Due to family and work commitments, I have had no time to consider, think about or blog about my boat and the upcoming boating season. That is, until yesterday!
Work is a good thing and is the vehicle needed to support my boating, but I digress.
Yesterday,a friend invited me to join him at his yacht club. He was preparing a meal for the club. Apparently, all the club members pitch in to do all the work. Dock install, repairs & grounds keeping. This keeps their costs of slips, repairs and general boat ownership very affordable.
The club is right on the river and has a good balance of sail & power boats. I met a few of the members and the commandant; they could have not been more gracious. Most of my time was spent in the kitchen with some of the admirals while their husbands were out tending the docks & grounds. As mentioned, we were there to supply the chow!
I did have time, while manning the outdoor grill to speak with one of the gents about the club, boats and my home port. I explained, that although I love our home port, the area and the sailing it offers, it has some drawbacks, mainly financial. I went on to tell about the cost of mooring, maintenance, launching & hauling. He explained that many of his friends belong to clubs on rivers here in NY & CT. He told of how belonging to the clubs on the river, especially local to your home, offers many benefits. First off, was the much lower costs, close to your own home, tools & equipment and as in the case of their club access to the machine shop.
He offered up a good suggestion, especially if I am ever to get a bigger boat! Join the club here on the river so as to be able to store, repair, launch & haul her locally. Enjoy the other benefits of the club: new friends, functions & more time spent with other boaters.
Looking forward, joining would make it possible to get a boat ready and in with very low costs then the adventure & fun of sailing to my home port in R.I. and our summer mooring.
In closing, I never gave the river much credit, having lived on the East End of L.I. and now having my home port in R.I. I felt that the river could not compete with the bays, beaches and the oceans of the Northeast. However, you live, you learn and find out that different waters have much to offer!
In fact, this could be a great start towards becoming a better sailor, eventually getting a bigger boat and most important finding & enjoying many new friends.
To all my new friends at the 'Club' thanks for the insight & education.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
2010 Challenge.
I have decided to start this blog due to the challenge of getting my boat ready, launched & moored for the season.
To back track, I thought that I would be readying a newer Catalina 25 or 250 this season. At least that was the plan however, the economic down turn has put an end to that.
I am sure I am not the only sailor/boater in this situation and thought that by launching this blog I would get ideas from others.
Again and due to the economy, we have scaled back everything for the past six months but made a decision that sailing would be what we would try to save.
We are lucky that we have a good boat, she is a 1983 that was very well kept and upgraded through the years. She will need some maintenance items this season and a new forestay, the rest of the rigging will hold for another two seasons.
We will hopefully get her in on or around July first, this saves quite a bit of money. For the past few seasons, try as we may, we have never gotten her in before the Fourth of July.
Today I started making up the budget for materials, I had thought I could get away with NOT painting the bottom this season. No luck. The bottom paint on line was $99.00 so there is another $100.00 to come up with!
You will notice from the picture, she is on a trailer. The trailer is in good shape and is solid although in need of some scraping & paint. Unfortunately, I do not have a tow vehicle at this time, so trailer sailoring is out. Oh yea, the tow vehicle, I do have one but that is another project sitting in the barn with the engine apart and waiting for rebuild.
Going forward I will post on the project and parts needed as well as any progress.
Your comments are appreciated.
Welcome aboard.
To back track, I thought that I would be readying a newer Catalina 25 or 250 this season. At least that was the plan however, the economic down turn has put an end to that.
I am sure I am not the only sailor/boater in this situation and thought that by launching this blog I would get ideas from others.
Again and due to the economy, we have scaled back everything for the past six months but made a decision that sailing would be what we would try to save.
We are lucky that we have a good boat, she is a 1983 that was very well kept and upgraded through the years. She will need some maintenance items this season and a new forestay, the rest of the rigging will hold for another two seasons.
We will hopefully get her in on or around July first, this saves quite a bit of money. For the past few seasons, try as we may, we have never gotten her in before the Fourth of July.
Today I started making up the budget for materials, I had thought I could get away with NOT painting the bottom this season. No luck. The bottom paint on line was $99.00 so there is another $100.00 to come up with!
You will notice from the picture, she is on a trailer. The trailer is in good shape and is solid although in need of some scraping & paint. Unfortunately, I do not have a tow vehicle at this time, so trailer sailoring is out. Oh yea, the tow vehicle, I do have one but that is another project sitting in the barn with the engine apart and waiting for rebuild.
Going forward I will post on the project and parts needed as well as any progress.
Your comments are appreciated.
Welcome aboard.
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