My confidence is being effected.

[ranger58sb]

I'm still reasonably confident... that something else on the boat will break, without regard to routine maintenance and our relatively aggressive service schedule.

-Chris

 

[SteveK]

Is confidence the same as losing interest?
I sold the Harley two years ago for that interest as I did lose confidence in my ability to hold it up and not crash. There was the loss of interest associated, no longer eager to hit the road.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Messrs. J (OP) and r (your post #31). A further explanation of my post (#14)...

Mr. J stated "...i do as much as humanly possible to prevent failures from happening."
Mr. r. stated "...that something else on the boat will break, without regard to routine maintenance."

There reaches a point where one HAS to say "F*..k it" and go boating or simply end the agony (of worry) by changing boats (as Mr./Dr. H did) or leave boating. Whatever is going to happen will NOT be the result of not having done everything possible to prevent an incident. It will just happen and one deals with it IF and WHEN. Call Sea Tow and/or whip out the credit card. In the mean time, one enjoys oneself without the worry.

About the only quote I remember from reading 7 Years in Tibet is:

KISS-Keep it simple, sailor.

 

[Delta Riverat]

My confidence continues to rise as I go through more and more of this boat fixing, repairing, replacing and upgrading.

Many "what was he thinking" issues seen and solved. My handling skills improve with each trip.

But hey, I have it easy eh? Only had it now coming up on 3 years. Still doing the delta, still looking to do the Sacramento week. Still need to get the admiral trained. She is the one who needs more confidence -

No plans for international travel. I hope she doesn't read this stuff...

 

[Bendit]

Diminishing confidence is not usual and I find, at age 73, it's creeping in.
So I too, am looking to simplify systems. The Genset, which I built and installed 20 years ago, seems now to require quite a bit of maintenance. I've just replaced the starter motor as a solenoid alone wasn't available. This was a p in the a due to very difficult access to that side of the engine. My own fault entirely. So....next time there's a problem, it's coming out! I have a propane stove, diesel heating , a 100amp (24V) alternator on the main, shore power charger and 200W of solar. I'll double the solar, which is adequate in summer as is, and eventually change to a LiFePo4 house bank.
The upside of this will be a lighter, more balanced boat that may just burn a little less fuel!

 

[Hippocampus]

and

In 50 years of cruising, I haven't seen that much of a change in the reliability of others. I could never reliably depend on them. Yes in a home port you can find competent people over time, but as you say, away from home it is pot luck, and given the median level of competence in the industry, the chances that they guy you picked out of the directory is competent is poor. No different now than 50 years ago.

What has changed for the better is the ubiquity of courier parcel service, nearly worldwide. In many places it is possible to get even obscure parts delivered quickly, even overnight. When my autopilot on the sailboat died 30 minutes after leaving the berth in Virginia headed for the Bahamas, and Raymarine offered 4 weeks turnaround to fix, I was able to have a used one from eBay delivered the next day (for less than the Raymarine fixed repair cost), all arranged on my iPhone. Did the same thing on a failed chartplotter. When the fuel lift pump quit on the trawler in the Wrangel Narrows going into Petersburg AK, and the only local Cummins mechanic was on vacation for 2 weeks, I was able to get a new pump flown in from Anchorage in a day.

I'd hate to depend on a warrantee requiring factory techs. You would be single sourced, and at their mercy. For me the bottom line is, if am depending on others to fix problems on a boat, I am going to be waiting in port and disappointed a large percentage of the time. Competent people are rare, and those that are are often backed up for weeks. Incidentally I find it no different in the RV industry.

Different boats different folks. Comparing even just ten years ago to current my experience has been different. Very much different internationally as now marine chandleries sources are dominanted by two chains in the Caribbean. Basically if island water works doesn’t have it on a shelf you’re going to wait. For many parts you’re going to need an import broker to get through the red tape if you want it quickly. Had the weird experience of having difficulties getting cleaning agents and pickling supplies for my watermaker. Although obviously non toxic as used for potable water supply they were deemed toxic and on the local no import list. There’s no wintering supplies in the Caribbean so no alternatives. Found some three islands away so sailed there to get some at nearly twice retail at home.

We very rarely used a marina. Basically only when we ere flying home for a break. Marinas won’t allow you to use them as a mailing address unless you are in their marina. We used USPS, UPS and fedex. But almost always due primarily due to uncertainties of the supply chain and delivery times would have one of my daughters buy the supply/part and have it shipped to her. Then could coordinate with her when and where to get it to us. Often this allowed bypassing much of the hassles. Have used that technique domestically on occasion as well.

Now that many things have a cpu or multiple motherboards where they didn’t in the past diagnostics is more difficult and sometimes when you have old systems supplies are unavailable. Again with watermakers we ran into this. Our watermaker works perfectly but the remote controls are funky. The controls directly on the machine are fine. So when you want to use it you need to go into the engine room where the WM lives. To put in new remote controls is off the list. The existing remote is no longer made. The new one uses different sensors. So to get a functioning remote means new sensors which means hours taking the WM apart, new wiring and new remote. Even doing it yourself very expensive. Company told me easier and about the same money to just get a new one. Given the watermaker works just fine crawl into the engine room if we’re going to use it. Had the same kind of thing with an air conditioner. Works fine but a sealed bearing squeaks. Design changed not available and if controls fail no replacement. Can keep going on this list

. Simple mechanical non computer controlled devices you could fix yourself. You could figure out why it wasn’t working yourself. If you didn’t want to do that a local wrench could. Now that’s no longer true. It’s the computerization that’s the hang up. Need the guy who is certified for that brand of that device. If you have an old boat with less computers in everything you commonly run into no available parts.

New boaters are accepting of plug and play. They accept if it’s broke drop in a new one not fix the old one. That’s what’s happened to their cars and small household appliances. The mindset is different. We are dinosaurs and the asteroid has hit us. Cruising is increasingly a more difficult thing and the middle class is being priced out.

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks, Hippo. Much easier to read. So I did!



-Chris