Yachts owners, share your cost saving tips

awesome post Iain 

Because as I found sailing a flying fifteen at the weekend it is quite good fun to sit in a boat and have a crack with your mate whilst racing on a small lake than risk getting wet and injured in a boat that is not particularly high performance compared to a trapeze dinghy. If you want to go fast and get wet then buy a high performance dinghy or catamaran.

Originally posted by Iain C Be really, really honest with yourself about what you want to use the boat for.

Be really, really honest with yourself about what you want to use the boat for.  As a dinghy racer, do you really want to join another arms race with all the associated stress, or would you prefer to be sat there on a floating caravan with 15 year old sails watching the sun go down as you have a fantastic BBQ with some mates at anchor?  I’ll keep my racing to dinghies thanks and yachting to an old ploddy 70s cruiser which will look after me in whatever weather.

 

If you have an inboard diesel, learn how to service it yourself.  You’ll save loads, possibly do a better job, and have a better idea how to fix something if the chips are down.

 

Shop around for insurance.  I pay less for a 27’ yacht sat on a swinging mooring all year than I do for a plastic racing toy that spends less than 1% of its time afloat.

 

Join a club.  A few good sessions with mates over a few weekends will get the membership fee back in cheap beer!  Add to that winter storage and a swinging mooring at 10-20% of yard prices and you are quids in.

 

Don’t go over 30’ unless you really need to.  For cruisers, this is where things become exponentially expensive.  A solid 70s cruiser just under the 30’ mark can cost you about the same as 2 new Lasers to buy, will be OK for 4 good friends for a week, and easily hop to France.  For a couple it’s perfect, and and it’s also OK on your own.  Go over 30’ and EVERYTHING becomes dearer…sails, ropes, fittings, insurance, fuel consumption, mooring fees, visitors fees, the lot.

 

The “For Sale/Wants” section of YBW.com is your friend.  I’ve picked up brand new instruments at a fraction of new costs.  I’ve even said “does anyone have a spare handle for a 1980s SL Hyspeed anchor windlass” thinking I had no chance, and guess what…one turned up for the price of a pint.

 

If possible, avoid marinas.  Some people may have to keep their boat there for convenience, however waking up on a beautiful morning and having a cuppa on deck in blissful solitude on your own mooring is sooooo much nicer than listening to someone’s aerogenerator going at Mach 4 inches from your boat all night and Tarquin and Jemima having another blast round in the Crazy Frog tender all morning.  Whilst they are a necessary evil in somewhere like Cowes, try and anchor for the night, pick up a visitors mooring or similar.  Half the cost and often infinitely more pleasant.

 

Avoid getting ripped off at boat jumbles.  Some of the cash that people want for what is basically scrap is astounding.

 

Get used to the idea that you do not need tapered ExcelNinjaBanzai Pro kite sheets, because then 120’ of kite sheets costs significantly less than ones for a Fireball, and will last a lot longer too.  Ditto ball bearing blocks…do you really need them?

 

Scrub off regularly.  Speed and fuel consumption are hugely affected by even a bit of grot on your bottom.

 

However, whatever you do, do not compromise safety.  Do not put yourself in the position where your other half can’t get you back on board after an MOB because you were too tight to splash out £40 for a rescue sling.  I carry lifejackets, harness lines (plus spares of everything, re-arming kits etc), flares, drogue, liferaft, emergency VHF antenna for the fixed VHF, handheld VHF, h/h GPS to back up the main one, wooden bungs, danbouy, lifering, rescue strop, throwline, lots of get your home spares/tools and I would not put to sea missing any of it. A lot of it was second hand (eg liferaft for £100 and then got it serviced)

 

There’s probably more but that’s a starter…

I've owned boats up to 44 feet and the tried various ways to keep costs down, but they have nearly always involved compromises that reduce the enjoyment of sailing and owning them (eg. mooring rather than marina, do work yourself rather than paying for it).

My conclusion is that you should really stick to what you can afford, rather then stretch and try to make it affordable. The only exception would be if you actually enjoying tinkering on the boat rather than sailing.