Keeping Down Maintenance Costs for Cruisers

[ArtM]

So this is continuing a theme that has been on mind for several days now.

A good FT cruising sailboat (i.e. Lagoon for example) can be constructed to be almost completely self-reliant. Electricity and water can be produced from the ocean and the sun. The wind provides locomotion. The boat floats on the water and provides protection from the rain due merely to it's natural form.
With proper technique, the only personal needs of any substance include food, booze, flip-flops, and bikinis.

So, except for the initial purchase of such a vessel, a person's cost of living a cruising lifestyle are very, very small... except for one thing.

Maintenance. It's more than big. It's HUGE. It can be crippling when not properly planned and provided for. In short, it seems to be the single largest cost of a FT cruising lifestyle (assuming a kind of minimalist way of living). So large, in fact, that it appears to be even larger than the costs of a land-based lifestyle with all it's many costs.

What are the costs?
- Broken running gear
- Corroded parts
- Worn out sails and lines
- Faded, peeling, cracking gelcoats
- Damaged hulls
- Blister maintenance and bottom painting


So it seems to me that, given this, there would be value in creating materials and designs that would minimize or even eliminate these costs.

- What do you do to minimize maintenance costs?
- Would you post your maintenance budget?
- Is it possible, or cost feasible to build cruising sailboats with almost no parts that would break, corrode, fade, or wear out?
- What are the barriers to getting more widespread adoption of better, more durable technology into these boats?