Start with a dream, take your time, make your choices wisely, then throw all that away and accept that unless you are buying new and to your spec, you will get what you are given 😊
In the many many years I’ve been fortunate enough to mess about on the water, here is a short summary of what owning a 2nd hand boat is like.
You may search and be as careful as you can BUT the boat you want is almost never available until just after you bought a compromise.
The boat you want, if you get it, soon develops a flaw that having another boat would solve.
The amount of time you spend fixing your boat, (and trailer) is inversely proportionate to the time spent on the water.
Lessons you need to learn and understand.
The boat part is only a piece of the kit. Safety gear, trailer, tools, clothes, helmets the list has no end, they all need buying and maintaining.
The weather is always best on the days you must work, the boat has a problem, the trailer is bust etc
The family will love the idea and then object to the time you MUST spend fixing stuff, using it and then fixing it again.
Every time you go out, something will break. You can try to go out with something already broken, this does sometimes “protect” you.
You will need to develop skill in:
Drilling, cutting, filing, painting, sanding, swearing. Basically many things ending in “ing” the key one being SPENDING!
£ for £ don’t add it up, it will make you ill
Don’t spend time thinking about value for money – it doesn’t work out
On the plus side to all this
YOU will meet some excellent people
Nothing beats the days at sea when the sun shines, the sea is benign and you do not want to come in, (like you felt on a sunny day as a child 😊
.
If you don’t do it, you miss it and will continue to miss it until you do it again.
You are one of the few that see the world from a different perspective, if it was easy everyone would do it, so every day you get out you are a winner, and on the days you don’t, post on ribnet, its entertaining 😊
