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Are you using birch plywood for your electrical panel or is that teak? We ran out of time/tools and had to make do with peg board which.... as you might expect does not hold up well in a marine environment for any length of time. While you're in there rewiring the entire thing make sure you pick up marine grade copper wire (so it won't corrode to dust in 2 years time) and now would be a good time to upgrade to 2 NM LED lights.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:23
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Big Taint posted:The smoke alarm went off on my boat the other day. Since it lives above the electrical panel, I opened it up to have a look. Awesome. I'm really looking forward to redoing all the wiring on mine - it's a mess, and there are several mysterious breaker switches
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Jan 20, 2014 04:27
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I just signed up for a basic keelboat class. I can't wait. Thanks to this thread, I've learned that buying a boat isn't prohibitively expensive, so now I'm pretty sure I'll own a boat by the end of the year. Excited!
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Mar 16, 2014 20:04
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Buying definitely isn't, but maintaining seems to be something of a small nightmare 
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Mar 16, 2014 20:54
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So I discovered last time it rained that water was coming in through the AC sockets O_O Patched that up today - the previous owner drilled a bunch of holes in the hope, apparently trying (and failing) to mount the dodger so I blocked most of them up with marine-tex.
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Mar 25, 2014 05:49
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I've always been flabbergasted and never in enough of a pinch to test that stuff's claim that it can repair an engine block if cured correctly.
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Mar 25, 2014 06:17
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This Old Boat - Rime of the Ancient Electrician. Every single boat I've ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working on has had wiring that looked like that. Bad crimps, wire nuts, enough corrosion to choke a donkey, and little blackened ends. How more boats don't spontaneously combust is beyond me. The only thing worse than boat wiring is boat trailer wiring.
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Mar 26, 2014 23:17
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Yeah, I'm trying to chase down a few issues with the Scout 172 Sportfish we just bought, and coming across multiple butt crimps in a very short wire run is not reassuring. Pulled out the bow navigation light just to re-seat it and found two crimp connectors and a wire nut on each cable.
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Mar 27, 2014 02:19
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n0tqu1tesane posted:Yeah, I'm trying to chase down a few issues with the Scout 172 Sportfish we just bought, and coming across multiple butt crimps in a very short wire run is not reassuring. Well done crimp connectors are good. Wire nuts are bad.
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Mar 27, 2014 03:35
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Yooper posted:This Old Boat - Rime of the Ancient Electrician. I think I'm gonna just yank everything out and redo it all, I don't want to catch fire.
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Mar 27, 2014 03:37
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Alctel posted:I think I'm gonna just yank everything out and redo it all, I don't want to catch fire. Don't underestimate the task of rewiring. It's tedious and a huge time sink. I spent nearly a full week on my 26' (plus extra time at home) with only ~12 circuits. Though I literally gutted every wire (except the engine panel) and made a new panel from scratch.
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Mar 27, 2014 03:51
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asdf32 posted:Don't underestimate the task of rewiring. It's tedious and a huge time sink. I spent nearly a full week on my 26' (plus extra time at home) with only ~12 circuits. Though I literally gutted every wire (except the engine panel) and made a new panel from scratch. Sounds like a labor of love to me. One that I am in no way qualified or able to perform, but a labor of love nonetheless.
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Mar 27, 2014 03:53
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Well last two weekends have been all boat. The engine fired up no problems which, though it always has, I still consider a miracle/relief. I used 6 cans of paint yesterday (bilge, black mast, grey engine, blue hull, white deck, cetol varnish), replaced the raw water impeller, installed some new interior trim, and replaced a couple things in the cockpit (deck inspection plate, bilge pump cover). All in all I'm making some general cosmetic forward progress while holding the line elsewhere. While in the past I've prioritized functional things (electrical, plumbing) I'm increasingly appreciating the benefits and satisfaction of the cosmetic stuff. I really want to figure out how to approach the deck paint in the future which is currently my boat's biggest downside. Hope everyone else is doing well with their boats. I'm slated for launch in a little over a week which will be (by far) my earliest launch.
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May 5, 2014 00:21
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Weather permitting, next weekend is the first weekend this year I get to take my boat out  I'll take some pics and post them up next weekend.
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May 5, 2014 00:39
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1001 places to put every dollar, but this year is the first in a while where I can realistically browse craigslist and say "I can safely afford that boat  " and not be lying to myself. So hard to not impulse buy  Going to do a sailing club this summer though, I think. Should probably learn the basics, or whether being out on the water is even for me, before I spend thousands of dollars on my own floating black hole of money.
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May 5, 2014 01:30
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I took Basic Keelboat recently and joined US Sailing. The log book is neat. Hoping to move on to Basic Cruising this month and possibly Bareboat Cruising this summer if I can afford it. Between coursework and practice time on the water, my goal to charter a boat large enough for my friends to enjoy if they don't want to crew is probably a bit of a stretch for this year. I definitely hope to have the experience to do that next year, though. I'd love to get my coastal certifications too... the idea of a multi-day "camping" trip on the ocean is so appealing.
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May 5, 2014 01:35
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Martytoof posted:1001 places to put every dollar, but this year is the first in a while where I can realistically browse craigslist and say "I can safely afford that boat Well this has come up before but with a little patience there are great finds, especially under 25' I saw a Pearson 26' go by on craigslist for free listed in good condition. They had owned her for 18 years (they said) and didn't want to hassle over a couple thousand. I've also been chatting in the boatyard with a retired gentleman who has a pristine Sea Sprite 23'. A beautiful 60's design which at 23' isn't small, but with no plumbing, no inboard, and minimal electrical has very little systems upkeep. His has original gelcoat (no deck/hull paint) and the teak has just been let go to a nice uniform gray. He paid $3800 and says he'd give it away for free if he was getting rid of it to avoid the hassle of bargaining. This is a boat that would have really minimal costs going forward. Just wax and bottom paint, and occasional varnish on some remaining woodwork. So keep an eye out.
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May 5, 2014 14:06
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A free boat is like a free hotel room in Vegas. On the other hand, a boat you pay for is going to have just as many hilariously expensive problems 
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May 6, 2014 12:25
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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A good day.  e: I added cleats near the rudder so I could set the jib while staying by the rudder, and other cleats on either side at the stern for docking purposes. Everything worked as intended, and the sailing today was great
Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 17:55 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 17:52
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Archive save! No pictures yet, but I've spent the day tooling about off the coast of Carrabelle in a Sunfish we dragged out of the garage. Literally using shower curtain rings to hold the sail on to the booms . I keep looking for a cheap Hobie 16 but I think I'll have to wait until summer comes to an end, and the Hobie 14 needs a new tramp and a re-glass before it can go back on the water.
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Aug 9, 2014 21:48
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Icon Of Sin posted:A good day. It's been many years since I've been on a sailboat, but shouldn't there be some blocks up closer to the bow (around the side stays) to help with the shape of that jib? I'm pretty sure all of the club's flying scots were set up that way. I guess if you're not all Gotta Go Fast it doesn't matter much
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Aug 10, 2014 16:44
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Beach Bum posted:Archive save! I'd been a big keelboat racer my entire life and then when the Flying Tiger 10m had to go off for repairs the guy I usually crew for got antsy and bought a Hobie 18 for 45 bucks. Its a completely different experience but goddamn is it fun.
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Aug 10, 2014 17:02
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SuperDucky posted:I'd been a big keelboat racer my entire life and then when the Flying Tiger 10m had to go off for repairs the guy I usually crew for got antsy and bought a Hobie 18 for 45 bucks. Its a completely different experience but goddamn is it fun. $45? Are you serious? Was that just purchase price or is that all you have into it? I wish I could find a water-ready Hobie for that price. It's going to cost me about $400 for a new tramp for the 14 right now before I can sail it again, plus the aforementioned re-glass.
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Aug 10, 2014 20:32
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I've started sailing recently and it's been taking over all my spare mental processes. For the time being I'm getting by as a part of the local sailing club, going out as often as I can. After my lease is up, I'm going to try and crew on other people's boats. Ultimately I want my own boat to do some long term cruising (probably just coastal for a good bit, with circumnavigation as the moon shot dream). Based on ya'lls experience with fixing used boats, about how much would I have to shell out to get at something at least coastal cruising worthy (or at least within a reasonable state...I'm not opposed to a project)? Seeing things like Hold Fast and bobbieroundstheworld are inspiring as they are people in similar positions as me (young, not space rich), but I gotta say my risk tolerance isn't nearly as high as theirs.
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Aug 11, 2014 22:46
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Fozzle posted:I've started sailing recently and it's been taking over all my spare mental processes. For the time being I'm getting by as a part of the local sailing club, going out as often as I can. After my lease is up, I'm going to try and crew on other people's boats. Well 0-$5000 can get you a working boat in the 22-30' range. Basically the tradeoff here isn't so much money as it is risk. You might be able to find a 30' for $5k where everything works ok, but everything will be old. And if a major system or issue pops up on a 30' you're investment will be gone. It might work out great, but there is risk. On the other end though a 22' boat for the same money will start in better shape, have fewer systems (risks) and if anything does go wrong you'll probably be able to fix it yourself. So unless you literally sink it, you can expect money back at the end with the 22', but if a deisel pops on a 30', it might be headed for the scrapyard. So it depends on what you want. Basically 22-24' boats have porta potties, low headroom and outboards. 25-26 will have enclosed heads, maybe standing headroom and a basic galley, maybe an inboard. 27-30 will have a decent head, standing headroom a decent galley and probably an inboard. From my perspective the biggest livability dividing lines are the head (enclosed or not) and headroom (standing or not). Each of those things offers a pretty decent improvement in livability. asdf32 fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Aug 13, 2014 |
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Aug 13, 2014 17:18
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asdf32 posted:Well 0-$5000 can get you a working boat in the 22-30' range. Ah thanks for the insightful post. Those numbers are actually below my budget, so this is very encouraging. I'm pretty set on getting a 27-30' now. It's still quite a few months off, so I've got lots of time to research. One more question: are there certain designs that are known to be better than others or is everything basically a personal choice that you'll just have to figure out yourself? I love reading about all the different designs but it seems that there's more designs than there are Pokemon and at this point I can't really tell a huge diff. I guess it's the same as cars? Any car will get you there but the details/feeling of the ride change? How would one know how a boat will handle seeing as I doubt you can test drive one?
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Aug 18, 2014 14:34
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Fozzle posted:Ah thanks for the insightful post. Those numbers are actually below my budget, so this is very encouraging. I'm pretty set on getting a 27-30' now. It's still quite a few months off, so I've got lots of time to research. Well sailboats are all over the map, a lot like cars except with probably even more variation. For design there are differences between displacement (how heavy), keels (full/fin, encapsulated/not-encapsulated, lead/iron), rudders (spade, skeg hung, transom hung), rigs (masthead, fractional, plus multi-mast configurations), the era of the boat, cabin layouts, systems etc. The thing about sailboats is that they aren't actually practical things, they're for recreation. Style, function and tradition mix together to create a ton of variety. For clarity, the dominant modern design, for performance reasons, is the spade rudder and fin keel, lead or iron depending on boat quality (lead is better, though iron is fine if well maintained). In terms of brands oday/beneteau/hunter/catalina/tanzer (roughly in quality order) are common in the value end, brands like Ericsson/c&c/pearson/tartan/sabre/, are common in the middle while brands like cape dory and bristol typically offer traditional designs (east cost bias to brands listed here). But there are tons of other brands out there - one thing that differentiates boats from cars, many many brands (and most are out of business - this shouldn't be a major concern). At a lower budget I'd be looking hard at good versions of the lower end brands from the 80's, or better brands from the 70's. Catalina for example has a nice 27 which goes for $5k in decent shape, $10k in great shape for 1980's models. Pearson made lots of good boats, redesigning their lines in roughly 1970, and 1980 offering a wide range of boats which were all solid quality originally (their 60's boats are "classic plastic", their 70's boats are solid all around, and their 80's boats improve further on cabin and performance.) Just start looking at craigslist and yachtworld and type boat names into google to read about them and you'll get a sense of all of this.
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Aug 19, 2014 01:08
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I can't add much more to the awesome posts from asdf32 (primarily because I know a lot more about catamarans than monohulls), but I would recommend looking around your area for any classes on repairing/maintaining marine diesel engines. After living on board our boat for the last 18 months I've learned a hell of a lot about all the various systems, but it sure would've been nice to have had more knowledge on the subject before moving aboard.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:56
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Beach Bum posted:$45? Are you serious? Was that just purchase price or is that all you have into it? With redoing some rigging and a few things on the trailer, we're up to about ~1800 bucks.
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Aug 21, 2014 16:59
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Love reading this thread. I live in SF and just took Basic Keelboat and Cruising US Sailing classes last month. I've got the bug for sure but trying to sort out if I can afford a boat. I just ordered This Old Boat thanks to the info from this thread.
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Sep 16, 2014 08:13
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I ordered a Dickerson Newport heater over two weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived  Its getting chilly!
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Sep 19, 2014 05:40
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Picked up a 1998 Vanguard Laser for free after rescuing it from an owner who blew his knee out two years ago. Everything is solid, just need spars and a tiller. Sail is nasty but intact and relatively crunchy. Gonna need a wetsuit for the frostbite dinghy series this winter!
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Sep 19, 2014 05:43
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