Getting ready to splash!

Always Starboard came home this morning! The day was spent bottom painting.  This was the first time I have attempted to do this task.  Actually, not as bad as I thought.  I was planning on having this done professionally this spring and called around last fall to get an idea of the cost and details.  It ranged from $850 - 2,500!  We had worked out that the bottom paint and some fiberglass repair at the same shop and had planned on calling him up this spring.  Well, this did not happen, and it was mainly due to moving recently.  Over the winter we sold our house and moved in to a new place at the end of March. Needless to say we have had plenty of miscellaneous expense and have plans for some cosmetic updates through-out the house, so money is tight.  This job was physically strenuous, but I do not think at my age and physical condition is worth having someone else do it for even $800.  It took my about 4 hrs. Granted I did not get all the way under the boat, but it was good enough for what we wanted.  Maybe I will find some jack stands so that I can do it off the trailer some time.

Last season before putting her away I did perform the impeller repair and thank goodness I did not put this out any further. They were toast.  About half the blades were missing or damaged.  I replaced both without incident. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the winterization. I had one mess up.  I pulled the wrong plug on my generator.  This was not the first time I had done this, however, as soon as the fluid released I realized what I had done.  In my urgency to replace the plug to avoid all the antifreeze leaving the cooler and reservoir I dropped the plug in an attempt to thread it back in. I quickly bent into multiple contortions trying to locate the plug in the bilge, but failed to find the damn thing before all the fluid had drained.  I then spent hours attempting to find it and was not successful.  I will be ordering the plug tomorrow.

I purchased one new battery (one of four).  I hope this was not a bad idea to only to replace the one and not as a pair.  Only time will tell.  I just have to put the batteries in and put her in the water.  Launching it can be a task in itself as I need to put up the radar dome and put up all the canvas so we may just be waiting until next weekend.  Oh almost forgot...I don't think I filled up before we put her away....this will be a treat to fill up at fuel cost over $4.00 a gallon at the local stations.  Cant wait to see what the no ethanol on water prices are!

Winterization: Time to Put Her Away

I am, and am not looking forward to putting Always Starboard away for the winter.  I am, because boating is expensive, especially for us weekend warriors!  We attempt to pack so much into a weekend and our season seems so short.  I am not happy, because winter is always so cold, dark and long....

This year we are pulling out earlier to do the work when it is not so cold.  I have always tried to extend the season to the last possible day and it inevitably gets cold and cleaning and winterization is horrible in the cold.  We also are going to attempt to have the boat all waxed and ready for next season. This is something we also always procrastinate on and do in the spring.  There are some things I am going to wait for spring to do. One is the impellers, but I can do that in the slip next spring. I have never changed them on this boat and are well over due I am sure.  I have not seen any change in the engine temps, but I want to do them as preventative.  When you finally do see it in the engine temps you are too late and are doing damage to components. 

It will be nice to have the boat all ready with the wax on her for spring. It is always a gamble with the weather.  This year we had to wait out the snow.  I never thought I was going to have to wait for it to stop snowing when the boat was at the house to begin waxing it.  We were also hurrying to get a cockpit cover we bought over the winter installed, so we could keep the snow out. Ah the joys of Wisconsin weather....

Well, until I start thinking about projects or trips this may be it for awhile....see you next year.

What do you work for?

Do you work to live or live to work? It seems as though the further you advance in life and career the more complicated and complex you make your life. There is a direct relationship unless you can avert it with strong will. It was said in a documentary 180 Degrees South and I may be paraphrasing…”it is easy to complicate your life; the hard part is simplifying it. As a society we want to always move forward, but all we have to do is take one big step 180 degrees from where we are and keep moving forward in the other direction.”

Susan and I have talked about retirement on a boat. The thought only makes sense in a sailing vessel for the possibility of early retirement. I have read in verious places, (livingaboard.com) a couple can live aboard in the Caribbean for roughly $10-$15K a year. You need to leave or dry dock during the summer months due to the strong storm season there. During that time a person could either leave the boat dry docked and live in a standard house somewhere, however, I think you could also find your way back up to the Great Lakes or at least inland a ways on the Mississippi or up the coast.

What could you do without? Susan and I a few years back got rid of Cable TV due to the fact we felt is was unnecessary and expensive. Since then we filled that budget space with more extravagant phones and tablet computers which consume the budget savings we once had. Most everyday you feel lost if you did not have these gadgets, but their recurring expense consumes $1,800 a year or more.

If you look at monthly expenses that "normal people" have it is daunting.  At this site, leavingthefolks.com, which I think is very conservative it claims $24,000 - 25,000 a year in living expenses on average nation wide.

Here is the montly breakdown as I see it for most people:

• House and property tax or rent = $800 - 1,200
• Auto loan = $300-500
• utilities = $350
• Home and auto insurance = $150
• Health insurance = $300 - 600

I would venture to say before you even think about food, clothing, education loans, entertainment or other "toy loans" you could be spending at a minimum the national average for living expense. Most probably exceed this by many thousands if not tens of thousands... 

I wonder if we should give up the power boat and concentrate on saving to be done early….?