Cruising Helmsman - July 2018

BUY A BOAT THAT YOU CAN

AFFORD TO RUN

Boats are expensive. If you need to go into

a marina, or store your boat in a marina,

bigger boats cost more to berth. Marinas

charge by the metre and if you own a

catamaran, they charge you for both

hulls. It all adds up.

Remember, boats live in a corrosive

environment and are, therefore, constantly

being run down, even when you are not

on board. Maintenance costs are high.

Specialised systems and mod cons are

great to have, however they are expensive

to run and expensive to fix when they

break down.

LEARN TO DO YOUR OWN

MAINTENANCE AND UPKEEP

Boats need a lot of regular attention.

Your engine needs regular servicing but

it is pretty easy, so invest in yourself to

avoid blowing blow your hard earned $

on hiring a diesel mechanic simply to

change your fuel pump out, for example.

Thing is, you will find it hard to get a

diesel mechanic to come out to your boat

at anchor, therefore you will have to go

into a marina. Which adds onto the cost.

Rigging would be another example.

You can change out your own standing

rigging if you choose to. We do not have

the swaging gear, however to save on costs

we take sections down at a time, take them

into the rigger, get them made up. Then we

re-install them.

When we changed out our standing

rigging two years ago, it cost us about 4.5K.

I have heard 20K prices being f lung around.

So, for us, that represents a big saving.

Repair your own sails. Now this can

also be an expensive area where you can

reduce your costs. Learn how to do minor

sail repair, how to make repairs on your

canvas work. I would not say it is fun,

but you can save lots by sewing your own

clears, cushions, squabs etc. Additionally,

you learn a new skill and you will learn

more about your boat.

So yes, get to know your boat. She will

show you where she needs attention.

Getting onto fixes early can help avoid

expensive repairs at inconvenient times.

SET UP YOUR BOAT TO BE SELF

SUFFICIENT

We pretty much run on solar and wind

power and, as I said before, we have

everything we need. We recently upgraded

to 500 watts of solar which has given us a

big boost.

A couple of years ago we changed our

batteries out. We used to run Trojan Wet

Cells, which actually we found very good.

This time round we are trying out AGM’s.

So, our House bank has four AGM’s (220

amp hours each) and we have

a separate engine start bank.

The house bank runs all of our power

consumption, which is either 12V or runs

though a 2000W inverter. By this

62

Cruising Helmsman July 2018

PRACTICAL

MAINTENANCE

LEFT TO RIGHT: Watermaker lifesaver.

Servicing the wind generator.

Plenty of time to learn new skills.