Deck beams were welded to the underside of the coachroof before it was lowered into position
The side decks seen
from underneath with
tack welds holding the
supports in position‘How can you afford it?’ is probably the
most commonly asked question. The
golden coin has two sides. One side has
to do with investing wisely, and in
ultimately earning a passive income. The
other side, plain and simple but less often
realised, lies in discovering that we can
get by with a lot less than we think.
‘Blessed be moderate poverty!’
proclaims Friedrich Nietzsche’s hero
Zarathustra. And he has a point when he
says that ‘he who possesses little, is so
much the less possessed.’ And also that
‘they acquire wealth and make themselves
poorer with it.’
But unfortunately he seems to sleep in
the forest most of the time, and much as I
respect Zarathustra’s teachings he is, after
all, only a fictional character.
On a more serious note we can look at
Maslow’s well known hierarchy of needs.
The idea is that a healthy individual would
first fulfil his most basic needs – those of
food, sex, shelter etc. Thereafter the
individual would move on to higher needs
like social belonging, and lastly to
self-actualisation.
It’s clear to me that our consumer
society is to a large degree stuck at the
most basic levels. We keep on striving for
more possessions: branded clothes,
newer cars and bigger houses. And we
keep at it, even when we have much more
than we need.
Ultimately we are poorer for it, and this
endless chase of the material denies us
the opportunity of acquiring higher forms
of wealth. Surely there are other things to
be done! We have to read old books. We
have to design and build new boats!
Personally this is what I did: I lived in a
place which was slightly too small and
slightly too dodgy, much like when I was a
student. I tried to avoid buying all the crap
that everyone is constantly trying to sell
you. I drove an old car which I had bought
for cash. For holidays I went to third-world
countries with a backpack (these are the
best holidays anyway!). The money I
saved in this way, which was about half of
my salary, I invested, both into rental
property and onto the stock exchange
(mostly low risk Index Tracking Funds).
Then, after nine years, the miracle of
compound interest occurred, when Irealised that I could sustain myself from
my investment income – it’s a feeling of
relief and indescribable freedom.
Muir, on the other hand, started saving
quite late, but like the hare instead of the
tortoise, he ran off to the Middle East
where he was offered a much larger
salary, and returned three years later with
a pot full of money. He invested his booty
alongside mine and we manage these
portfolios together.Designing a hull
Our first idea was to build a Van de Stadt
34, for which we had ordered the plans,
but to redesign the interior to make it more
suitable for two couples. These boats
have a very good track record, and aPractical Boat Owner • http://www.pbo.co.uk 77BUILD AN ALLOY SLOOP