Over the last five years or so I’ve regularly watched a YouTube channel of a guy who’s bought a boat and embarked in a restoration.
On one hand it’s been very entertaining as the guy in question makes good shows and does a better than most exposition of how to do stuff. While on the other hand it was interesting as he tended to make a lot of mistakes and was pretty forthright in letting you know about them.
What has been less enjoyable is the ongoing mission creep his restoration has gone through and as his popularity and income have increased the way it’s become something of a consumerish cornucopia of installing the best and most expensive stuff he can find.
Which, I’ll admit, is just fine where he’s concerned and of course he has the right to spend as much money as he can afford doing his boat the way he wants to. But, for me, the problem is that they don’t call youtubers “influencers” for nothing and it sends a message that the answer to most all issues where boats are concerned is more stuff more money.
But, That’s not how we roll here.
Since I’ve mentioned that I’m about to start building another self-steering gear I’ve received no shortage of emails telling me that folks are looking forward to some in-depth coverage of how I’m doing it. Then again, there’s been quite a few folks telling me I’m an idiot because you need to spend over $5K to get a decent self-steering gear and that you get what you pay for and I expect you all know how much the “You get what you pay for” thing really gets up my nose.
I now have almost all of the materials needed for the Self-steering build and it looks like the total out-of-pocket expenses will not exceed $350-dollars. The good news is, at worst, it will be as good as an Auto-helm self-steering gear ($5250) and, more than likely, will work considerably better.
So, more on the self-steering ASAP…