Is your boat "completely finished"?

[weavis]

TO be fair though, My Centaur is finished.
No really, it is.
Everything has been done. I mean everything. It was in good condition when we got it and we spent a little money and a little more time and renovated all the systems and replaced what needed doing.

With a boat the unfinishing comes when you put it near water.....

[a64pilot]

I still maintain that assuming you taking an older, well anything, boat, car, airplane, there is a period of bringing Her back to standards, then begins the maintaining Her at that standard.
Many seek to continually "make her better" that is a somewhat self defeating attempt that almost predisposes that it won't be used, cause if it is, your wearing it out, not making it better.
I maintain that I am close, the only things left to add, the boat never had is a HF radio and a Water Maker, replacing chain plates, rigging, waste tank, hoses etc. are all just normal maintenance, that never ends if you want to maintain Her to standard.

[contrail]

On my previous boat, before leaving to go cruising in Mexico, I actually did finish my list....but no credit to me! Unusually, it had rained constantly, in San Diego, for a month, to the extent that I had nothing else to do but finish my list, which I did. I remember someone at a chandlery telling me that "no one finishes their list", but I had, and actually just hung around for a few final days of rain before I left. Of course, by the end of my first 24 hours down the Baja Coast, my list had revived itself with three new items! And, on that boat and my current one, the list has always been there. Since I run charters I work on keeping that list pretty short, preferably unimportant, and hopefully invisible, but it's still there. And, yes, I have replaced things that I have replaced once or twice, before, with newer better things.

[Leo Ticheli]

Finished? The question made me think of this:
Redfoot the Fence: Well, like I said, you give me a call if you're interested.
[Redfoot and his crew begin to leave. McManus walks over to Keaton]
McManus: Is there a problem?
Keaton: One job, that was the deal.
[Keaton turns and walks away]
McManus: One job?
[McManus laughs]
McManus: One job? That's a good one, Keaton!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by zeehag

if you believe a boat is finished you are totally deluding self
especially if you have not gone out to cruise it yet

[tdoster]

There is a saying that I love because it is so true.

Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet.

[Mr B]

Mine was completely finished when I bought it, It had all the bells and whistles on it,

It needed a new anchor, But I didnt know that till I was in Vanuatu and the damn thing started dragging,
Sleepless nights are not fun,
Being on a swing hook or tied to a Marina, you dont know these things,
But now, I am in the process of putting new hulls in it, so I have a lot to go before it is finished again,

[Don C L]

This is the part of boat ownership my wife is still uncomfortable with. "Did you finish the boat?" well, no, boats are never finished really, completely, sweetheart... "But when I take the car to the mechanic I say 'Is it finished?' and he says yeah, it's finished!'" Ok, how about, 'it's ready to go?' THAT I can say.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by tdoster

There is a saying that I love because it is so true.

Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet.

I used to maintain 24 Apache helicopters, and would tell people that if you come into the hangar at night after everyone has left, you can hear them breaking

[JOHNMARDALL]

No, ours is still floating..
John Mardall
Vetus Group

[Mauro47]

As in many other construction projects, you will never finish building a boat. You just stop!
Back in 1981 I started mine on a drawing board. I launched her in 1985 and sailed up and down the California coast for the last 31 years. You would not believe how long is the list of projects in the pipeline.
Not to mention the normal maintenance and renewal of olds.
I used to know this old boatbuilder in Alameda Ca. His name is Dick Smith. He told me there are two kind of boat people: the builders and the sailors. One can rarely be both , and never at the same timr. I have strggled with that concept all my life. I want to be the sailor but too often I find myself building and dreaming of fantastic offshore passages.
Stop building and go sailing if that is your dream.

[PuttingDoctor]

Cruising....especially full time liveaboard = boat repair in exotic locations.

[reed1v]

Trouble is that if and when a sailboat is "finished" the moment you go sailing it starts to revert back to its unfinished state. Kind of like when you raise teenagers: They are very good till they are bad.

[artisanmach]

No...never....

[Lokiyawl]

A boat is only completely finished if it sinks in water too deep to be recovered...
James

Originally Posted by Tetepare

I was reading another thread and moderator weavis asked another sailor "is your boat completely finished...?" which damned near made me blow tea out my nose.

MY boat which I've owned for 22 years is not completely finished. As of right now I have to replace the water heater, have a halyard jammed at the top of the mast (which I couldn't free when I went up), have to replace a section of flooring that warped when I left the boat open during a thunderstorm last week, and have to touch up brightwork. Oh, and I just remembered the volt meter on the engine panel needs to be replaced.

In the last four months I've repainted the bottom, ran new running rig, installed a new chart plotter.

Finished? NEVER! There's always something. Or is it just me? Is it possible to have a boat that is, indeed, finished?