My plan for today was to catch up on reading and then dismantle an outboard and make a gawd-awful mess in the cockpit in the process. Lucky me! We have what I’ll call a Seattle day in Paradise and it looks like gray skies and copious rain is what’s on the menu. So, next on …
I have to admit I really don’t like internal combustion engines when they are part of a sailboat. Partly because they’re dirty foul things that take a disproportionate chunk of the cost of owning a boat. I mention this because I recently caught a review of a Sigmadrive unit that made a strong case for …
So, yeah, about that Islander 36 project boat… Confronted with a boat like the Islander, my first impression is “Ugh”. My second is “Get rid of all the crap and clean the sucker up and there might be a good boat in there somewhere”. And, my third reaction is “I need to do the math!”. …
Yesterday, while making a list of stuff I need to procure, the thought crossed my mind that boat stuff, more than likely with the incoming regime, is going to become a whole lot more expensive in a hurry. For that matter, everything is going to cost more than we’d like with maybe the exception of …
I keep noticing that the cost of used self-steering gears continue to rise. For example, the Navik windvane which used to sell somewhere between $150- $500 dollars is now selling for somewhere between $400-$1000 dollars (check here for a price spread on used Naviks). While it still might be the best deal going for a …
Back during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria with nothing better to do, I painted “So It Goes” while at anchor in the mangroves. The paint I chose was Rust-Oleum aluminum paint. My thinking at the time was that it was something Phil Bolger mused would make a good boat paint, it was dirt cheap ($13 …
Every once in a while I’m confronted with what can only be insanity when dealing with various marine vendors. For instance, while looking for a couple of Imray charts one particular chart caught my eye because it was priced at $199.99 which is just batshit crazy. I expect that it’s a case of a chart …
I just saw that the Chinese auto builders are coming up with cheap EVs and the prices really took my breath away. Try $9,698 on for size. Which, I’m told, is $50K less than the average EV available in the US of A. Almost makes me want to go out and buy a car. Which, …
something from the “not really surprising” files… Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, we noticed that the bilge pump was cycling more often than it should, so we looked in all of the usual places. Since we’ve had a lot of rain recently, we found several deck fittings that had been poorly bedded and that, combined with a few leaks we already knew …
Have you noticed that it’s almost impossible to find a new manual anchor windlass? Or, if you do it’s more expensive than a powered one? When you do find a good manual windlass the cost is often right at the cost of a brand spanking new electric windlass. Is that nuts or what? The Islander …
