Yup. In the past 10 years I've had ten jobs in five different industries. Most times the companies run out of work after 6 months, then you're out the door again. No matter that you fixed their backlog and reorganized the place so that it runs properly, they always keep the long-term dunderheads that caused the problems in the first place. Lots of really stupid people out there running companies.
Bright fresh engineers just out of college get $50k here, while the most I ever made was $42k - writing embedded firmware - and that was only for one year. The company was so broke that most months I'd be waiting for money to pay the rent.
Like Ayn Rand's 'John Galt' character I feel relieved to be stepping off the treadmill at last. Knowing I'd never be able to afford a house, I bought a yacht instead. Mad? Maybe, but very happy about the decision.
Rob
Ditto, My boat, unless fortune smiles on me will most likely be the last boat I own. Houses to me are an even worst investment then a derelict boat. Taxes, insurance, HOA, mortgage... Crazy...
Many companies, most (but not all) of the ones I worked for, feel your a slacker if you only put in 60 hours a week ( before the recession anyway). Many young guns will work 80 hours a week. So that $50k represents an hourly wage of $12 to $16 an hour. Not all that great. In the US most engineers are exempt meaning they get paid a fixed amount no matter how many hours they put in.
There where years where I was flying to multiple job sites each week and easily putting in 100 hours or more a week. Lets just saw that I for one am enjoying the down turn...
Maybe love comes into play. But if someone were to decide to restore that photo boat it is beyond love and probably has more to do with taking the wrong or right drugs. In other words there would need to be a massive chemical imbalance.
So that makes it good project for say ............................. David!
It could make a good project for some one ........... who wanted a boat that you would trust to cross oceans. Other boats i would want to take drugs that i havent tried before i did, but each to their own.
And here I thought every boat required many thousands of dollars and thousand of hours of labor a year just to keep up. Maybe you pay people to do the work for you, but work it still takes... Boat after all means "break out another thousand."
The OP Boat (the derelict, not the hunter) is more then a bit rough for sure. Though I see people buying and fixing boats much like that one to restore.
Just like restoring an old car or airplane, there are people that do it just for the love of it. But you probably would never understand that..
Every boat is a bad investment, some just a little more then others..
I have contributed to many boat related discussions with people from around the world but I must admit I have never had the opportunity to discuss these subjects with a clairvoyant with the ability to picture another's life in the past, present and future("But you would never understand that . ." SailorChic34). However, I will remain open minded for new experiences that will hopefully allow me to transcend to higher levels of consciousness and perhaps the opportunity to become clairvoyant, myself. My fingers remain crossed. Good luck and good sailing.
I have contributed to many boat related discussions with people from around the world but I must admit I have never had the opportunity to discuss these subjects with a clairvoyant with the ability to picture another's life in the past, present and future("But you would never understand that . ." SailorChic34). However, I will remain open minded for new experiences that will hopefully allow me to transcend to higher levels of consciousness and perhaps the opportunity to become clairvoyant, myself. My fingers remain crossed. Good luck and good sailing.
ah, you say the sweetest things.
So lets see how that Clairvoyance thing works. You work in the law field, drive a car in the 50-90k range and you own a powerboat, no wait a minute, its a yacht. Plus your a member of at least one yacht club.. So how am I doing....
Forturetelling anyone. Madam sailorchics crystal ball is open for business.
Maybe love comes into play. But if someone were to decide to restore that photo boat it is beyond love and probably has more to do with taking the wrong or right drugs. In other words there would need to be a massive chemical imbalance.
So that makes it good project for say ............................. David!
I might include it in the new Brokerage listing
One careful owner. circa 1972. (loads of potless numpties since ). Some TLC required, a couple of weekends work and then good for Cape Horn
Okay I have to chime in on this one. This is the 1978 Prout 31' Quest I bought in Sept last year. Many people looked at the boat and passed. I spent 3 hrs on her and made an offer, sealed the deal and came back a week later and moved her from Coconut Grove, Fl. to Key West. Put her behind a friends house and emptied the boat, pressure washed insides and did a mold traetment on her. Rebeded all thru deck fasteners and hatches to stop leaks. Painted interior and moved on board to KW mooring field.
Came with 24 mile working radar, NEW never hooked up Plastimo SS 2 burner w/ oven, NEW never used tiller pilot. NEW standing rigging w/ stay-locs top and bottom. New wiring and panels 120v and 12v all to standards. Wind Genny, solar panels and charge regulators. 2 sets of sails one excellent on good, servicable. 10' roll-up inflatable in almost new condition.
The bones and structure of the vessel were sound and the extras that had already been put on the boat were well worth the asking price. Many people passed due to cosmetic issues and the work they would entail.
The engine is origial to boat as well as the drive, both of which still work. The Yanmar fired up after turning over for less than 15 seconds.
I have been working on the prep work for a topside paint job as well as other minor issues while living aboard on a mooring since Feb. of this year. When the temp. drops a little the topsides will be painted and next spring it will go in the yard for a bottom job and to paint the hulls.
At this time the boat is sailed at least once a week and is fully functional and meets all COAST GUARD requierments.
I went so far as to get the CG Auxillary to do a courtesy inspection on it so as to forstall any issues to it being a derilect and it passed with flying colors. The gentleman doing the inspection even commented on it saying he didn't expect to see the mechanics of her so well maintained by looking at the outside.
I do get pissed when she is judged by outside looks by folks that don't know that she is a seaworthy vessel. I like to make them seaworthy and safe before I hang the earings on.
Yes there are many rundown derilects afloat, but not all is visable from the outside. Just saying
So lets see how that Clairvoyance thing works. You work in the law field, drive a car in the 50-90k range and you own a powerboat, no wait a minute, its a yacht. Plus your a member of at least one yacht club.. So how am I doing....
Forturetelling anyone. Madam sailorchics crystal ball is open for business.
I found my bell bottoms . . . I still can't find my Iron Butterfly album. Oh, well. . . Life can be so confusing at times. Cheers!
Attachment 46282Okay I have to chime in on this one. This is the 1978 Prout 31' Quest I bought in Sept last year. Many people looked at the boat and passed. I spent 3 hrs on her and made an offer, sealed the deal and came back a week later and moved her from Coconut Grove, Fl. to Key West.
Great looking cat you have there. Thanks for the story....
So lets see how that Clairvoyance thing works. You work in the law field, drive a car in the 50-90k range and you own a powerboat, no wait a minute, its a yacht. Plus your a member of at least one yacht club.. So how am I doing....
Forturetelling anyone. Madam sailorchics crystal ball is open for business.
Don, at first I thought the respondants were replying "tongue in cheek" to the obviously derelict hulk shown in your post. However, after reading some of the comments, one would have to asssume that a floating garbage dumpster really can have the potential for rebirth . . . like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes with tens of thousands of dollars of wasted money and uncountable hours of wasted time to reclaim a "classic beauty" destined for once again greatness. My heart pounds, the tears are welling in my eyes . . . Have you ever heard the expression "hanging earrings on a pig?" . . . pure blasphemy at the highest level!
I would guess they nay-sayers here are more the newer boat owners. I know in Ca. where I am from, it was the DIY boat building Mecca of the US. Westsail and others sold kits. In the SF Bay area, there were yards full of Ferro, Steel and F/G boats being built and sailed by their builders. A few were never finished. It seems to me since we started out sourcing our labor to Asia, the common man has lost the ability to work with their hands.
In the first 2 pictures is my Olympian 34 I bought wedged in a Canyon in the Barstow Desert. It came with 3 feet of rain water and a dead Coyote in it.
The second 2 pictures is the hull and interior. It was 24 months of works at 15-20 hours a week and about $10,000. To me it was no pig with ear-rings. But maybe you use that as defense for your not wanting to undertake a project of that magnitude. I sold it after living on it for 5 years and used the money as a down on a house which bought more sad case boats and repeated the hobby and yes, made a few bucks while improving my boat building skills along the way. So say what you will. If you haven't the skills, definitely don't do it. But the end result can be quite rewarding. My HR 35, when I looked at it in dry dock was in really sad shape. I grabbed the prop to see how much slop was in the cutless and the prop blade snapped off in my hand. Most people would have walked...not me.
__________________ "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"
I used to see this boat going up and down the ICW that a lot of you wouldn't have anchored near. You would have called it a "derelict." It was steel. The guy had lengthened it by cutting it in the middle and welding in an extra ten feet or so that didn't quite blend in with the rest of the hull. Her paint was rather nasty, including the name hand painted on the stern, "Old Fart." I bet that boat didn't cost the guy much, and he probably operated it on a shoestring, but he was actually out there going places, doing things, and doing it the best he could. And then I've met the owners of some real derelicts. Yes, they have no money, yes, they often have some other serious problems (health, mental, poverty, etc.), but they also have a dream of being on a boat in a home of their own where they can for a few moments enjoy the peace and quiet and the beauty on the water that many of us seek in our sleek, well-cared for, and expensive vessels. I don't begrudge anyone that.