Nordhavn Owners Group:
Sept 27, 2007
I couldn't resist responding to Scott's post (minimalist cruising), and
Richard's post (cruising with crew), as we've taken a different approach,
which has worked well for us.
We're not world cruisers, but we've have cruised a lot of the world (Pacific
Coast, Pacific NW, Canada, France, Spain, Croatia, Bahamas, Mexico etc).
We've done this despite having two strikes against us.
1) I'm not great with anything mechanical. And,
2) We don't like the loss of privacy associated with having professional
crew on the boat.
To add a third "liability", we're in extreme violation of Scott's
recommendation against having "toys" on the boat. We have everything Scott
mentioned (SSB, sat tv, trash compactor, central vac), and a WHOLE lot more.
Here's our approach:
We consider all of the extra "toys" around the boat as non-essential items.
If they break, we live without until we can get them fixed. During the year,
I build up a list, which gets longer and longer. Sooner or later we'll be
sitting still, and I can hire a local mechanic, or fly someone in. Generally
speaking, electronics work most of the time. Not having them, just because
they might break, seems wrong.
We have redundant systems for everything I can think of (or, cram in). Two
each of the standard items: gensets, GPS, radar, autopilot, winlasses, VHF.
We also have two each of: anchor setup, engines, fresh water pumps, grey
water pumps, black water pumps, tenders, life rafts, sat receivers. And,
extreme redundancy with things like internet (at least five different ways!)
On critical systems, when something fails, such as the black water pump
<grin>, I engage the backup to get us to shore, and phone a mechanic. If it
takes days to fix, we find a hotel. If it takes weeks, we fly home.
My goal each year is to have a nice long list, at the end of the cruising
season, to hand the mechanics, to get us ready for the next year's cruising.
As to cleaning: Roberta and I do what we can, but most cleaning happens when
we arrive in port. We usually phone ahead to the marinas, and try to have a
cleaning crew standing by to do a good exterior and interior cleaning within
hours of arriving at the dock.
I recognize that not everyone can afford this approach. My guess is that I
spend far more than Scott's "keep it off the boat unless you can fix it
yourself" approach, and probably less than Richard's "Live aboard crew"
approach. If we could get past the loss of privacy associated with having
crew onboard, we would be following Richard's lead in a heartbeat.
We do use delivery crews for any long passage that we don't want to make
ourselves, and are quick to hire crew to assist on any long, or difficult,
passage. In these cases, we enjoy having them onboard, but also enjoy
reclaiming our boat at the end of the passage, as they taxi off to the
nearest airport.
Our plan is to circumnavigate, and with that in mind I've been working on my
mechanical and electrical skills. Flying a mechanic to Tahiti to solve a
hydraulic leak does not make economic sense. I've been reading virtually
every book I can find on marine electrical systems, and repair. With a lot
of study and hard work, I do think I'll become more self sufficient, but I
consider this as obtaining skills required to handle emergencies. My goal is
not to take over all maintenance of the boat. I worked a lot of years to
build and sell a company, so that retirement could be spent having fun. For
some, it is fun to crawl around the engine room wrench in hand, but I'm
still at the point where fun is defined as a warm water anchorage, with some
Jimmy Buffet music playing in the background. I'm not sure that will
change....
-Ken Williams
Sans Souci, nordhavn68.com
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