This thread has brought to light some very interesting statistics and trends. Based on this
survey and discussion and of this writing, over 72% of cruisers have actively pursued dumpster
diving in the past with the majority of cruisers consistently still actively diving for bargains and treasure items today. Skills range from
novice to expert - where the
novice divers look for small items that may be of value, while more expert level divers look for
food, for high return
maintenance items, and are always aware of their
environment looking rare dumpsters to explore. This average is better than the national average of cruisers who say have a
radar unit, a
liferaft, a
watermaker, or even a simple
GPS for example. One might suppose then that dumpster diving skills have become a cruisers necessity of sorts and that to consider the cruising lifestyle one must improve not only seamanship and
navigation, and learn general resourcefulness to solving problems, but also master the fine art of dumpster diving and make it apart of their general crusing lifestyle skill kit.
I can see that there is a lack of
training provided in the community for
learning these skills. For example,
Annapolis Sailing School and OCSC of Berkeley do not offer dumpster diving as apart of their
core training at this time. Perhaps they should. Its seems like a goldmine of a business...especially for those looking to
charter who may want to addify their cruising
experience and limit their
vacation costs.
Secondarily, there are cultural opportunites as well. For example, European sailors shun this practice and believe it is below their dignity, and avoid dumpster divers on a class level. However, this brings up an interesting perspective, that the dumpsters of
Europe could contain a pleura of bargains and treasures for dumpster divers who dare to visit and explore there - particularly in the
boatyards of
France...and especially around dumpsters near
Beneteau owners.
/~\
C oo
_( ^)
/ ~\
SaltyMonkey
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