Is there such a thing as too much?

[a64pilot]

You know some things aren’t that expensive, and he is looking at a boat to buy, not buying the stuff.
For example our ice maker was $99 on Amazon, washing machine a couple of hundred. We don’t have a dishwasher due to lack of space, same reason we don’t have a microwave. They are dirt cheap, we just don’t have the space.
Many times washers and driers combined are $5 a load, I know cause we have paid that, I still have the Mason jar full of quarters, cause coming up with that many quarters is difficult.
I doubt my Wife would have come with me if I told her her toilet was a bucket and her washing machine a bucket, and if you ever do Marina’s an air conditioner is a nice thing to have. I due to circumstances beyond my control have spent too much time in them, and am glad we have the AC.
Did you know banks won’t give you rolls of quarters for your cash, unless you have an account there? I didn’t and found out. But our washing machine has paid for itself at least once. It is now acting up, I believe it is the water level sensor, $10.45 online.
Corianne isn’t heavy, and the small amount of granite and whatever probably isn’t 100 lbs. I know cause I have considered it myself, but won’t likely do it mostly due to laziness, and how do you do fiddles on Granite, cause we would have to have them.

[Maka]

If some is good more is better.

[wallythacker]

Thanks for the interesting answers.

I contrast the loaded boat with a 41 sloop my friend bought recently. The sloop has none of the gadgets but there's something really appealing in a simple well laid out dual cabin boat like he bought. I think he has hot water at shore and that's about his list of options. Quite a difference between the two boats. Both are entirely suited to different tasks.

[Nikki S]

For living aboard: generator good. a/c very good. large freezer great. trash compactor sounds interesting....I usually cut a lot of rubbish up with scissors and stuff it into milk cartons because storing rubbish on board is a pain.
A washing machine could have saved us hundreds of dollars because our family of 4 are too lazy to wring our washing out and haven't found/constructed a good enough spinner yet, so i just visit a coin laundry every couple of weeks. At first I thought we could add a washer or spinner- but apart from the fact that I haven't found a decent spot on the boat to fit one without destroying some walls, I'd have to figure out how to run it off the generator, because otherwise...well we'd always be paying marina fees to run it off shore power...or running the water-maker to make the water for it.

Does the dishwasher run on salt water?

Ice-maker: bit of fun, but if you've got a large freezer.....???? Whats the difference between a wine cooler and a fridge? can you put food in it to keep it fresh?

granite and marble and washing machines sound so heavy.....

However if you like the boat and it still sails well and has a high AVS of 140 degrees or something, i wouldn't let all that put me off. you could just use the dishwasher, clothes washer & ice-maker as cupboards. you don't have to actually run them....or the aircon or generator for that matter.

[nightowle]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Going to sea without an ice maker is simply uncivilized.

+1

[wallythacker]

Originally Posted by Nikki S

For living aboard: generator good. a/c very good. large freezer great. trash compactor sounds interesting....I usually cut a lot of rubbish up with scissors and stuff it into milk cartons because storing rubbish on board is a pain.
A washing machine could have saved us hundreds of dollars because our family of 4 are too lazy to wring our washing out and haven't found/constructed a good enough spinner yet, so i just visit a coin laundry every couple of weeks. At first I thought we could add a washer or spinner- but apart from the fact that I haven't found a decent spot on the boat to fit one without destroying some walls, I'd have to figure out how to run it off the generator, because otherwise...well we'd always be paying marina fees to run it off shore power...or running the water-maker to make the water for it.

Does the dishwasher run on salt water?

Ice-maker: bit of fun, but if you've got a large freezer.....???? Whats the difference between a wine cooler and a fridge? can you put food in it to keep it fresh?

granite and marble and washing machines sound so heavy.....

However if you like the boat and it still sails well and has a high AVS of 140 degrees or something, i wouldn't let all that put me off. you could just use the dishwasher, clothes washer & ice-maker as cupboards. you don't have to actually run them....or the aircon or generator for that matter.

I'll try to answer your questions best as I can.

The washer/dryer uses ~12gal/hr. I think it's fresh water only.

The dishwasher uses 2g./wash. I think salt water could be used but I won't.

The wine cooler has inserts to hold bottles at the proper angle. You can use the cooler as extra fridge space if you want, but, isn't that so gauche?

The ice maker, I realized afterwards, will help me considerably with a health issue I have.

I don't know how much weight the granite and marble add overall. From working with it myself the areas in question are just a few square feet, meaning not a lot of weight and everything done on the boat is to a very high standard so there's no worry on my end about safety.

Believe it or not, everywhere you turn on this boat has storage. Places I'd never think to use but the OO/PO appears to be pretty bright. Also, every storage place, be it drawer, cabinet, cupboard, sole section, has a sturdy latch mechanism. Even small drawers have a hefty bronze catch. There are no releases that operate from the inside with a finger. That means no contents can open the storage space in the event of a knockdown or rollover.

As for the energy required to run this stuff, I'm not fully to speed on amp hours, AGMs and so on but I was told there's enough house power to run things for a long time. There's a 4kw inverter?, is that a size? and something like 6 golf cart batteries? I don't know the Ah of them.

I plan to add as much solar and wind power as I can fit on. I'm actually pleased the PO avoided solar as I'll be happier installing to my spec rather than someone else's. Same deal with the watermaker. I'd prefer my choices.

I know all this stuff will break at some point, then it's a choice to fix/replace or learn to live without it. Time will tell.

[Aquadome]

Originally Posted by wallythacker

40 foot ketch

Generator, washer/dryer combo, dishwasher, icemaker, trash compactor, wine cooler, large freezer, all granite countertops in galley and vanity sinks. AC/reverse heat, corian in head, italian marble in head and shower.

I must admit it all looked really nice and was well integrated but for everyday life aboard a boat is it overkill?

Perhaps I'd better use space and ditch the wine cooler and dishwasher for more refrigeration - the rest is a pretty useful.

[JOHNMARDALL]

All of those appliances and gadgets are very pleasant and probably quite expensive to maintain (if they've been on the boat for a while, think about how close they are to the end of their service lives). It all depends on how you're going to use that 40 foot boat. Long distance, off-shore cruising - get all that house junk off the boat - you need storage for food, tools, spare parts, clothing, charts and everything else to keep that little self-contained world working when you're a long way from anywhere and all on your own. Weekend cruises, nights plugged in at a marina, jaunts up and down the Intracoastal, cocktails at 5- could be the perfect boat.


Have fun, stay safe.


John Mardall
Vetus Maxwell Boat Equipment

[billdomb]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

No !
it's not too much if you have an unlimited repair budget and you never leave the dock .... or ... if you can afford to charter planes to fly in repair techs while at anchor.

Biggest issue is continued maintenance, but the question is WHY??? How often does one have to repair an ice machine at home or dishwasher? Once in a blue moon. Now, that's hardly the case on our boats. WHY??? Sure, the salt environment might take a toll. Power fluctuations? Possible. Physical movement? Or, is it that the QUALITY of stuff put in boats is sorely compromised? Oft coming out of the travel trailer industry?

It astounds me what we put up with, just shrugging our shoulders and saying,"Well, it's a boat; what do you expect?" Or that classic chestnut, "BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand."

We put up with far too much.

And, before I finish the rant, let me also ring in the people we have to call upon to FIX things on our boats. Often poorly trained and prepared. Irresponsible and unreliable.

As an industry, we need to look at sponsoring and encouraging better training institutes and, perhaps, levels of certification.

And we need to give a leg-up to getting new blood into the boating support industries and schools.

Just had a job fair at our marina. Well, it's a start...

[jomoman]

are you serious?

[fatherchronica]

To each his own. It would be too much for me, but my wife always wanted a washer and dryer. Several years ago a young guy who worked at a boatyard bought an old 50 foot wooden power boat to live aboard and took the slip right across the dock from me. It listed to starboard an alarming degree. He showed me that it was due to an extensive use of old school 1 1/2 inch thick granite countertops on a huge galley and once extravagant head on the starboard side. His fix was many dock cart loads of sand bags on the port side.

[Mainstreet]

The perennial question...
It all depends on how you’re going to use the boat. My wife and I sailed our Morgan 462 Ketch over 2000 Miles in two years of kicking around the Gulf, The Keys, the southeast states and the Bahamas. We had two generators (a diesel 8kw in the engine room and a 4kw gasoline back up deck mounted one) because our refrigeration and water maker were 120VAC. We had a Splendide washer/dryer but it went south very early on in the cruise and we never fixed it. Yep we had repairs and ultimately I had to rebuild the electrical end of the 8kw diesel. Because we HAD to run the Genset every day to keep refrigeration and fresh water up, we could have run the garbage compactor and other stuff at the same time if that stuff was aboard. Appliances aboard that provide convienence are fine with me if you’re prepared to deal with accelerated repairs due to essentially household designed equipment being operated in a very hostile environment (salt water). Roughing it may appeal to your pioneering instincts but it’s no fun when you are running low on fresh water and have been eating freeze dried or canned meals for a few weeks!

[Rhenley]

Hey it’s your boat and you should do whatever you like. I prefer lots of comfort and if there is something wrong I fix it. If you can afford it why not. Enjoy yourself and sail on.

[Fineline]

No ice maker? How will you make Pina Coladas?
You do drink Pina coladas don't you?
Of course you do, you're not an animal!
If you can afford it, go for it, cruising is 80% domestic anyway!

[Colin A]

I prefer comfort myself. Depends on the design of the boat if that's too much in 40'. Some wide heavy displacement boats would have plenty of space for that stuff.

I mean really things like the wine cooler and dishwasher breaking are not emergencies, so really it is only as much trouble as you make it out to be.

On an aside I had a customer once with a grand banks who had gone up and down the intercoastal from RI to the Virgin islands more then 15 times. He bought a portable electric dishwasher that sat on the counter, he told me it was the most reliable thing on the boat. It had never broken down in 20 years.