
Tie up to another boat
Secure a tow line
Secure a painter
Tie off a sheet
Secure a halyard

The list goes on and on!

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There are a few ideal principles to keep in mind when tying a cleat hitch. If these principles are followed, the knot can be securely tied offering peace of mind and security.

The loaded line should enter the cleat in the same direction that the tail exists the cleat.
There should only be 3 lines passing on the top of the cleat per cleat hitch. 
For high loads, a wrap around the cleat will help reduce the force exerted on the knot.
When properly tied, it will form an X over the cleat with one leg composed of one line and the other leg composed of two lines.

To tie a cleat hitch, follow these steps:

Bring the line alongside the cleat

Wrap the line around the back of the cleat under the horn

Pass the line over the cleat

Wrap the line under the horn

Pass it over the cleat forming an X

Twist the line to form a turn and slide the turn over the cleat horn and tighten

Pull on the tail to tighten the knot all the way

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This knot may seem easy to tie, and it is! But so are wrong variations of the knot. Common mistakes made are:

Tons of wraps
Never creating the turn to secure the line to the cleat
Not tightening the knot
Twisting the turn the wrong way

Tons of wraps simply bulk up the cleat so no one else can use it and makes it harder to untie the cleat when it's time to release the line.

Never creating the turn to secure the line is dangerous. It will look like a secure knot but will come loose over time. 

Not tightening the knot will allow the line to untie itself and slip off the cleat, failing its purpose of securing the line.

Twisting the turn the wrong way is a very common mistake. It may look secure, but it will come loose with a few pulls. If you tie it the wrong way, it would behoove you to untie the cleat and do it again the right way.

Sometimes, cleats are hardly tied with almost no tail!

These cleats have been tied this way for a very long time, some of them for years without inspection. Just because you tied your line properly when you docked your boat, doesn't mean that it is still tied properly. I have seen many boaters pull in and untie a cleat to tie their boat up and tie the existing dock line to a new cleat. Do you know if they tied your dock line properly?

When tied properly, multiple people can easily tie up to the same cleat and untie easily when it's time to cast off.

These cleats may look like a jumble, but in fact they are cleats where two lines are tied; one over the other. They are both tied correctly and all the lines are perfectly secured on the same cleat.

While it is important to know how to properly tie a cleat hitch, the examples of poorly tied cleat knots have held for many years without anyone touching them. If you are tying to a cleat in a hurry while docking and the knot comes out wrong, it will probably hold fine while you secure the rest of the lines in a hurry. Once the boat is safely tied to the pier, it is a good idea to evaluate the cleats and make sure your knots are correct before leaving the boat. A poor knot will hold for a while, but a good knot will hold for longer!

Grilling

The grill is the best addition to the galley when cooking aboard. Entire dinners can be prepared on it, and it uses minimal space and resources. 

I recommend a good propane grill, such as Magma. The fuel source is easy to buy and store since it is in compact cans. If you have a dedicated propane locker, you can easily connect the grill to your large tank. If you don't, you can store your small camping size cans in a 4 inch PVC pipe on deck or in a well ventilated area.

I would caution away from using a charcoal grill because they are rather messy. When I was a kid, we used a charcoal grill. The food that came off of it was delicious, but the work involved with it was equally extravagant. The charcoal needs to flame up and burn down to embers, which can take a rather long time when you are hungry. After you finish grilling, you need to let it burn out and then dispose of all the ash. It can quickly become a very messy job on board a boat. 

Another reason to avoid charcoal is the fuel source is rather large. A bag of charcoal takes up much more space than a small camping can of propane. If you were planning a long voyage, it would be very difficult to store and carry all those bags of charcoal. It would be much easier to store a bunch of small cans, and a lot cleaner too!

Lastly, an unconfirmed issue with charcoal deals with spontaneous ignition. Apparently salty charcoal can spontaneously ignite. I don't know if this is true or not, but I would not want to find out on board my own boat. 

I would suggest splurging a bit when you buy the grill, there is a significant difference in build quality and longevity between the different tiers. I bought the Catalina Grill from Magma 2 years ago and it has been wonderful. It can get incredibly hot inside while not radiating heat outside. I set it on its legs in the cockpit (painted fiberglass) and the surrounding seat and backrest are cool to the touch. I have even used it during the snow, it cooked steaks beautifully and didn't melt the snow below or behind it.